Interview w/ Yesod Williams of Pepper

Pepper will hopefully be avoiding mugs shots when they come to DTE on Wednesday.

If you ever venture out west and listen to the radio out there, you’d swear that the Hawaiian based band Pepper is a cornerstone in alternative rock these days. With upbeat reggae infused rock, the band is custom built for party music and good times. The band remains one of the most sought after underground bands and with singles like “Give It Up” and “No Control,” it’s easy to see why the band has hooks that can be hummed for days.

Pepper has been touring vigorously throughout the years and is gearing up for their new album, tentatively titled Popping Clappers, due out sometime this fall. But leading up to the release of the album, the band is getting out on a summer tour with 311, which will take them out through the end of July.

Before a show in Indianapolis, I had a chance to interview drummer Yesod Williams. In the interview, Yesod and I discussed the upcoming album as well as the band’s observations at the 2007 Warped Tour- warning the patrons on the evils of emo music. Here’s my interview with Yesod:

MyCityBuzz: The band is currently recording a new album- what is the time table on it?
Yesod Williams: Right now, we’re shooting to have the album out in the middle of October, just in time for our headlining tour. We’re were just finishing the album up as we were getting on the road for this tour.

MCB: What do you think are the major differences between this album and Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations?
YW: Well, we’re hoping it’s better. I think with this album, there’s a lot more collaboration with the band in the recording process than before. In the past, it’s been more of the guys writing individually, but this time- we’ve been writing as a unit and it’s helped the sound. The music is all about events and situations in our lives and traveling on the road. It’s going to be far more uplifting than albums that we’ve done in the past.

MCB: The band released a live album, Kona Gold, last year. Was the crowd response as deafening live as it was on the album?
YW: We nailed it and the crowd nailed it too. The show was in Colorado, which was pretty much the first place outside of Hawaii that really got into the band and was on the radio. For us, people always come up to us and say how much better we are live than on our albums. So, this had the perfect vibe and perfect way to bring that sound across to everybody.

MCB: Do you find the Midwest crowds dig the band as much as the crowds out west?
YW: Absolutely. We’ve always been a band that’s relied on putting our feet on the ground and doing the footwork on the road. I think it may have taken places like the Midwest a little bit longer to catch on than out west, but they are on board now.

MCB: The band was one of the highlights of the 2007 Warped Tour with the humor against some of the band- was the tour all that bad?
YW: Not at all. We were objective in our dislike for some of the music, so we didn’t take it out on the tour. Basically, our opinion was is that we aren’t a fan of emo music and made some jokes along the way. But Warped is a great experience and its great for fans to see a wide range of different sorts of music and figure out who you like. We had a great time on it for sure.

Pepper opens for 311 on Wednesday, July 7^th at DTE Energy Music Theater. Tickets are $29.50 for lawn and range from $29.50 to $45 for pavilion tickets and are available at www.palacenet.com. The band’s first single from the new album, “Wake Up” will be available on ITunes starting July 18^th. Additional dates and band info can be found at www.pepperlive.com.