Chattanooga Times Free Press music reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Greg Amell, lead singer of the Nashville-based rock band The Hopsing Project, about returning to the stage after two years, the band’s future and people watching.
CP: So the last time we wrote about you was two years ago right before your “final” show. Now, you’ve got an upcoming gig at Rhythm & Brews. Is this a comeback? A one off?
GA: Umm … we’re just kind of dipping our feet back in for the second to see if this is something we want to do again. Basically, all it is is more for fun so we can get back together and play music.
CP: So what has changed for the band in the last two years? Has anything changed?
GA: Not really. We haven’t really played together any. We played a smaller show at JJ’s two or three months ago, but this is just going to be us doing what we used to do. Not much has changed except that we got old. We’re older and wiser.
CP: What was the impetus for this sudden return to the scene?
GA: I guess all of us, including myself, just miss playing. We miss having a chance to play and play in such a great venue and just be able to get out of Nashville together as a group and see all our old friends. Some of us don’t get to get down there a lot. It’s an excuse to leave town and play music and have fun for a weekend.
CP: Have you figured out a set list? Will there be any new music?
GA: Yeah, there’s going to be a couple of new songs and a couple of songs we’ve changed around a lot. Our guitar player, Dave, won’t be able to do it, join us, but we’ve got our good friends, Johnny Z, who plays with the band Old Union who’s going to be filling in for us. It might add a very different feel to what we do.
CP: Anything about your new music that might surprise fans?
GA: There are two of them are really short. Usually our songs are about five minutes, but these two are like three minutes long, one of them is two and a half. Every song I ever write for this project will not sound the same, but it will have our own flavor in there with Sheena on fiddle and Taylor playing bass and Jim playing drums.
Taylor and his wife just moved back from New York. That’s another reason we didn’t play for a long time. He moved to New York, and now he’s back after a year. That’s another reason we were like, “Let’s start doing this again.”
CP: Assuming you get a good response to this show, do you think this has legs to it? Could this turn into a more permanent gig?
GA: Hmm … it’s more about fun right now. There’s always a dream of doing it. For me personally, I love doing it so much, and I totally miss it. I want it to be permanent. I always think about it every day when I don’t play. There was a period when I took a break period and didn’t play for two weeks. I just stayed away from it because after doing it for so long and going to play in Cincinnati for $35 and an apology for not having any money for us, it was like, “We’ve got to stop doing this.”
During that time away from it, I kept wanting to do it. I had these ideas for trying this or trying that, but I never presented it to anybody I played with. I just sat there and decided to make money and work and be stable for a bit.
CP: What’s that been like? Is stability all it’s cracked up to be?
GA: I work at a bar. It’s fun, and it’s good to watch these people and see every type of person’s emotion. You can see everything from a drunk sorority girl to the day-time drinker who’s really depressed. It’s interesting to me because I like to people watch. I can go to the mall and people watch and make fun of people. (Laughs.) I only work three days a week, so I have a lot of time to do whatever.
CP: As I read it, you’ve lived in many diverse places, including Dallas, New York and Los Angeles. What influence have those experiences had on your songwriting?
GA: Well, I was really little when I moved, but I moved to Los Angeles when I was older and moved back after six months because that city was just crap. I’ve lived here in Nashville for six years. I haven’t really done much since. Everybody here is trying to do the same thing. That kind of distracts you from writing and stuff, especially since I work in a bar, because you have to sit there and listen to them talk about music all the time. Every conversation I hear is about their band, and it’s just so annoying. It discourages you from even writing. I’ve learned to block it out now, so I’m not as bitter now. (Laughs.)
CP: Do you think those years working in the bar watching people and growing discouraged with music are going to have any influence on your songwriting in the future?
GA: Yeah, I think age, too, with me getting older and really liking slower, depressing stuff. If I hear a band, I always want to hear the slow song, not to cry like a little girl with a skinned knee, but to hear what they can really do. Anybody can go in and play really loud. I like the lower key stuff, so that’s the first thing I look for. That seems like it’s always been the thing I wanted to do. I don’t want to ever write music to be a drag, but I can have something that seems slow, but if you bring in everybody else in the band, it adds so much and makes you want to speed it up more and be more interesting.
CP: What does having Sheena in the band playing fiddle offer you in terms of creative freedom?
GA: There are lots of times where you’re writing a song or coming up with something, and I always make sure I know Sheena’s will be in there. It opens up the song even more. It’s the same with Taylor and Jim on drums and bass. They make everything so open, so Sheena has the freedom to do whatever. Sheena is really good, and she knows what she’s doing. (Laughs.)
That’s the way it’s always been. I’ll bring in an idea, and everybody works on it. We all collectively write. Things change all the time when we’re doing that, but we haven’t gotten together to come up with new things in a while.
CP: When the wheels started turning for the band to get back together for this show, was everybody excited to get back in the saddle or did anybody need some convincing?
GA: Well, I was the one who kind of had to be pushed a little. Dave, the guitar player, was like, “We need to get some shows. We gotta start playing again.” He pushed me and pushed me and pushed me. That’s why we got the show at JJ’s. After that, it was like, “OK, there’s something to this.” It was probably one of the better times we’ve all had playing. Everybody had fun, so that’s what made me want to keep going.