Celebrity Interviews

MusicSpectator.com offers up the following celebrity interviews for your enjoyment.

From The Ashes
An interview with Smashmouth frontman Steve Harwell
By Craig Marquardo

Steve Harwell was a lousy drunk, a mediocre singer, and not a very nice guy. Just ask him, he’ll be the first to tell you. Like many a rock star before him, a series of sobering events turned him around, like the death of his young child, a marriage on the rocks, and a band coming apart at the seams.

Two years later, Harwell is clean and sober, looks great and sounds better than ever. His new lease on life has found its way into the heart of the band, which is enjoying a bit of a revival itself. While making money hand over fist from their marketing and licensing of their songs in recent years, they have endured the sour label of being sellouts. But that suits them just fine, since they no longer desire to appeal to the ska skater kids they once were themselves, realizing that their core audience has shifted to kids and their parents.

After their megahit ‘Walking On The Sun’ launched them to stardom, their follow up album ‘Astro Lounge’ had a number of hits like ‘All Star’ and ‘Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby’. But it was when they were tapped by the Shrek producers to use their music in the films, all three of them, that they started to shift their focus as a band. Instead of trying to make their audience follow them, they followed their audience, recording songs for the films like the remake of the Monkeys ‘I’m A Believer’.

But now they venture off into unfamiliar territory: no label, a sober leader, and a drive they have never had in the entire existence of the band.

Steve and I talked for over an hour while he was running errands. I didn’t need to say much, he had a lot on his mind. He was incredibly honest and forthcoming, about both the good and bad. One of the most enjoyable interviews we have done so far.

MS: ‘Walking On The Sun’ broke the band around the world, but the song was so unlike the rest of that first record.

Steve: Yea, that was something our producer started experimenting with, playing around with different tastes and sounds. When it was done, we knew that was it. I mean, before that song, we were a good band, but didn’t have much direction. ‘Walking On The Sun’ was the turning point that would define the band and our sound for the future.

MS: I saw you play live several years ago in West Palm Beach, and you were a bit of a mess – off key, out of tune…

Steve: I was always pretty fucked up in those days. I was drunk all the time, and doing lines of cocaine before shows. I am surprised that I was able to do the show at all. Also, I basically learned how to sing in the studio. So singing live was still a bit of a new thing for me then, on top of being wasted.

MS: How bad did it get?

Steve: You know, I could whine and say I had a lot of depressing things going on in my life. I lost a child, this happened, that happened. But that’s not me. I came home drunk one day to a note from my wife saying she left. I drank some more and passed out on my patio furniture outside my house. The next morning I woke up, birds were singing, the sun was shining, and I realized that I was a mess. I knew that already, but now it really hit me. My son, my wife…how much more could I blow things? I never touched another drink or drug ever since. I had to save my marriage, save my life.

MS: The band still parties…

Steve: They do, and I would love to tell them not to, but they are grown men. It’s my burden to be strong enough to walk away when I get tempted, that’s not their fault. But on the other side, I am motivated. I feel good, and I am ready to take Smashmouth to the next level. We have grown in layers, and we are just starting the next one.

MS: Like going forward without a label?

Steve: That wasn’t by choice. I wasn’t happy with the decision, but in the end we were just going in such different directions it was the only way to go. I don’t know, like I said, it’s not how I wanted things to go, but we’re there. We’re making it work. We’re not some band that needs MySpace to sell records, we sold over 5 million albums. I think we can figure it out.

MS: Do you ever feel that all of the commercialization of Smashmouth has overshadowed the music?

Steve: We get called sellouts. I get where they are coming from. Turn on the television for more than 20 minutes. You won’t be able to go that long without hearing us used in a commercial or television show. I am not in my 20’s anymore trying to impress the people I grew up with, or try and still be ‘true’ to my skater roots. We have families, mortgages, and responsibilities. Greg (Greg Camp, guitar, songwriter) struggled with this for a while. I tell him, you wrote two of the most well known songs in the last decade, you should hold your head up high. As talented as he is, and please print this, I truly love that man, and he was embarrassed by the good things he did. I don’t see us as selling out, but if others do, that’s fine by me. We’re just doing what’s best for us and our future.

MS: So the loud, militant and alternative rock band from San Jose is now more popular with parents and kids?

Steve: It wasn’t by design, but it’s what happened. We look out in the audience and see hundreds of kids singing every word to every song, and their parents are rocking right next to them. I think it’s a great thing. There aren’t many bands that are so well liked by both.

MS: And you have a solo project you are toying with?

Steve: I went down to Nashville to start making plans for a country project. The great thing about Nashville is that there is so much amazing talent in every corner. But no one cares about being a star, they are all just intent on making incredible music. I have so much respect for them. I ain’t gonna wear the outfits or anything. Look at Keith Urban, he’s pretty normal and he’s a huge country star.

MS: Demons behind you?

Steve: I am the lead singer of Smashmouth. If that isn’t enough to make me love my life, nothing will.