Q&A with Eric Schenkman, lead guitarist of Spin Doctors
The karaoke-worthy Spin Doctors is an alternative rock band that began in the late ‘80s and rose to fame in the early ‘90s. The band will perform at the Westcott Theater on Friday as part of the 20th anniversary tour for their debut album, ‘Pocket Full of Kryptonite.’ Eric Schenkman, lead guitarist for the band, shares his insight on how far the band has come in two decades.
The Daily Orange: You’re performing your entire debut album, ‘Pocket Full of Kryptonite,’ on your tour. What was it like coming back to this album 20 years later?
Eric Schenkman: It’s pretty great because usually you don’t listen to something that old for a long time. We always played some of those tracks. Some of those are radio tracks, but going back to something that’s 20 years old and realizing that it still sounds really good, that’s sort of a happy thing. One good thing about being older is that the group is much better together than we ever were before. We sound great, everyone’s feeling good about it, and we get to go back and revisit the record to say, ‘Wow, this is a really great record.’
Can you explain why you feel the band is better than ever and how that has affected the album?
The four of us each have a certain pocket together that makes us have good chemistry, rhythmically and in all kinds of different musical ways. I think that one thing that 20 years does is that it makes you a little more laid-back, a little more mature. The music basically sounds bigger than it used to because we’re a little more relaxed now. It’s more dimensional, really. Rock music comes from young energy. I think that if you’re a musician for life like we all are, I don’t think that energy dissipates that much over the course of 20 years.
What might Spin Doctors fans expect to see in the future?
This year is a great time to celebrate the birthday of this record, and it’s also a great way to get people to look at us. It’s hard these days to come out with anything new, so for us, there’s a lot riding under the surface. We have a whole catalogue of original blues music that we intend to record. I’d expect two records from us in the next 16 months. One would be more bluesy and one would be more funky stuff, straight-up New York funk. We’re grateful that the record’s turning 20 because it gives us a chance to show who we are now, where we can come out and play some of the stuff that’s indicative of where we’re going.
Published on October 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Contact Gabriela: ggriccar@syr.edu
