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Hours after the morning light breaks and slowly moves across Tom Drummond's bed, he settles into a chair in his Louisiana home and thinks of California.
Of Los Angeles, that is, when bartending was his second job. The first being the bass player for pop/rock band Better Than Ezra.
"It was great," Tom recalls about living in California. So great that lead singer/songwriter Kevin Griffin wrote "Under You," the would-have-been hit that was never released off the album, How Does Your Garden Grow?
A Hollywood flat where we'd laugh about our fortunes Well we held jobs in the bar down at 3rd and San Vincente. And Ramen noodles at 4:30 in the morning When we barely could survive, I was never more alive.
Things have changed for Tom, Kevin and drummer Travis McNabb.
Tom hit the hay at 2:30 a.m. and is thinking of eating cereal and toast for breakfast.
And as far as the rest of the band: Almost a year after their fifth album, Closer, has been released, they are touring with Cowboy Mouth this fall and, even better than that, they will be playing at Dancin' in the District in Nashville tomorrow.
"This is the third time we've played for Dancin' in the District," says Tom before he reluctantly classifies the band as pop/rock. "We're not just pop and we're not just rock, so we're somewhere in between."
Before the rise of "Good" (1995) and their biggest selling single "All The Stars" (1998), they were Louisiana State University students sharing the same hobby 14 years ago. Cary Bonnecaze was the drummer on Deluxe, their first album. By the second album release they had a new drummer, Travis, also from New Orleans.
"Travis was kind of a studio drummer on the second album," Tom says. "By the third album he had more of an influence in sound.
"By the fourth album, we all had equal impact."
But the fourth album wasn't released to the public except through their Web site for Ezralites only.
"Artifakt is roughly songs that have been around that were never recorded for an album," Tom explains. "They were songs we felt needed to be heard, but didn't fit into a CD."
Their newest release, Closer, is closer to the sound they have been searching to find for 14 years.
"We were trying to find a way to make Better Than Ezra Better Than Ezra," he says. "And we finally figured that out in this album."
Think of "singing out loud when the sun came up" on a sunny day at the beach, and you've got every hopeful, happy-go-lucky tune covered except "Closer" and "A Lifetime," both of which are the album's strongest songs.
With beautiful string arrangements by David Campbell featuring the Quartet Illumina, "Closer" tells the story of a father's excitement and anxiety about the birth of a child.
He gets up without her waking To the voices in his head Through the shadows in the hallway To the room they painted blue And on the inside he is frightened At a loss for what to do.
"Kevin had a son," says Tom. "He was coming to grips with fatherhood."
"A Lifetime" is equally as moving and was inspired by the death and burial of a singer/songwriter in the 1970s "who wanted to be buried in a certain way."
When we arrived late to the wake, Stole the urn while they Looked away, And drove to the beach 'Cause I knew you'd want it That way.
"It's partly based on real life and partly fictional," Tom explains. "I hope that song will be the next song out."
With DJ Swamp on the turntables, songs such as "Extra Ordinary" and "Recognize" feature the poppier rock sounds for which BTE is known.
"[Closer] has all the aspects from the other records," he explains. "It's a combination of it all. It has the electronica from How Does Your Garden Grow?, the rock from Friction, Baby, and the stylistic songwriting from Deluxe. Put all those together and you get Closer."
Tom says Kevin will have an idea and "we'll say, 'Yeah, let's work on that.'
"We usually finish recording the song before he finishes the lyrics," laughs Tom. "From a songwriting point of view, this new record is the best and I think the most successful in that aspect."
While working on new material this fall, the band will tour with Cowboy Mouth from the end of September until the end of November.
They will headline at Riverfront Park in downtown Nashville with Cracker, RANA, Feable Weiner, Homunculus and Wil Seabrook. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the free show ends at 10:30 p.m.
"It's hard work," Tom says. "A lot of people think it's a party, but it takes a lot of effort. It took us so long to get where we are."
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