Better Than Ezra Feature-Virginian Pilot

Tom Drummond just turned 45, and he’s pretty excited about his birthday present.

“I’m stoked about the Ninja blender I got,” said the bassist and co-founder of the alt-rock band Better Than Ezra. “I’m going to be whipping up some awesome smoothies for my kids.”

This from a guy who, for years, hosted epic Bloody Mary cocktail parties during Mardi Gras in his native Louisiana.  “That wasn’t a very rock ’n’ roll thing to say,” Drummond said with a laugh during a recent phone conversation from his home in New Orleans.

Perhaps not, but it is a statement that many of the band’s longtime followers can relate to.
“Our fans have grown up with us,” Drummond said. “Some people are even starting to bring their kids to our shows.”

That makes sense, since Better Than Ezra came of age in the mid-’90s, an era that featured an alt-rock heyday when similar acts like Third Eye Blind, Everclear and the Goo Goo Dolls ruled the radio airwaves.

Ezra, which also includes lead vocalist and guitarist Kevin Griffin and drummer Michael Jerome, is about to debut its eighth studio release, “All Together Now,” and the record’s first single, “Crazy Lucky,” is enjoying a fair share of radio airplay.

“It’s a summertime song, for sure,” Drummond said. “Kevin was a little hesitant to release it because he thought it was a little too poppy, but I said, ‘Let’s do it,’ people like to sing along in their cars with the windows down.”

The trio is sure to perform its new hit when the band plays The NorVa on Saturday night, but Drummond knows the night’s biggest response will certainly come when Ezra launches into its best-known track, “Good.”

Nearly inescapable during the summer of 1995, “Good” was the first single from the band’s major-label debut, “Deluxe.” It reached No. 1 on the Billboard modern rock chart and helped push the album to platinum selling status.

“I asked Kevin the other day how many times he thought we’ve actually played that song. It has to be in the thousands, no question,” Drummond said. “Too bad we don’t get paid by the notes.”
He said the fans still light up when they hear the vintage tune, and he’s all for giving the people what they want. Especially fans in Hampton Roads.

“There was a time period in the late ’90s when Norfolk was probably our biggest market,” says Drummond. “They say Virginia is for lovers, and that certainly has been the case for Better Than Ezra. We always look forward to coming to Norfolk.”