Grüvis Malt is the founder of the music movement known as "futurock," an eclectic mix of funk, hip-hop, jazz and metal. This gifted sextet consists of Justin Abene on bass, Brendan Bell on vocals, Gavin Busath on keyboards & vocals, Steve Geuting on guitar, Scott McPhail on drums and Erik Nilsson on sax. They've done extensive touring over the past 5 years. They've played alongside acts like Incubus and Wilco, among many others. With four independent releases under their belt and their second full-length album "...with the spirit of a traffic jam..." released last April on Lakeshore Records, they recently embarked on tour once again. I had the chance to sit down and talk with them before their gig at Bill's Bar in Boston and listened with pleasure as they spoke enthusiastically about music. I also found out just how funny they are, in addition to being extremely talented. Read on to hear what the Rhode Island natives had to say about touring, ice cream, underwear but most importantly, their music...

dU: Our magazine is called "defyUnlearn" because we strive to defy labels and want people to "unlearn" what they have been taught. What does "defy unlearn" mean to you?

Brendan: We kind of live by those words; we defy the norm and we unlearn as well - we're all much stupider [than before rock and roll].

dU: When doing interviews is there a question you hate being asked?

Scott: I think I speak for everyone here: "How did you get your name 'Grüvis Malt'?" and "What does it mean?"

Steve: "Why are you so damn beautiful?"

dU: How about a question you wish someone would ask you? Then I'll ask you to please answer that question.

Scott: "Would you like to borrow $10?"

Gavin (addressing me): These questions are above par...I mean under par...

dU: oh no...

Gavin: No, under is good, in golf terms I mean; they're "Eagle", or "Double Bogey" but I think you're tricking us into doing all your work. (laughs) that's what this is really about: "Is there a second question you want to be asked? How about a third question?"

dU: No... (laughing) I'm asking in the sense that I want to know if there is something you want to tell people or that you want people to know.

Gavin: You're right... something we're really proud of, which is what we want to talk about is our outlook on our fans or that how we interact with them is very important to us. How about this:

"So Grüvis Boys, is it true you guys are really cool to your fans?"

And I would reply, "As a matter of fact, defyUnlearn, we feel that our fans are number one...better than other bands' fans - they are more attractive in general and they really help us more than they know. With the amount of people in the music industry that let you down, they're the only people that never let us down - except if we play Boston more than once in a month. (laughs) Basically that is what we would say about them: that we can count on our fans and some bands might not be able to... thanks for the question."

Brendan: Another question we'd like to get more often is about what our music actually means. I don't think we get to explain ourselves enough. For some reason no one ever really asks what the music means, what the lyrics mean, where did this come from. Sometimes they assume but they don't ask.

Gavin: I think you're right, but I think some bands don't want to tell anyone what the songs mean.

Eric walks in at this point. He ended up parking in Brookline and skateboarding back to the venue.

dU: What kind of role did music play in your life when you were growing up?

Steve: I have the most embarrassing musical history because I was a child of hair bands, so I grew up on Motley Crüe. Not literally, but I was into 80's rock, early 90's hard rock, Motley Crüe, and crap like that. Oh, and AC/DC, that was my all time favorite, I had every tape of their's at one point. Also, my mom always played show tunes around the house. That's where I come from, I don't know what kind of role it played, maybe it made me not want to hear that shit again. I should be a glam rocker by now, but I'm not.

Eric: I started playing and listening to jazz music when I was in high school and I was studying jazz there. I was really into jazz and I became a snob. We used to hang out together and listen to jazz records. We used to say "listen to that lick, it's really hot! Listen to this solo...it's the 'next level'..."

dU: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? If you couldn't do what you're doing, that is.

Gavin: We can't [even] do what we're doing. (laughs) If I weren't in rock and roll I would probably be a homemaker.

Brendan: I would probably be a painter or a construction worker.

Steve: I would probably fly airplanes.

Justin: Trust fund baby.

Scott: I think I'd own an ice cream store.

Erik: I would be a teacher and bartender by night.

dU (to Erik): What would you like to teach?

Erik: English and music.

dU: What kind of music are you listening to now? And which bands?

Erik: There are a lot of new rock bands that have been coming out with a lot of good CDs. Brendan and I have been getting into the new rock coming out, it's getting hyped out a lot, so no need to mention names. Not like the Hives, or the White Stripes...but like, Interpol...Queens of the Stone Age just put out a really good CD. Dismemberment Plan, the Flaming Lips... Basically we all listen to everything.

Steve: Gavin wants to marry Bjork.

dU: Which of your songs would you like to see a cover version of and who would you like to see do it?

Gavin: That's a good one. Does it have to be modern? Someone from this era?

dU: No, any era.

