Well, how about strong songs? There are plenty of bands that can hold your interest for a 45-minute set. But when you leave, do you still think about them? Do you want more?
Radio Nationals come on like gangbusters, and write hooks so fine that they hang in the air for days after they've been played. Radio Nationals, the rock band formerly known as Haywire, are one of the few acts in town that will win you over by the second song. Why? Because they're more than interesting: They make you want to hear more, or hear it again, or see it closer. As soon as you see them, you just know they're good.
The Radio Nationals are:
Spencer Lamm, drums. Born: Eugene; parents not hippies; lived mostly in Portland. Favorite food: Häagen Dazs Cookies and Cream. Last time I watched a sitcom it was: Friends, while wrapping my wife's Christmas presents.
Jared Clifton, vocals and guitar. Born: Clarksburg, West Virginia. Favorite food: biscuits and gravy, but "only if it's good." Last time I watched a sitcom it was: Happy Days Christmas Day marathon.
Richard Davidson, bass. Born: New York City; has lived in Seattle for nine years. Favorite food: Roasted garlic with bread and butter. Last time I watched a sitcom it was: Real World Seattle, while in Las Vegas.
Patrick Schultz, guitar. Born: Seattle. Favorite food: pizza. Last time I watched a sitcom it was: The Simpsons. I don't believe in sitcoms.
What would be the title of your autobiography?
PAT: Whatever Happened to...? We're not a pessimistic band at all.
What's more important, the lyrics or the music?
SPENCER: Personally, if you're playing live, the music. If it's recorded, the lyrics.
JARED: Lyrics are important. We've done songs where the lyrics are just a complete afterthought to the music, but we also do songs where the lyrics were there first and the song was written around them.
SPENCER: But with this band, the music's always gotta kick your butt. It doesn't make the cut if the music sucks but the lyrics are really....
JARED: We're definitely not such a "poetic" band, like Yoko Ono playing whatever.
Do you find Yoko Ono inspirational?
JARED: Not in the least.
SPENCER: I think you could consider her inspirational in a reflective sense, like what we don't want to do... don't want to be. But so far with [Radio Nationals] it's been so much about the live show. The music has kind of been the most important part for us. Just getting something that conveys an emotion musically. As we've moved recently into recording and doing our first album, we started paying more attention to the lyrics, because all of a sudden it's going to be something people are going to be listening to, hopefully over and over again. So now, I couldn't really say one is more important than the other, but traditionally I think that music has been the more important element for us.
What's the stupidest thing you've ever done while drunk?
JARED: Stupidest thing I ever did drunk? Stole my dad's truck when I was 15 and wrecked it. That's bad to print that. MADD hates us already, because we have all these drinking and driving songs.
PAT: I would say driving is probably the stupidest thing I've done while drunk.
RICH: I once hummed an air guitar to Metallica's Master of Puppets at a party. And I passed out. I don't remember doing it after "Battery"; it kind of gets hazy after that. People tell me I did most of the first side.
What song will be played at your funeral?
PAT: "Lay Me Low" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
JARED: "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain" by Willie Nelson.
SPENCER: "Moonshiner," Uncle Tupelo.
RICH: Gosh, I don't know; I'm stuck on this one. "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" by Led Zeppelin?
JARED: I wish I could say, "Pour Some Sugar on Me."
RICH: Yeah, "Dr. Feelgood."
What's the worst song you've ever loved?
RICH: "Stone in Love" by Journey.
JARED: "Sweet Child o' Mine."
That's not a bad song.
JARED: "Axle F." I loved "Axle F" with a passion. He was in the Mahavishnu Orchestra and he did all the Miami Vice soundtracks. Jan Hammer. I think "Axle F" is terrible.
[Ed. note: Research revealed that "Axle F" is actually a Harold Faltermeyer song.]
SPENCER: I think my favorite song that's generally considered a really bad song is "Against All Odds."
I don't think that's a bad song, either!
SPENCER: "Stone in Love" is a good one, though, because I'll still crank it, but I might put the windows up.
RICH: Exactly.
PAT: I'd say "Triumph of Death" by Hellhammer.
JARED: Will anybody know what you're talking about?
PAT: (In "death metal" voice) Only the true metal fans!
JARED: That's what I wanted to hear.
SPENCER: Okay, how's this for bad... "Desperado" by the Eagles. I can't listen to it anymore. I'm like, "This is such trite crap."
What's the most naive ideal you held in your teens?
PAT: That you can change the system from the inside.
SPENCER: That you can change your parents.
JARED: She truly was the woman for me.
RICH: Well, I've always been a sarcastic optimist; so, just the fact that things can get better; but then I always internally stop myself from actually believing it. The sarcasm overrides the optimism.
What's your idea of perfect beauty?
SPENCER: My idea of perfect beauty is when my wife wakes up in the morning, and she's not quite awake and her muscles don't work quite right, and she can't grasp my hand very tightly; it's very weak.
JARED: My idea is sunrise in South Dakota, in the Badlands after driving more or less all night, and having total raw nerves watching the sun come up in the middle of the winter.
RICH: Mine was the brilliant bright color of blanched red peppers, but I'll also throw in seeing Michelangelo's David for the first time. It was the only piece of artwork I've ever looked at where I got tears in my eyes. That's the sensitive guy answer.
PAT: I always wanted to have that. I've heard about people doing that, seeing art and then crying, and I try.
SPENCER: Last time I went to New York, I saw the biggest collection of Jackson Pollock work ever, and it made me completely nauseous. I loved it, but it affected me physically.
PAT: My [idea of perfect beauty] is that first sip of coffee in the morning.
What's the best thing that could happen to your band in the next week, month, and year?
JARED: Next week we could get a new P.A.
Next month our CDs could come in completed and correct before our CD release party. [Next] year? I'd have to say we get to go on tour.
PAT: World domination.
What's the difference between a good musician and a great musician? Are great musicians born or made?
SPENCER: Great musicians are born, but then they have to be made.
JARED: No, I think good musicians are born. I think great musicians are made. If you can play all the notes or be tight, or whatever, sure, you're a good musician; you're a studio musician. You can play along. A great musician is someone who can actually put the emotion behind it into music.
SPENCER: I think that talent is oftentimes born, but it's whether people choose to work at it or not.
JARED: Good musicians can still give you a chill, but it's the great musicians that make you go, "Damn!"
Then there's some jealousy in that "damn," right?
SPENCER: Maybe admiration more than jealousy.
JARED: Total and complete jealousy.
RICH: It's a combination of all of those.
SPENCER: I always find that inspirational. The gulf is so wide between the stage and you. I have friends that are like, "This is so depressing. These guys are so good." There's gotta be somebody better than you. Otherwise what's the point?
Radio Nationals play Friday, January 14 at the OK Hotel.
