Pete Yorn

Dec 23, 2003

I remember when I first got to college and within the first week there I heard more interesting and fantastic music than I had ever heard in all my years before that. Trampoline Records, which is the creation of Pete Yorn, Rami Jaffee, and Marc Dauer, are positioning themselves as that junior in college who says that every CD you brought with you is shit and that you should throw them out. You know what? That young junior was right because when I became a junior in college I told the same thing to all the new freshman. Of course I still had shitty taste in music but I hated those young fucks.

It’s been less than a year since Trampoline Records first started but they’ve already released two greatest hits albums. They’re releasing albums from many of their favorite bands who have never been able to get a break and also new upcoming bands like Nadine, The Hangups, Buva, Flotilla, The Freemasons and of course the Oscar nominated star of Good Will Hunting, Minnie Driver.

I got chance to talk to one of the hottest young singer/songwriters and co-founder of Trampoline, Pete Yorn. Yorn is from the backwoods of New Jersey and first broke onto the scene with his first studio album on Columbia Records called Day I Forgot, which was quickly followed up by the critically acclaimed, musicforthemorningafter. Since then he has contributed hit songs to movies like Igby Goes Down, Spider-Man and Me, Myself & Irene.

You can hear the excitement in Yorn’s voice when talking about Trampoline. Once certain artists get their big break many move on and forget their where they came from. Not Yorn, this is his chance to give back to the thing that has given him so much, good music.

Check out the website for Trampoline Records

Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to?

Pete Yorn: At the moment just hanging out.

DRE:

Why did you guys decide to put together Trampoline Records?

PY:

I think it started because we had so many friends around town who were making good homegrown music and we wanted to put it all together, put it all out and let people hear it. That was the impetus to start the label. Since then it’s evolved to a lot of people we didn’t know before we heard their music.

DRE:

Is it a lot more work than you expected?

PY:

Not yet. So far everything having to do with it has been pretty fun. Not stressful at all just fun things like putting stuff together, working with bands, meeting a lot of musicians and sharing ideas with them.

DRE:

Was it a big kick to put out a greatest hits within the first month?

PY:

Yeah the title was kind of a joke. It was a goof that we called it The Greatest Hits Volume One.

DRE:

No one seemed to pick up on that. They were just like “Ok”.

PY:

[laughs] Yeah.

DRE:

What do you see in bands like Nadine and Minibar that it’s up to you to put it out?

PY:

Its not that I think it’s up to us to put it out but it’s just something we want to help promote and be a part of. So it’s really coming from that place. Minibar is an example of a band we loved for a while and we wanted to help out. Nadine is an example of a band that after we got that first compilation out there we started getting hundreds of CDs sent to us from all over the world.

DRE:

Actually I have a stack here of my stuff…I’m just kidding.

PY:

Hah. Nadine was music we had never heard before and had never heard of them. I‘m going through all the CDs we get, I found that one and I really liked it. It just worked out nicely.

DRE:

Besides Nadine, how did you find the other bands? Is it stuff you hear when you’re on the road or what?

PY:

Sometimes. On Greatest Hits One it was bands that had one degree of separation from one of the three of us. But since then it’s come through travels, a lot of submissions and we still have a lot of friends who are making good music. At first it was just a great excuse to get together, play music and get inspired. We didn’t know where it was going to evolve too; we were just having fun with it. Another reason we wanted to start the label is that goes back to another band we didn’t know personally called The Hangups. We’re putting out their fourth studio record soon. Me and Doc, I call Marc Dauer Doc, I guess like four years ago I was a big fan of The Hangups. They were coming to town to play so we went to see them and were just big fans. Nothing was really going on with their label and now it’s amazing to me that we’re putting out their record.

DRE:

Was this your chance to show your brothers that you’re a businessman?

PY:

I don’t think that has anything to do with it. They know I’m a businessman no I’m just kidding. They want me to focus on music.

DRE:

Is Trampoline Records still looking for more distribution?

PY:

Yeah still trying to find wide distribution. We’re actually in the middle of making that happen.

DRE:

Has this experience changed the way you deal with your label that puts out your music?

PY:

No not at all.

DRE:

You don’t feel like you understand where they are coming from when they do something you don’t like.

PY:

As far as that aspect I think it has. Two years ago before I put out a record I had no understanding of the music business at all. I was always just like “Great”. After setting up Trampoline I feel like I’ve learned a lot. I’ve always been a compassionate person anyway.

DRE:

I read that one of your goals is to “expose the world to good music”. There is never a time when we’re getting enough good music. But do you feel like this is time when we are especially not getting good music?

PY:

Well there is a lot of great music out there but sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to find it.

DRE:

Are you trying to make it a little easier for those people?

PY:

Yeah for people who are interested in that sort of thing.

DRE:

I read some quote where you said that some cute little blonde girl turned you on to good music like The Smiths.

PY:

Oh yeah.

DRE:

Where is the cute blond girl now?

PY:

I have no idea. I was 11 years old man but I hope she’s well. I hope she’s on Suicide Girls. That would be great. It could have very well gone that way. A Smiths fan could be on Suicide Girls.

