Photo by Travis LambWeatherbox is a band from Southern California that has been making music for the past ten years. Each record they release shows a growth meaning even ten years in, the group hasn't lost its youthful energy. But more than a band, it has been the main point of artistic release for singer/songwriter Brian Warren. The group has gone through over 20 members, yet Warren has stayed committed to making sure each new record and piece of music pushes itself forward.The Cosmic Drama is a record released in 2009 by Weatherbox that embodies a reaction to all the stresses a young person would face when being flung into being a full-time musician. Listening back, many parts of the record sound like a deformed version of the cutesy sad person singing on a guitar kind of indie that dominated the scene. Given the emotional trauma and stress Warren faced, no other type of record would do that pain justice. It's in this strangeness and subversion that makes it such a cult favorite record, and why the rerelease is so exciting.The re-release also changes up some of the songs on the record, like "They're Ready For Us To Come Home." What was previously an acoustic track has now been amped up into a full band version, making its original intention real.Check out the new version of the song below, and pre-order your copy of the re-release right here.
Brian Warren: Oh yeah. All of his projects were super huge for the band when we were all in high school.Were you also into Kurt Vonnegut ? I always dug the reference on The Cosmic Drama’s cover.
Definitely. I thought it could be something positive with the cover, I found The Sirens of Titan to be one of my favorite books when I was working on the record and it was something that connected a lot to what I was writing about.Did you want to go into books when you were younger?
Yeah, definitely. Before I got into music I wanted to be a writer and would write short stories, and was always a pretty big reader. I still read a lot, but there’s not as much writing. The band fulfills that for sure.Did you always intend it to be a full band, or was it always centered around you and cyclical?
When we started the first lineup we had, it was right at the end of high school, so the guys in the band were planning to go to college. So the first six months of the band I had to replace people. It kind of never stopped from there, it never really solidified as a band. Still operates as a band, in a weird way [laughs]. We’re on our 10th drummer on this last tour, we’ve been extremely lucky. The band’s not super profitable so it doesn’t make sense for a lot of people to take a lot of time like I do to do full time.What made you want to re-record “They’re Ready For Us To Come Home?”
That song was always intended to be a full band song, and it was a conceptual idea to make it acoustic and super lo-fi. Almost like a meta statement about the band or lack of band being in that form. When we worked on the raw version originally, but with the musicians I was working with now we finally knocked it out.Did you always know you’d want to jump between the full band and acoustic elements?
I wanted to be able to perform solo at different shows, but I also didn’t want to give up the sound Weatherbox had made for itself. So I found a middle ground where both things were going on there.Looking at the record, what happened with the first release of The Cosmic Drama? People had it but it’s still kind of a hard record to come by.
I think it wasn’t what Doghouse was really expecting. They didn’t know how to market it, and they were going through the motions by the time we were working on it. They just gave it the bare release. We recorded it for $3000 I think, we were supposed to get some exorbitant amount of money but they decided it wouldn’t happen. [laughs]How did you hook up with them in the first place?
It must’ve been because our Myspace said we sounded like Say Anything, and they were trolling for bands that sounded like Say Anything. We just really lucked out. I was in 18 in high school, and Doghouse emailed us. We didn’t go with them for a couple years, so by the time we signed with them it was probably a year or two into of the band.Not the worst fallback at all [laughs]. That had to be really scary to be a kid and dealing with that stuff.
Yeah, it was definitely a stressful thing. Got tied up in a bunch of drugs, and had a weird nervous breakdown around the same time. It’s where The Cosmic Drama came from, I was having insane delusions and hallucinations. I kind of exorcised it all with the record.John: Did it help? I’ve talked to some musicians and it sometimes get worse after.
It was kind of worked on over a long period of time, so there were times I was out of my mind. But for a lot of it I was pretty stable. It’s definitely a cathartic way to deal with demons. Put it all into an emotional record.
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NOISEY: You were big into Conor Oberst as a kid, yeah?
Brian Warren: Oh yeah. All of his projects were super huge for the band when we were all in high school.Were you also into Kurt Vonnegut ? I always dug the reference on The Cosmic Drama’s cover.
Definitely. I thought it could be something positive with the cover, I found The Sirens of Titan to be one of my favorite books when I was working on the record and it was something that connected a lot to what I was writing about.Did you want to go into books when you were younger?
Yeah, definitely. Before I got into music I wanted to be a writer and would write short stories, and was always a pretty big reader. I still read a lot, but there’s not as much writing. The band fulfills that for sure.
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When we started the first lineup we had, it was right at the end of high school, so the guys in the band were planning to go to college. So the first six months of the band I had to replace people. It kind of never stopped from there, it never really solidified as a band. Still operates as a band, in a weird way [laughs]. We’re on our 10th drummer on this last tour, we’ve been extremely lucky. The band’s not super profitable so it doesn’t make sense for a lot of people to take a lot of time like I do to do full time.What made you want to re-record “They’re Ready For Us To Come Home?”
That song was always intended to be a full band song, and it was a conceptual idea to make it acoustic and super lo-fi. Almost like a meta statement about the band or lack of band being in that form. When we worked on the raw version originally, but with the musicians I was working with now we finally knocked it out.Did you always know you’d want to jump between the full band and acoustic elements?
I wanted to be able to perform solo at different shows, but I also didn’t want to give up the sound Weatherbox had made for itself. So I found a middle ground where both things were going on there.Looking at the record, what happened with the first release of The Cosmic Drama? People had it but it’s still kind of a hard record to come by.
I think it wasn’t what Doghouse was really expecting. They didn’t know how to market it, and they were going through the motions by the time we were working on it. They just gave it the bare release. We recorded it for $3000 I think, we were supposed to get some exorbitant amount of money but they decided it wouldn’t happen. [laughs]How did you hook up with them in the first place?
It must’ve been because our Myspace said we sounded like Say Anything, and they were trolling for bands that sounded like Say Anything. We just really lucked out. I was in 18 in high school, and Doghouse emailed us. We didn’t go with them for a couple years, so by the time we signed with them it was probably a year or two into of the band.Not the worst fallback at all [laughs]. That had to be really scary to be a kid and dealing with that stuff.
Yeah, it was definitely a stressful thing. Got tied up in a bunch of drugs, and had a weird nervous breakdown around the same time. It’s where The Cosmic Drama came from, I was having insane delusions and hallucinations. I kind of exorcised it all with the record.John: Did it help? I’ve talked to some musicians and it sometimes get worse after.
It was kind of worked on over a long period of time, so there were times I was out of my mind. But for a lot of it I was pretty stable. It’s definitely a cathartic way to deal with demons. Put it all into an emotional record.