Riding Shotgun with The Long Winters

ou might have noticed a recurring theme around these parts: bands that have songs I feel the need to listen to incessantly. The Long Winters are no exception. Many, many years ago I discovered John Roderick and his band of merry Left Coasters making beautiful, jangly music together. Soon after, "Cinnamon" and "It'll Be a Breeze" were the only two songs I would listen to for weeks at a time. I fell in love with this heartfelt yet tongue-in-cheek band, and hopefully you already feel the same way. Mister Roderick put fingers to Blackberry keys, revealing his take on the lovely life of the Long Winters. So sit back, make yourself a cranberry & soda, and read on to see how John feels about Lita Ford, Civil War graveyards, and Valencia. And then get your behind to the Rock'n'Roll Hotel on April 3 to see John and his fellow Long Winters in action.

Touring is: One constant hilarious misadventure after another, punctuated with a lot of ribaldry and good humor. And almost constant gay jokes.

Our first gig was: Opening for John Vanderslice at a Christian youth center. Our first bass player quit the day before.

Our favorite venue to play is: Well, there are so many, but the Bowery Ballroom in NYC is pretty darned nice.

Hygiene on a tour is: Important to some more than others. Fortunately we're blessed with a band where no one has terrible body odor or is a real stinkapus. Plus, we don't sleep on floors anymore, so there's always a shower when you need one. I get accused of creating some hazardous environments in the van.

Our favorite thing about touring is: Oh, the camaraderie! For sure!

And the least favorite: The damn long drives with no sleep.

City with the best audiences: Valencia, Spain.

Band member most likely to disappear after a gig: If by disappear you mean get lost in the hotel lobby: Jonathan Rothman.

The tour bus/van smells like: What is it with you and smells? Alright, you've caught us. It smells like ten thousand farts on a hot day in a slaughterhouse.

Laundry is a) washed regularly, b) washed irregularly, c) we go shopping a lot: Nabil goes shopping and buys new clothes in almost every town, the sissy. Jonathan seems to have an endless supply of clean clothes from a bottomless back of vintage tee shirts. Eric washes his clothes regularly at laundromats, and I wear the same clothes five days in a row.

What's the most unusual item on your rider? Nothing too strange. We like dark chocolate.

Who controls the music in the touring vehicle? And what do you like to listen to while tooling around on tour? We have a game where we trade iPods and DJ from each other's music. It's pretty fun, except all their music sucks.

What's your favorite new watering hole that you've found while on tour? And/or the best place to cure late night cravings? Screw watering holes. We're in bars every night of the week, why the heck would we want to go out to another bar to get drinks? Our favorite watering hole is the plastic bin full of Stellas in our dressing room. The best late night food is at Fran's in Toronto.

Most amusing memory from your current or most recent tour? Playing the "Good Morning Winnipeg" program at eight a.m., sandwiched between a woman who made animals out of hard-boiled eggs, and two gals who could "align your Chi" by rubbing on crystal bowls.

Favorite tour activity (other than the gigs themselves): I like to find old Civil War graveyards, Nabil looks for H&M stores, Eric reads RSS feeds and Jonathan talks to his girlfriend in a hushed voice.

What bands have you most enjoyed touring with? And what band/s, past or present, would the Long Winters most like to tour with? We've had a blast with almost every band we've ever toured with. We've been lucky in that regard. I'd say we all liked touring with Keane especially much, and we'd love to tour with Lita Ford.

All-time favorite song to play live (Long Winters or otherwise): "King of Carrot Flowers."

Please name the city you wouldn't ever play in again? Or if not a particular city, which venue (if any!) would you not mind seeing razed to the ground? I hate the Casbah in San Diego.

Apart from the obvious CDs, what's the merch item of yours you think people should shell out for? We have Long Winters Kazoos for sale on this tour. I'm serious. And we play them ourselves.

How do you know when you've played a really great gig? You know it when you're in it. The stars just align. I talk to the crowd a lot during our shows, so I can tell how things are going from their involvement. We played in Chicago last week and the place was going crazy. It was a thrill. Have you been to the top of the Washington Monument? Yes.

What would you like people to be saying about the Long Winters in 50 years? That we wrote the songs that inspired a thousand songwriters.

If we weren't in the Long Winters, we'd be: Artwork by Elephants.

The best thing about a long winter is: Sweaters.

Please recite a line of poetry: For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.

And finally, it's BigYawn's round. What's your poison? Cranberry and soda.

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