Gavin: It would be cool if Jeff Buckley did one of our songs because it would have to be someone that did it very different than us. Whenever we do covers, we try and remix them to be Grüvis Malt so if people didn't know they were covers, they'd almost think they were our songs. I think we'd want the same thing for our band, we wouldn't want someone trying to do what we do, especially if they're better at their particular craft than us. It would be cool if it was someone on the opposite side of the spectrum, like a death metal band doing one of our lighter songs or a pop band doing one of our weirder songs. Meshuggah should cover Mr. Prince.

Brendan: I don't have a particular song but maybe some of our newer stuff which is really dense and complex, and have someone like Brian Wilson, with or without the Beach Boys, take it apart and extract the melodies as opposed to all the technicalities we have going on, and make it something beautiful.

Gavin: I think it would be cool if someone like Aphex Twin or DJ Shadow, someone doing very electronic music, took one of our tracks.

Scott: my answer is just like Brendan's but it's a different person, it would be Morrissey because I would like to hear his voice sing some of our songs. (someone moans) What, you don't like Morrissey? I didn't know that.

Steve: I would like to hear Grüvis Malt do Duran Duran. I would be interested to hear SOAD do [A Great Work of] Fiction. I think that would be cool.

dU: What song do you like to perform the most live?

Erik: Ark

Scott: I agree with Erik.

Justin: Whatever is new.

Steve: Ark and I would also have to say Fiction.

Brendan: I agree with Steve on that, but Justin too.

Gavin: Aggression [Then Silence] is a classic that never really let us down but again, whatever is brand new and risky.

dU: Have you started working on your next album?

Gavin: Not actually recording it... but started working on it.

dU: Can you tell us a little about it? For example, are you planning on redoing any of your older material?

Gavin: No. That's actually very controversial. There are 3 older songs we redid and a bunch of fans wrote us and said they weren't happy about that. Eventually they recanted and apologized... but that was after severe punishment... but I think that in general, people didn't understand. I think they might think it was money driven or for lack of material but we actually had 6 or 7 other songs that we could have put on, but those 3 songs fit the theme of this album. So it was pretty important for us to have them on this album. We like hearing bands rethink the ways they do songs. Our methos for our live shows has always been to reassess older material and rework it. Like tonight we're playing 2 remixes of some older stuff. So that [way] fans have a reason to come out and see shows. Like on our mp3 site, we thought it would be cool to have 3 different versions of Mr. Prince: a live version, an electronic remix, and then the album version.

Brendan: We'll do it on our site again but we probably won't do it again on our next album. That album was the first time we thought about doing that, and that album is not live.

dU: Can you tell me one thing that makes a really good audience?

Erik: One that listens and cares and gives back to you. Not necessarily dancing or screaming or clapping even, but you have to connect with your audience in a way that is beyond that... it's a "vibe" you get. There was one show we played up North in a ski lodge. There were a ton of kids there all riled up and rowdy. I swear to God it was awesome - they nearly pushed the stage down. And it was the coolest thing because most people don't get really physically active at our shows. We are kind of a "watch and listen" band, people don't really dance.

Brendan: Sometimes, [having] no audience is good. You can play your best shows to no one. You just never know. When one of us does the wrong thing at the right time or the right thing at the wrong time, we'll play a great show and the next time something with happen, not necessarily our fault, like we play to a packed audience in Maine and an amp will break. It won't ruin the show, but obviously won't be as good as it was the night before when we played for no one.

dU: If Ben & Jerry made an ice cream in your honor and allowed you to create & name it, what would it be called and what would be in it?

Scott: They already did...I was actually involved with the Ben & Jerry's company for about 3 or 4 years. One time one of the district representatives from the corporation and a couple of the owners got together, they knew about the band and they really liked us. All the kids that worked in the stores in the North East region, Boston, Rhode Island and Vermont, decided to help promote us and they got the permission from the corporation to make a formula shake and name it the "Grüvis Malt". The first thing they came up with was strawberry ice cream, malt powder (what's in the whopper candies), and gummy bears, chopped up in a blender. First of all it was the loudest thing ever. When you threw those ingredients in the blender and just started it, you couldn't hear anything in the whole store. And then when you would try to drink it, it would all get stuck in your straw. Not to mention the fact that everyone thought it looked gross, so nobody got it. To make a long story slightly less long, we finally got them to ok a change ---and this was actually my idea--- we took all the sorbets we had (at the time it was 4) and we blended that with orange juice. It was like a smoothie. It was very good, it didn't have any malt in it but we were able to keep the name "Grüvis Malt" and it sold pretty well too. I don't know if they still have it.

Brendan: Now an ideal flavor if this never existed would be "Spectacular-Rocka-Phonic-Crunchly-Delicious-Pick-a-Doodle." Or you could just name it the "Grüvis Malt Ice Cream." It should be generic like that, "festivus extravaganza." It should have a very basic, plain tasty thing, like vanilla, as the background and then it could just have big chunks of gold in it so that if you knew what you were gonna get, you'd take it to your nearest bar and buy some supplies.

