Better Than Ezra Enjoy a '90s Resurgence

By Steve Baltin Posted Jan 24th 2011 10:15AM

Better Than Ezra were certified pop/rock stars in the '90s, with songs like 'Good' and 'Desperately Wanting' leading the band to the top of the charts, and not surprisingly, frontman Kevin Griffin sees a lot of those fans in the audience today when Better Than Ezra hits the stage. "I think it's late 20s and up, in general just the people who were there in the '90s when Better Than Ezra was the big band and had our biggest time as far as record sales," Griffin tells PopEater of the band's demographic.

But like any band that stays together, BTE are seeing a cyclical wave in popularity, including new fans. "If you stick around enough and hopefully your music kind of stands the test of time, then you get new fans. Who knows why they got turned onto it? Maybe their parents or a big brother," Griffin says. "We're always amazed when we play a show and we see these young people out there, like, 'How do they know our band?'"

And BTE are seeing the effects of those new fans in industry attention. "Now suddenly with the success of a lot of other bands that started when we did, like Train and Alice In Chains, we're getting approached by major labels again wanting to do our next album with them," he says. Griffin attributes that to a couple of factors, besides '90s nostaglia. "As far as the labels wanting to do Better Than Ezra I think they see the touring business, I've been having success on my own as a songwriter a lot recently for other people, so that kind of boosts your confidence as well."

As a songwriter, Griffin, currently enjoying popularity in Nashville with Sugarland's new hit single, 'Stuck Like Glue,' credits another country act, Taylor Swift, with some of that interest. "Having Taylor Swift be a big fan and cover a couple of our songs, then do 'Breathless' for the Hope For Haiti telethon, that's really nice because it's amazing the bump that those songs, a song called 'Our Last Night' and then 'Breathless,' have gotten as far as sales and new fans because of Taylor Swift covering our songs," he says.

The transition from rock to Nashville has become increasingly easier in recent years, with rock acts like Bon Jovi doing country albums and even Def Leppard scoring crossover success thanks to Swift, a big fan of the band. That doesn't surprise Griffin, who says the two worlds are now very similar. "If you listen to Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban it's really just like late '80s pop. It's like Bon Jovi, it's like Def Leppard, that kind of production," Griffin says. "And I grew up in that time so it kind of comes easy to me."

Watch Better Than Ezra's 'Absolutely Still' video here.

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