Five Minutes with Cliff
On May 4th, 2003, [caedmonscall.net] sent their resident staff lackey, Geof Morris, to catch up with Caedmon’s Call following a performance after a Nashville Sounds baseball game. With Geof in tow, the band headed over to a small studio where they were touching up a soon to be released radio version of Hands of the Potter. Cliff Young sat down with Geof for 5 minutes to discuss the most recent tour with Jars of Clay, the band’s plans for the fall, and what the next record might sound like. Here’s what transpired.
[cc.net]: Hi y’all, this is Geof Morris. We’ve got Cliff Young here, about to cut a vocal for ‘Hands of the Potter’. They’re going to do a radio remix, is that right Cliff?
CY: Yeah, we actually already finished the radio remix, and we’ve already mixed it all last night. We hate the way it sounds on the CD compared to the way it sounds live, so we’re trying to make it sound more like it does live on the recording. So the radio remix, well not even a remix, we re-recorded it completely and Danielle’s going to sing a vocal on it. We were mixing it last night at about two in the morning and we heard the vocal part and we were like … oh Danielle’s gotta sing it tomorrow… so she’s going to sing it real quick.
[cc.net]: So when’s this gonna come out over the air, do you know?
CY: hmmm, like in 3 weeks or a month.
Josh Moore (interrupting in a strange Dracula-like voice): I’m full of lies.
CY: That was Josh…And we’re gonna release a bonus, like a ‘single’ version of it, and add it to the CD or do it separate, I’m not sure how we’re gonna do it yet. But we’re planning on mixing it in 5.1 surround, with all the percussion stuff, so it’s going to be pretty fun. We’re really excited about the new version of it, we’re pumped about it actually.
[cc.net]: Speaking of recording new stuff, have you guys started thinking about what the next disc will be about?
CY: Yes. The next CD is going to be about one room. We’re going to put a bunch of instruments in that one room, and we’re gonna use those instruments and we’re not gonna bring anyone else in…
Jeff Miller (interrupting): And that will probably change about ten times before we do the CD.
CY: That was Jeff, he’s a pessimist.
Jeff: I am not, I’m a realist. Who’s the one who said we weren’t going to play ‘Kingdom’ on the tour? Was I right? Yes!
CY: It wasn’t for the reason that you thought.
Jeff: I”m always right.
(Andrew Osenga interrupts, bringing Cliff a CD of his former band, The Normals)
[cc.net]: Here’s Andrew Osenga bringing Cliff a Normals CD, trying to pimp his old band.
CY: Thank you Andrew. Look Andrew, I know you’re good buddy, you don’t have to keep bringing me things like this.
Andy: C’mon man, let me play with you, let me join your band.
[cc.net]: Well ya know, plenty of folks have asked about that. What about Andrew and the band and his status, or do you know?
CY: Uhh, Andy is a good friend, he’s just playing with us right now. Who knows what the future holds for anyone.
[cc.net]: Well, speaking of the future, I know you guys are going to be back touring again in the fall, so what are the details on that?
CY: We’ll be going again with Jars it looks like, and going to the West Coast. We’ll probably do one show in Texas, one show in Maine and like, Vermont and some random places over there, and then maybe a New York City and going to the West Coast. We’re talking right now about going to Canada, and then we’re talking about actually going overseas to Europe with the Jars tour.
[cc.net]: So do you guys know who’s going to be opening for that yet?
CY: No we don’t actually. Possibly Randall Goodgame. We’re gonna do a bunch more songs with Jars actually, we’re doing a deal where…
Josh (interrupting): Once again I’m full of lies.
CY: Josh … he’s on drugs. Anyway, we’ll both play an hour exactly, and then the encore is going to be about 5 songs together. We’re going to work in a bunch of stuff like James Taylor and random songs so it’s going to be fun.
[cc.net]: How was playing with Jars in the spring?
CY: We loved it. We got along so great. I mean, like, we’re all best friends now.
[cc.net]: It seemed like you guys were having a good time.
CY: Oh yeah. We had a great time and through it all we kept saying, “Man we need to play more together,” so we’re working on that right now.
[cc.net]: So was it weird playing without Derek on this tour?
CY: It was definitely weird at first, but it kinda became something totally different. It wasn’t like we were up there thinking, “where’s Derek?”, ya know? It was just totally different. I’m sure it was the same way for Derek, I mean, he’s done solo stuff a lot, but I mean, I’m sure it’s different. Totally different. There’s no way to say weird, or whatever. We were trying to do something different without Derek.
[cc.net]: So how did you feel about the entire tour, from how you guys sounded musically, what you guys were playing and all that?
CY: We felt good about it for the most part. I mean, we’re still not where we want to be and what exactly we want to do with everything, but I don’t know. It was weird playing with another band, we’ve never done that before. Even though it wasn’t supposed to be a headlining/opening kind of a thing, we were supposed to have an equal deal or whatever. It was just different. So that was weird. So once we start touring by ourselves again things will probably start to take shape even more.
[cc.net]: So where’s Caedmon’s going to be in 2-3 years? Are you still going to be a nice happy folk band?
CY: Oh, I don’t know. We’ve got 2 records left on our record contract … shhhh, not supposed to say that … but, I don’t know, we’ll see.
Jeff (interrupting): Yeah, we’ll see.
CY: There goes ‘doomsday’. That’s what we call Jeff. Y’all at caedmons.net, if you want to start using that as Jeff’s nickname…In fact, I would like you to do this. Under his picture, put in quotes under his picture: “doomsday”. That’s what we call him because he’s such a pessimist.
[cc.net]: Who’s the biggest optimist in the band?
CY: Probably me. I’m an ultra, over-optimist. To the point where it’s like exaggeration.
[cc.net]: Who snores the loudest on the bus?
CY: That would be Todd.
[cc.net]: Who’s the biggest pest on the bus, always bothering everyone else?
Jeff (interrupting): Cliff.
CY: I’m on my own bus actually, with Danielle and the kids, so I guess my kids are the biggest pests.
Jeff: Definitely Cliff.
CY (to Jeff): Who’s the biggest pest on y’alls bus? Josh?
Jeff: Absolutely!
Jeff (to Andy): It’s totally Josh isn’t it?
Andy (in his opera voice): I plead the fifth!
CY: Andy is pleading the fifth, and Jeff said Josh, so I’m saying Josh, even thought I wasn’t on that bus.
[cc.net]: I guess that’s about it then, Cliff. Thanks for your time. We’ll look forward to getting the tour dates from you and having people check out the tour.
CY: We love you guys and we’re pumped.