Justin: What?

Brendan: Gold, you go to the bar...

Justin: A bard?

Brendan: But if you didn't know there was going to be gold in it, you'd probably break your teeth and never go back, so I think that has a lot do to with what we do. You either like us or you really don't like us... or you break your teeth on us, but if you really knew what you were getting, you'd have this whole fuckin' thing full of gold and you could just go and buy whatever you want with it. The market value of gold is very high... But another good idea would be to just put the Grüvis Malt ice cream wrapper on all other kinds and it doesn't really ever have a flavor. It's whatever you get, you get. You just never know - it could be Chunky Monkey, Chubby Hubby, or Cherry Garcia (laughter all around)

dU: On a more serious note, what's your favorite curse word?

Erik: All of them. I love to curse and swear. The two words I say the most are "fuck" and "shit." Those are the words that every other curse is based off of. Fuck and shit you can do anything with.

Steve: Mine is "fuck" and "asshole."

Brendan: I'd love to have a creative answer, but "fuck" is definitely the steady swear.

Gavin: I don't swear.

Steve: Gavin's is "Freakin' a-hole!"

Brendan: You got that one from Inside the Actor's Studio...

dU: umm, yeah, I love that show. (Laughter) Feel free to tell me what your favorite sound is...

Brendan: My favorite sound is a vacuum cleaner when you're half asleep two floors above it...think about it.

dU: OK, your fans want to know: Boxers or briefs? (giggles and laugher ensue)

Scott: boxers

Steve: bikini thong

Brendan: dainty women's undies

Gavin: I want to believe that our fans would never ask us a question so not-having-to-do-with-our-music. I can't believe our fans would be that... I'm not answering, I'm mad our fans would ask that. We put out 4 albums and toured the world and they ask us what kind of underwear we wear? Wait, who asked?

dU: (Silence)

Brendan: She said the fans asked.

Gavin: No underwear at all.

Erik: For us to know and them to find out! (mock laughter)

Part II: Tour Stories

dU: Think back to the beginning of your tour, doesn't even have to be this one...and tell me about a comedic moment.

Erik: I experienced a comedic moment about an hour ago when I was pulled over by a cop in a do-rag.

dU: Sorry? A what?

Erik: A "do- rag." That thing that people tie on their heads. It kind of looks like pantyhose...like a pantyhose bandana.

Justin: You got a ticket on our bus?

Erik: yeah

Justin: Why didn't you tell us that?

Erik: Because I came straight in here for the interview...

Scott: How much?

Erik: 50 bucks

Scott: Why?

Erik: I made a left turn where I wasn't allowed

dU: and you didn't tell him you're in Grüvis Malt?

Erik: He was wearing a do-rag, I didn't think he'd go for it. (laughter)

Justin: I have another comedic moment. On tour, Steve got out of the van all confused and tired and we had to check our fluids and Steve has a water in one hand and a bottle of transmission fluid in the other and he takes the top off and he takes a swig but he didn't swallow and no one realized it, so I started freaking out, and I yelled: " you drank transmission fluid! You drank transmission fluid!" Then Steve spent twenty dollars worth of water rinsing his mouth out.

dU: Tell me about a moment of perfection or beauty.

Scott: Gavin and I built a half pipe in our house and we finished it.

dU: Tell me about a moment of ugliness.

Steve: The outhouse in the middle of Las Vegas we had to use. It's a rest stop but really, it's a glorified outhouse because it's a big pit about 6 feet down you take a shit in.

Justin: That's my word.

Steve: Yeah, that's his favorite word, but that was really nasty and no electricity, so you couldn't even see if you were hitting the...

dU: How about a cliché moment?

Steve: Erik and I were swimming and we had a bit much to drink. This was in a man made pond and we would dive down and stick our heads in the bottom of the pond. I think a lot of people have done that... you should really try sticking your head in the mud.

dU: Finally, tell me about a moment of gratitude:

Gavin: I think we're pretty grateful for...when we went down to Florida for the first time and were allowed to stay at a friend's house, who's now helping us book shows, his name is Mor. Turned out there was a hot tub there and video games...lots of video games, and movies, so it was kind of neat to be so far from home, and some of us living better than they usually live at home, and to not be at home. Just to have that for multiple days in a row, rent-free, was pretty cool. He also bought 2 go-carts for this next tour that we can use when we get down there.

Scott: Also, we went to California this past June and got to the first few clubs we were playing at and there was a good size crowd. We just thought they were there for the other bands and so we started playing and then they started singing along knowing all our parts. I mean, they're across the country, and they know our songs. That's gratitude, knowing your fans have been spreading your name around.

Interview by: Carina
carina@defyunlearn.com