The author is privileged to an exclusive interview with Aaron Lewis, formerly of the band Staind, who has recently recorded a country EP. His song "Country Boy" has been released to radio stations.
ME: So, I've heard your song, "Country Boy," a couple of times now. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but honestly, it doesn't strike me as a country song at all. What made you decide to enter this genre of music after your long-time stint as a rock/grunge artist?
AL: Well, the lyrics of the song say it all. I'm a country boy at heart, and I just wanted to get back to that and be true to myself.
ME: Uh-huh ... well, as I said, this song hardly strikes me as a country song, despite the lyrics and title.
AL: Why?
ME: Okay, well, first of all, the style of music you use in the song ... obviously you have been influenced by your time in the band Staind, but I won't lie, the first time I heard your new song I thought I was hearing an0ther Nickelback song being erroneously mistaken for a country/rock song.
AL: Well, that's just my style, you know? I mean, there are so many different styles of country music. You've got Hank Williams, uh, Willie Nelson, Keith Urban, you know, lots of different styles.
ME: [nodding] That's very true. However ... well, since you bring up Hank Williams, I noticed that in your song, you say "and Hank taught me how to stay alive ... and as a country boy I know I can survive." I gotta say, when I hear that, I just don't believe you.
AL: What?
ME: Well, I mean, it's just ... the way you sing it. I just can't believe Hank Williams had any influence on your style of music. I mean, Hank is classic country, and though he's influenced a great many country singers who obviously don't sing just like he does ... your music is just so ... well, not country at all. I mean, you can't just shout out a tribute to Hank Williams in a song and expect to automatically be the next greatest country singer.
AL: Okay, so my music doesn't fit the genre, you say. But what about the lyrics?
ME: I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up.
AL: Why?
ME: Well, they're terrible. Please tell me you wrote them yourself and did not pay a professional songwriter to write them.
AL: ...
ME: I mean, I assume you thought that as long as you had all the stereotypical "country" topics in your song it would turn out good. You have patriotism, drinking, smoking, farmland, hunting, and the idea of a country boy going to the big city to become famous and being told to change ... topics found in a lot of great country songs ... it's just that your lyrics are so badly written that your song comes out so corny. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of pretty decent country songs are a little silly or corny. Take Brad Paisley. He's got lots of silly songs ... but they turn out pretty good anyway because he doesn't take himself as seriously as you do in your song. You sound so melancholy and ... oh so serious.
AL: Uh ... well [laughing nervously] I think we've gotten back to the style of the song, not the lyrics.
ME: You're right. I apologize. The lyrics. Well, take this section for example:
"Now two flags fly above my land / That really sum up how I feel / One's the colors that fly high and proud / The red, the white, the blue / The other one's got a rattlesnake with a simple statement made / "Don't tread on me," that's what it says / and I'll take that to my grave."
It's like ... just a statement, but not even artfully written. And it doesn't even really rhyme. Now, of course, songs don't have to rhyme, but it surprises me that this section doesn't after you specifically pronounce the word "four" as "fo" so that it rhymes with "know" earlier in the song. And "a simple statement made ... that's what it says," that's just so ... blah. I've never really listened to much Staind, but my friends who have describe your tone as "meh, meh, meh," as if you are always complaining about something and being sullen, which is sort of what this song sounds like. But, you are singing, supposedly, about your heritage and identity -- why do you sound so sad? And let me tell y0u, you may think you are adding the quintessential country song line when you say "I rarely drink from the bottle but I smoke a little weed," but man, you're wrong. Not everyone from the country smokes or drinks.
AL: Well, you know, I was just trying to be true to my roots.
ME: Okay, I understand that, I just think either your roots are not "country," or you did a terrible job representing the country genre. Probably just the latter, if that makes you feel better.
AL: It doesn't.
ME: I figured.
AL: Mm.
ME: ... In preparation for this interview, I noticed you have a song entitled "Bonghits for Breakfast" that you wrote prior to your change to country music. Is that what I think it is about?
AL: Yes ... see, that's why I put the weed part in, cause that's me, that's some of the stuff I do---
ME: Okay, well, I'm just saying ... just because some other country singers who we'll not mention have
written songs about smoking weed does NOT mean mentioning the topic in one line will make your song sound "country."
AL: Well, it sounded good in the other song ...
ME: Also, I dislike that the line in the beginning about your grandfather being a drinker ends with "but war is known to change a man / And whiskey's known to change a man." I don't think that's a very good explanation ... and could you not think of anything else to say but "change a man" again? Couldn't you just say "but war and whiskey can change a man," and then say something else, maybe?
AL: Sorry.
ME: Me too. Well, I just have a few more questions ... first of all ... did you get that signature singing style from your time in Staind? You know, where you hold out the final vowel sound at the end of every line for a long time and then drop down a couple of notes and hold it some more? Like, in the last line of the chorus: "And a country boy is all I'll ever be----_ _ _ _."
AL: Well, yeah.
ME: Mm. Okay. Very unoriginal. Now that we've established that your song is, at least in my opinion, unworthy of being played on country stations ... how in the world did you get George Jones and Charlie Daniels to do it with you? I mean, did they record their parts before they heard you sing it, or something, or were they just really in need of a job?
AL: I dunno. My manager had the idea. Thought it would help "country-up" my song."
ME: Well, that obviously didn't work.
AL: Obviously.
ME: Okay. Last question. To satisfy my own curiosity, why did your previous band lack an "e" in the name? Or, if you know, why do so many rock/grunge bands spell their names incorrectly, I mean, there's Korn, Puddle of Mudd ... what's with that?
AL: I dunno about them, but I just misspelled it once accidentally and thought it looked cool.
ME: All right. Well, thanks for your honesty and uh ... hope any future songs are more ... true to the country form if that's what you are trying for.
*The author really doesn't know anything about Aaron Lewis, she just knows she doesn't like hearing him on her country radio station when he obviously doesn't sing country music and his newest song just makes her feel depressed.
