Music is a wonderful thing – it unites, bridges countries & language barriers, heal wounds & helps soothe emotional pains & torment. But for me, one incredible thing about music is the unknown gems that get unearthed every now & again and here at The Rockpit we are blessed with hearing some wonderful albums that find their way to us. ‘Kingdom From’ from Washington DC based band Schreiner is just one of these ‘gems’, led by guitarist & vocalist John Schreiner and backed by Jay Glaspy (bass), it’s a mix of rock, blues & catchy vibes throughout. We managed to talk to John on a 2am phone call to get the lowdown on ‘Kingdom From’ and how the album came to be written in a log cabin, beating addiction, as well as what the music scene is like in Washington DC…
Sean: Good morning John, congratulations on your debut album, ‘Kingdom From’. There are some wonderful tracks on there.
John: Well thank you very much. It’s been a long time in the works so I’m really glad you’ve enjoyed it so far.
Sean: I have been. I love it when something different lands on my desk from someone new and we then get a chance to give it a great review like we have. In turn we hope people have a listen and enjoy it as much as I have. What must make it so much more rewarding for you is the fact that the last few years have been difficult for you, with your own personal battles with addictions.
John: Definitely, I went through a pretty hairy period and kind of lost my way for a while with various drugs but specifically amphetamines was the really big one, so to have gone from really kind of hating myself… when you get to a certain point with drug abuse you know where you’re at and you realise you don’t really have a lot to offer people, so it’s really gratifying to have dug my way all the way out and to see the quality of the work I’m doing but also the see the state of my life right now and to see the effect its having on the people around me. So that’s the biggest reward for me.
Sean: And that’s what makes this album even more special. I’ve had my own struggles through life at times and it does feel so rewarding when you get through it, so I can totally understand the feeling when people see how you’ve changed for the better and that you’ve finally got your life back on track. Add to that the fact you’ve become a father in the last year and it really is a wonderful example to others of how things can turn around.
John: Yes thank you, I became a father in September of last year – he’s the best. He has his moments but he’s awesome [laughs].
Sean: Well, congratulations from us all. Back to the album – I certainly have a few favourites but are there any that stands out for you?
John: Obviously, because I wrote it, I like them all [laughs] but I really love ‘Coyote Beautiful’. That was a song that was a true story… so it’s more of a poetic interpretation. So I had this pretty intense encounter with this girl that I had known in college and we had always skated around each other in different circle and then there was this one night where the heavens aligned… I had broken up with another girl that night and it was one of those really nasty break-ups. So, at the time it was incredible but the next day and forever after it was a very mixed emotion – kind of the one that got away feel. It’s one of those things that you return to in your mind but I was able to deal with all of that and let it go by writing that song. The song itself is very varied and I love that variety in that track when I listen to it.
Sean: I can hear that variety throughout the album. I love ‘Rolling Stoned’ which you very kindly let us play on our podcast last month and ‘Sway’ is a great track too. The title track ‘Kingdom From’ is another great song but it’s your live clips that I have been watching on your website that really show how well these transfer onto the stage.
John: I’m glad to hear you like ‘Rolling Stoned’ especially. ‘Sway’ is actually the oldest song on the album – I wrote that kind of a while back. But I love how the guitars turned out on ‘Rolling Stoned’ and it is definitely one of my favourite tunes as well.
Sean: So, where did it all start for you as a musician and songwriter?
John: It started when I was really young. I knew from the age of nine that I wanted to be a professional musician. Would you believe I started playing violin first when I was seven years old and around the same time I started writing poetry, which was about the time my parents got divorced. At the age of twelve I picked up the guitar and started combining the music & poetry together and at that point I got really serious about music and then did a degree in vocal music performance and then college, I also sang opera for a time.
Sean: So variety & diversity have been there all along for you in a sense…When was your first band experience then?
John: Yeah definitely. I started doing music in church essentially. I was in a Christian contemporary band and we entered some big competitions and won – one of them had over twelve thousand entries in the United States. So, I was seventeen when we won that one so from that point in knew it was a pretty smart choice to pursue this as a professional career. I did two records with that band. I studied music down in Tennessee and while I was down there I got into doing some country music and writing for some other artists but I never found a home musically until I got to rock and R & B. For me they are the juicy genres to sing & play and it took me a long time to get around to rock but once I got there I was like “OK, I’m home now” [laughs]
Sean: The real rewarding part for you know is to be able to sit back after the hard work is all done and see ‘Kingdom From’ out there on Spotify & iTunes. I pick up a bit of Paul Rodgers from Free & Bad Company in your vocals on some of the tracks…
John: [laughs] Wow, cool. I really appreciate the compliment about Bad Company – that is such a high compliment to receive so I do really appreciate that Sean. Thank you.
Sean: So where do your influences stem from? Who were the bands you grew up listening to?
