Greenwheel Interview with Ryan Jordan

     First off, I must say that this is the funniest interview I've ever done.  While it may not look too funny typed, on tape it's great.  Anyway, this was my second Greenwheel show (first time meeting any of the members though) and I was completely blown away 1. at their performance and 2. by how incredibly sweet and absolutely hilarious Ryan is. 
     Before we started, and after yelling at me (jokingly of course) for initially missing the interview, Ryan grabbed the mic to the recorder and busted out singing "I've Had the Time of My Life" or whatever that song is called from Dirty Dancing.   He proved to be completely down to earth with a great sarcastic sense of humor (such as myself, no?)  We sit down on a table, outside where only hours before people were lined up to get into the show, I learn very quickly that Mr. Jordan will say whatever he wants and that this will be everything short of a typical interview.  In a lot of cases, when bands attain success so early in their careers (the band's ages average around 22 or 23), they tend to get huge egos and think they're the best thing since sliced bread.  But in this case, Ryan makes a point that he'd rather be in the RV playing video games, and has anything but a huge ego.   "Rockstars" like this are hard to find...

What's your biggest inspiration to write?
Cheese burgers!  Nah, I can't really put a finger on one certain thing.  It's everything; music, art, movies, books, people, places, things, emotions.  You intake them and you outtake them.  I guess its either a matter of indecisiveness on my part or just the fact that I don't have one specific thing that inspires me.  It all does.   I'm a sponge, I suck it all up and squeeze it all out.

What's the writing process usually like?
We all get naked, and we all stick our fingers up each other's butts.
 

I can tell this is going to be a very serious interview.
Well, there's always the stupid answer and the real answer, you pick which one you want to use.  The writing process is different each time.  Which is one of the most exciting parts about being in this band is that we don't have a specific formula.  I think it's a good thing.  The songs might come from a guitar riff or someone might bring an idea to the table, or someone might have the majority of it already done and we'll build on that.  It's always different.  To sum it up, we'll all get together for a period of time and spend several hours every day just throwing everything we've got together, jamming and trying to come up with stuff.  It's very sporadic, there's no really set way, we haven't really written out a formula.
 

How do you feel about being compared to bands like Matchbox 20?
It doesn't bother me, I mean everyone's going to make comparisons.  I do, everyone does.  Rob Thomas's voice definitely influenced me.  He's got a great voice, I'm not disturbed by the fact that people compare me to a singer like that.  But when people say you sound exactly, EXACTLY like Rob Thomas, its like, do you have ears?   There's hints of him there, but its not exactly.  It doesn't bother me.   People have to do it in order to make it common in themselves to compare it to something.
 

Do you think that you guys can appreciate your success more because you haven't had really a lot of exposure (i.e. MTV)?
It's kind of a weird thing.  You can be successful on TV and radio, and it can't always be the best thing that happens to you.  If you blow up too quick, sometimes you fade real quick.  I'd rather have longevity than I would instant success.   And that's the number one thing for why I do what I do.  Being played on the radio and MTV is like any band's dream come true but, I think what makes a band have a long career is the ground of a loyal fan base.  Even if your first record or none of your records blow up.  If you can still go out and sell shows out and put records out all the time, its like MTV isn't always necessary.  It obviously helps, I mean, you can't really play in front of every person in the country, that's what TV and the radio, the mass media is to help you do.  Anywhere we go, we get such a positive reaction that I'm completely confident in what we're doing.
 

What's the craziest thing that's happened to you guys on the road?
That I can talk about?  *sighs* This is always a tough one, its hard to sift through all the ashes.  Nothing I can really talk about that you can put on paper.  When the toilet goes bad on the RV that always sucks. 
 

So that's it then?
I can't think of anything, but if I do, I'll call you!
 

I sense a little sarcasm there
The crazy parties every night are always fun.  When I end up at the hotel at nine in the morning I'm like, I'm okay.
 

If you could have one superpower, what would you have?
Another tough question...I'd want to fly, that'd be cool.  I'd get places a lot quicker and the higher you are, the more broader view you have.  Like when I fly on places I always stare out the window, so it'd be cool to like not be in the plane.   X-Ray vision would be nice too.  I could look at girl's boobies.
 

That's nice.
By the way, I have X-Ray vision, and you're not wearing a bra.
 

Last I knew I was.
I took it off with my other superpower! (laughs)
 

Oh great.  (laughs), Is there a place you'd like to play that you haven't had the chance to?
I've never seen it, except in pictures.  I think playing in Red Rock would be cool.   It's like the natural acoustic thing.  It's like all of that canyon, that would be awesome.  Like not a man made auditorium.  Or what's that place, in Rome, its not there anymore, where gladiator took place?
 

Erika: The Coliseum?
The Coliseum, that'd be pretty cool.
 

It's still there.
(in a New York accent) Madison Square Garden, I wanna play at Madison Square Garden!  With Michael Jackson and NSYNC.  Next question!
 

How does it feel to have such success at such a young age?
It overwhelming, but at the same time, we're all at the same point in our lives, where we're still very humble, because we're still growing.  We all know we don't know shit.  There's not really a middle ground it seems.  You either go to the extreme, like we're so young we could go yeah, we're fucking rockstars now.  I think just the fact that being from the midwest, I know I was raised, and I think everyone in this band was raised has kept us very humble where we're at.  We know we're talented.   If we didn't know that, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing.  At the same time, we know there's a lot of other people that have to come into the process to make it happen and we know that it's always going to be about the music. It's not about the fringe benefits of chicks, money and all that stuff.  At the end of the day, how I feel about being very successful is that I'm very blessed and fortunate.   There's a lot of people who are probably a lot more talented than we are that are never gonna get the opportunity to do it, so I'm not gonna spoil it.

Do you have any last words?
Um...(in the wicked witch voice) I'll get you my pretty!  And your little dog too!   And next time you do an interview, be on time!   Greenwheel, I've gotta go play video games,  I've got more important things to do!
 

- Laurie