DRE:

Are you a fan of Suicide Girls?

PY:

Someone told me about it a while ago. So I checked it out when they mentioned doing this interview.

DRE:

We can get you a membership if you want.

PY:

Yeah that be great. Do it up.

DRE:

When you’re in a relationship do you ever cause some trouble in order to shake some songs out of you or does it do fine on its own?

PY:

I’m not one to create drama for the sake of that. Usually if it’s going to happen it happens naturally. I don’t think that’s fair.

DRE:

Not to her.

PY:

Not to anybody.

DRE:

Are you with someone now?

PY:

No I’m single.

DRE:

How’s songwriting going then?

PY:

I have plenty to write about.

DRE:

Where’s it coming from right now?

PY:

Shit that’s going on around me.

DRE:

Are you really going to do a Live in Berlin CD?

PY:

I’ve actually switched it to Live from New Jersey. I just changed the name. No I’m just kidding.

I was excited to do the Live in Berlin but I was waiting for the recording to come back. It showed up, they only recorded it on like this bad recorder and the Jersey shows sound so much better. Our last Jersey show was the last show of the tour so it was special.

DRE:

Do people you know show up at the hometown shows?

PY:

Yeah a lot of kids from high school and some friends from years ago. That was cool to see.

DRE:

Anyone that used to pick on you?

PY:

No they’re probably dead.

DRE:

I was just on Suicide Girls today and someone mentioned that you were a production assistant on a movie.

PY:

Yeah I was a production assistant on a couple of movies. Particularly films from a company called Jersey Films [Danny DeVito’s company].

DRE:

Which films?

PY:

Not Pulp Fiction. I was still in college for that one. Let’s see a movie called Living Out Loud which was directed by Richard LaGravenese. I was an extra in it too. The first AD was like “We need two people. you get in there.” There’s a scene where Holly Hunter and Queen Latifah are sitting at a bar. There I am in the background just moving my mouth like I’m talking but I’m not talking. At the time I was obsessed with going to Bali so I think I ended up talking about that but even now I still haven’t gone to Bali. We were just talking shit; I saw it and it looked really bad. I was moving my mouth really bad, it wasn’t subtle at all.

DRE:

Is the Trampoline DVD going to happen?

PY:

Yeah I just saw the final DVD version last night with all the menus on it and everything. It came out really nice, I’m really happy with it. So that’s coming soon.

DRE:

What is on it exactly?

PY:

It’s kind of a compilation of these two House of Blues shows we did. It was called The Trampoline Records review it was kind of like the old Rolling Thunder Review where all the bands on the compilation came down and we all played about three songs. Then everyone jammed together so it was a fun night with a sold out crowd. We compiled tape from the two nights and put it on the DVD.

DRE:

Did I hear about Minnie Driver doing an album for you?

PY:

Minnie is on the new compilation.

DRE:

That must have been interesting. Were you surprised she could sing?

PY:

Well I’ve known her for a few years but I didn’t know that she had that much of an interest in music. While I was away she started working with Doc and Rami on a record. They kind of worked with her in the studio. I stopped by Doc’s and she was there. It sounded great. She has a really nice voice. She’s really talented so she can do anything.

DRE:

I saw some weird quote from someone where they said that you’ve been “working with the saucy chameleon Liz Phair.”

PY:

Saucy chameleon?

DRE:

Yeah I don’t know what that means either. Did you find her saucy?

PY:

Did I say that?

DRE:

Oh no.

PY:

That does sound like something I would say as a joke. But Liz is quite saucy though.

DRE:

Which means what?

PY:

I don’t know [laughs]. I never knew what saucy meant.

But working with Liz was very cool. As far as what we did with her record it was a while back early 2002. I just played some drums, we hung out and since then we’ve become good friends. She’s touring right now, super busy which is good but we’ve become pals.

DRE:

There has been a little controversy with Liz’s newest album because she’s working with Avril Lavigne’s producers.

PY:

Yeah The Matrix.

DRE:

What do you think her working with them?

PY:

I think she did what she wanted to do. She wanted to explore that. That’s cool. That’s her thing.

DRE:

I read something that when you got music for the morning after on vinyl and put it on your record player you and your brother said “Ahhhh. It never sounded better."

PY:

Yeah we were psyched to hear it on vinyl.

DRE:

How old are you?

PY:

I’m 29 already. I turned 29 in July.

DRE:

My birthday is in July too. When is yours?

PY:

July 27.

DRE:

I’m July 4th.

PY:

My brother is July 4th.

DRE:

What’d you do on your last birthday?

PY:

What did I do on my birthday?

DRE:

Sounds like you were drinking.

PY:

No I was out. Hmmm. That’s bad I can’t remember. I know I was in the Hamptons a week later and we had a big party. But I’m trying to think of my actual birthday what I did. Wow I can’t remember that’s horrible.

DRE:

Back to the vinyl thing it’s good to hear people actually caring about vinyl.