John: I listened to a lot of The Beatles with my dad as I was growing up. Also The Doobie Brothers and a lot of 70’s rock; Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, Mississippi Queen, Led Zeppelin… When I was around twelve years old they had Woodstock ’99 and I was heartbroken because I was twelve and couldn’t go – I was so taken in by the music of 1969 to 1979 and all of that era. I was so underwhelmed after that because of being so spoiled with all of those incredible bands.
Sean: So bringing it forward to the present, what’s the music scene like there in Washington DC?
John: Washington DC is an interesting town right now. There have been a lot of really good acts that have come out of the area but there has never really been a unified music scene – not like LA or New York has had. As I said it’s an interesting time right now – alongside performing, I also produce and uncover talent wherever I find it and there is a lot of talent to be uncovered in this area. I see a real opportunity for the music scene to unify & grow here right now. A lot of my friends in the industry see the same thing.
Sean: I must admit you are my first artist I’ve interviewed from Washington and as you said, it’s never really had the musical reputation of the likes of LA, New York or New Orleans for example. I kind of can compare it a bit with Perth where I am, here in Australia – we are isolated from the rest of the country but musically the scene is very strong with some wonderful original bands emerging. Sometimes it’s quite hard to find a good cover band playing at the weekends here, such is the amount of new artists writing & performing their own material.
John: Cover bands did tend to dominate, so to see it going in the other direction is really positive.
Sean: Writing the album was an interesting process for you – A log cabin retreat with your brother & some musical buddies I believe?
John: Yeah, I’d never done anything like that before. Before that I had never done any co-writing, I had written everything almost completely by myself – that was just my process. It wasn’t like I deliberately tried to avoid writing with other people, that’s just how it kind of worked for me. It was four days and they really set tone for the record – we walked in and got set up on the first day. On the second & third days we wrote three songs each day and it was just amazing – the songs and the lyrical themes just erupted out of me. It was very much a moment where I trusted instinct. We weren’t coming from a heady place; we just said “play”. The guys I had with me are all phenomenal musicians and just knew whatever we wrote was going to be good.
Sean: And one of those phenomenal musicians was your brother…
John: Yeah, he is the one that is responsible for the main guitar riff on ‘Miss Marietta’, that was his idea. My brother is in college right now and he’s a couple of years younger than me and on a slightly different path to me but we always played music together. He’s part of my writing team and he comes up with guitar lines and we go over them together. We didn’t expect him to be there with us for those four days – it was kind of a last minute thing. But he came up and brought his equipment with him and I’m really glad he did.
Sean: I like to wrap up with a few general questions and my first is if you could invite three guests from the music world, dead or alive, to join you for dinner for a couple of hours, who would you choose?
John: Oh man, save the easiest till last [laughs]. John Lennon would have to be there for sure because I would just love to pick his brain. Maybe David Lee Roth…
Sean: Now, that is really bizarre. In the forty or so interviews I’ve conducted so far no-one has said David Lee Roth… until the other day when Dave Gleeson from The Screaming Jets chose him too…
John: Wow. David Lee Roth is a wild guy [laughs]. I just think he is fascinating. I’d love to hang out with him. And my third choice…probably someone like Keith Richards would be my last one – I read an article about him somewhere recently and found myself laughing out loud at the things that he said and the way that he phrased them [laughs].
Sean: You’d have to sit between Lee Roth & Richards or else it could get a bit messy… maybe one or two flaming Sambuca shots being ordered there! [laughs]
John: [laughs] I think you’re right.
Sean: What was the last album you listened to?
John: I think it was Gary Clark Jnr. He’s a phenomenal artist – I love his work. Yeah just looking at my playlist now it was ‘Gary Clark Jnr Live’ from 2014.
Sean: He’s certainly very current at the moment – he seems to be everywhere. So finally, if you could be credited for writing any song ever written what song would you like to be yours?
John: Wow, that’s a tough question. But for me, maybe ‘Long Train Runnin’ by The Doobie Brothers as it’s one of my favourite songs of all time. I really kind of soaked my brain in The Doobie Brothers for a time. All the Tom Johnston years and also the Michael McDonald stuff, he was great but for me the early years were the best. So yeah, ‘Long Train Runnin’ is the song for me.
Sean: Another new one for my list, so thank you. And thank you for being my first Washington interviewee. It’s been wonderful. I just want to thank you for your time to talk to us at The Rockpit and we wish you all the success possible for the new album ‘Kingdom From’ and the subsequent shows & gigs that will follow to promote it.
John: I thank you for your time Sean. It’s been great and also thank you for your very kind write up and review of the album. I read through it before we jumped on this call and thought “he really listened to this” and that meant a great deal to me.
Sean: As a music lover rather than a journalist, I always think it only right to listen to new albums properly, mainly out of respect for the artist who has worked so hard to create it. That when you find these gems that may well have slipped us by.
John: It’s very refreshing to hear and makes it all worthwhile so thank you.
Sean: Your welcome John, take care.