You think you know the Spin Doctors. Think again. When the legendary New York quartet released If The River Was Whiskey in 2013 through Ruf Records, casual fans discovered the secret past the hardcore have never forgotten. To the wider world, the Doctors might be the multi-million-selling icons behind hits like Two Princes and Little Miss Can't Be Wrong, not to mention the classic Pocket Full Of Kryptonite. But in 2013, Chris Barron (vocals), Aaron Comess (drums), Eric Schenkman (guitar) and Mark White (bass) reconnected with the flat-broke twenty-somethings who scraped for dollars at the sharp end of the Big Apple blues circuit. The Spin Doctors came full-circle.
The concept to revisit these songs struck as the Spin Doctors toured Europe to toast the 20th anniversary of Pocket Full Of Kryptonite, and polled über-fans David Landsburger and Daniel Heinze on what they'd like to hear as the encore that night. Their answer - So Bad - was a song so old that Chris had almost forgotten the verses, but when the venue exploded, a lightbulb lit over the band's heads. "We had such a good time playing these tunes," the singer explains, "that we thought, 'We should go make a record of this stuff'. It's really brought us back as a band, musically and interpersonally."
The songs on If The River Was Whiskey are different vintages. "Some Other Man Instead and the title track, I wrote those lyrics in the last year or two," explains Chris. "But Sweetest Portion, I wrote that song when I was 19. I'd run away from home, and when I got back, my friends were really upset and there was a rumour going around that I had died. So I wrote that song - and I'm not sure if I've ever written a better one since."
"We play about four or five tunes a night from this new album and they all work," says Eric. "It just feels seamless, like any of the new tunes can sit with any one of the Kryptonite songs. And the band is just playing amazing now. It's a pleasure to play with people that you've been playing with so long... and everybody's still breathing!"
"I don't care about album sales, man," states Chris, honestly. "I just want to keep making a living playing music. We get up onstage and we turn it on, and sing and play our hearts out. And that's all I've ever wanted to do: just make real music, give people something from my heart."
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