PY:

We love records. We respect a good album side. CDs and iPods are great, but I like sitting back and hearing a whole album side without skipping around. With iPods we’ll get on the bus after a show, we’re driving and we plug it into the stereo system. But you’ll be halfway through a song, you’re scrolling through and you’ll stop and switch to a new record. You keep skipping around and you don’t hear a whole song anymore. I guess it’s the state of mind you’re in but with the iPod I just keep skipping around.

DRE:

I was talking to someone about 8-tracks recently and they told me that the songs come in blocks of four and if you wanted to hear your favorite song you had to sit through 3 other songs.

PY:

Yeah and then there is different channels on the 8-track. So there is a button you can press that will put it on the other side of the tape or something and you hear the other four songs. Sometimes you have to listen halfway through one track and then hit the button to get to the other song on the other side.

DRE:

On one tour I heard you were drinking a lot of whiskey.

PY:

That’s all the tours.

DRE:

What kind of whiskey do you drink?

PY:

I started off with Jack Daniels then moved on to Johnnie Walker Black.

DRE:

Does the music come out different with different brands?

PY:

No it all does its job I guess. There is the whiskey nights then the beer nights. Then there’s both.

DRE:

What happens on the both nights? I guess you wake up and don’t know what happened on your birthday.

PY:

Yeah [laughs]. I really don’t think my birthday was anything special but I can’t remember. I hate that. Now I’m going to have to call someone to ask them what happened on my birthday.

All my birthdays in my early 20’s were simple. We would just go to Benihana’s. I would bring my family and two friends to eat green tea ice cream.

DRE:

I’d be afraid of the guy with the knives.

Did you grow up in a metropolitan place in New Jersey?

PY:

No it was kind of a rural town. Now all the woods we used to play in have been turned into houses. It’s kind of building up quick. It’s becoming a popular suburb of New York.

DRE:

What was the name of the town?

PY:

[indiscernible]ville.

DRE:

Mobville?

PY:

Kind of. No its Montville. It is referenced in the Sopranos. Where I lived right up the street there was a bunch of horse stables. A lot of woods and not much going.

DRE:

Did you have one of those points where all the kids went to go drink?

PY:

Yeah it was called The Glen. I remember going out there a few times to drink and it’s in the middle of nowhere basically it was the woods. I don’t know why it was called The Glen.

DRE:

What’s coming up?

PY:

Just yesterday I finished mastering the live record. 20 songs two discs. Also right now I’m working on the material for my fourth record.

DRE:

What’s your process for writing?

PY:

It changes from song to song or inspiration. My inspiration for writing usually comes when I’m at home and I’m able to get into my normal lifestyle of just hanging out and playing music with my friends. As opposed to touring. Touring gives me life experience but I don’t want to write until I get home.

DRE:

So you play like four or five different instruments.

PY:

Something like that. I’ll play whatever you put in front of me.

DRE:

Were you like a child prodigy with instruments?

PY:

No the thing is I’m not that good with any of them but I’m able to play them. I can’t read music. I just hear and feel it.

DRE:

What’s your favorite?

PY:

Probably drums. But I love guitar and I want to get better at piano. That’s the one I consistently find myself wanting to focus on.

DRE:

You have a favorite musician who plays the piano?

PY:

The kid who plays in my band is one of my favorites, Joe Kennedy. I like that guy, Vince Guaraldi, who does all the Peanuts cartoons. I like the way the Snoopy Christmas song makes me feel.

DRE:

What would you be if you didn’t get your feelings out through music, a serial killer?

PY:

[laughs] I don’t know what I would do. This is the way I’ve been my whole life, always on my wing.

DRE:

If I had to guess I would say you were a moody teenager.

PY:

Yeah sometimes.

DRE:

Would you say you are about the same now?

PY:

No back then I didn’t have life experiences or perspective which I’m still hoping to gain more of. When you’re 21 you think you know everything then we’re 25 you realize you don’t know anything. It keeps evolving.

DRE:

What happens when you’re 29?

PY:

I don’t think I know everything. I’m excited to learn and experience stuff.

DRE:

What’s your favorite candy?

PY:

Nerds Rope.

DRE:

What’s that?

PY:

Fucking awesome. Its kind of long cherry licorice with Nerds stuck all over it. They have them at the movie theatres.

DRE:

I haven’t seen that in New York.

PY:

That’s great.

DRE:

You have any tattoos?

PY:

Nope. I went through a period where I really wanted when I was drunk on the Santa Monica Pier and this henna artist gave me a henna tattoo. I liked it and I was going to get a real tattoo. I pulled up in front of the tattoo parlor and was like, fuck it I don’t want it.

DRE:

What was it going to be?

PY:

This circle with these lines in it on my arm. It almost looked like floppy pizza pie.

DRE:

I’m glad you didn’t do it.

Who would win in a fight between you and John Mayer?

PY:

Boy I don’t know. He’s really tall. He might have the reach on me.

DRE:

Were you ever a fighter?

PY:

I try to avoid that stuff.

Why do you want to see John Mayer and me fight?