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Better Than Ezra has
its beginnings in college town USA like many other bands. While at
Louisiana State University, lead singer/songwriter Kevin Griffin, Cary
Bonnecaze (the band's original drummer), , Joel Rundell (original rhythm
guitarists), and bassist Tom Drummond formed their garage band. Frustrated
by the lack of local gigs and continual competition with local favorite,
Ezra, the band took upon themselves the name Better Than Ezra,
hoping to score more gigs. The name stuck, and has since become somewhat
of a mystery. (In fact, this story may not be accurate...who knows).
The band toured the local
scene to death, even taking a short tour to Boston, one of the best local
scenes on the east coast. In 1990, Better Than Ezra released a
self-produced cassette album entitled
Surprise. With a small
initial run, the tape quickly sold out with the band playing full-time to
support themselves. With Rundell's sudden death, the band took leave and
the members split for over year.
Kevin, Cary, and Tom
reunited early in 1991 and began working out old and new songs. The band's
first real album, Deluxe, is released independently, and
within two years has sold over 30,000 copies! Better Than Ezra was
signed to Elektra in 1995, and Deluxe was re-released on the
label, breaking records instantly. Lead single off the album, Good,
was common place on both radio and MTV throughout the year.
During the
following year of 1996, Better Than Ezra has a roster change as
Cary left the band and was replaced by Travis Aaron McNabb. The trio's
second album Friction, Baby is met with huge radio play of
singles King of New Orleans and Desperately Wanting while
the band tours from coast to coast, several times. With all the success,
Fudge Studios is created, where their third album, How Does Your
Garden Grow? is recorded and released in 1998. Lead song off the
album, One More Murder was also released on the X-Files:
Fight the Future soundtrack.
However, the
third album did not do as well in sales as Elektra wanted, even though the
band toured three times across the country on the album's name. Being
dropped form the label didn't hold the band back, as they independently
released Artifakt, a collection of rare songs sold over the
internet. Their strong fan base quickly purchased the album, thirsting for
more.
A year later in
2001, Closer was released on a small label Beyond Music and
was met with critical acclaim. This album was hyped as Better Than
Ezra's best record yet. Unfortunately, the label folded shortly after
its release, like many labels as the turn of the century. The band
continued to tour the album without promotion from the label and
Extra Ordinary and Misunderstood became popular songs on the
radio. Fans all over still claim this album wasn't given a fair chance, as
every song is outstanding, and features a well versed band using all their
talents perfected over a period of nearly fifteen years.
During the fall of 2004,
Ezralites were treated to the band's first live album, Live from the
House of Blues in New Orleans and a simultaneous DVD release of
the concert. While the DVD contains the full show, the CD is edited down
for time, but also includes two bonus tracks, Cold Year and
Stall. Cold Year reached the distinguished number one single spot on
www.alternativeaddiction.com.
The DVD also offered an opportunity to archive a BTE concert; a
wonderful thing, especially since the band gives one of the best and most
entertaining performances in the business.
At the end of May of 2005,
Better Than Ezra will their sixth studio album entitled
Before the Robots on Artemis Records. Carrying twelve new songs
(out of thirty recorded) and a new version of fan favorite A Lifetime
(giving the song a second chance at life), this album
has the potential to bring the band to a wider audience, especially if
their label can promote them...and the record stops getting delayed. Only time will tell.
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