Some fellas you just can't shut up, and one of these is....
Christopher Maloney

OK, first off... most people who read this interview on our Strangers In The Night website will know you from your recent tour with $ign of 4. How did you get brought into the touring band, in place of Jimmy Curtain? I had my relatives in the Irish mob kidnap Jimmy for a little while whilst the band searched for a replacement. Yeh yeh yehhhh.... And the truth is...? Funny thing is that I've known Jimmy for about 10 years. He, Shane and I all went to the Musicians Institute in Hollywood at the same time, and Jimmy and I had our lockers right next to each other. I always thought he was a first rate bassist and first rate dude. Jimmy had some prior commitments and couldn't do the tour. I play with Jeff and Shane quite a bit in LA and have for many years, so I was in. No audition and no worries. Just my dancing shoes and drink vouchers.

Hahahaha. OK, tell us a few magical moments from the $o4 tour..... Well, I just love, love, love to tour and travel. I love seeing new places and meeting great music lovers everywhere, and I found the $ign of 4 fans to be awesome. The rehearsals were great... we didn't have a lot of time to pull it all together, but I feel we rose to the occasion. All the gigs were cool, but the Marquee show in London was a really magical night. We were totally switched on.

Was this your first time in the UK? No, I had been there a few years back on holiday, but it was my first UK tour. Loved it, and can't wait to go back. Tell us about working with Phil.

How were audiences compared with what you're used to in USA? Pretty similar. It's hard to tell, because I play a lot in Los Angeles. Those are some tough crowds, but I'm fortunate enough to play for some wonderful people no matter where I gig. When you get out of the bigger cities, no matter what country you are in, people seem to be much more appreciative of what you are doing. I found the audiences we played for in the UK to be some of the most appreciative I have ever had the pleasure to play for.

You looked pretty active and energetic, a la Pete Way! - that's why I could hardly get a photo of ya, you kept bombing about, all over the damn stage! Yeah, I've gotten the Pete Way comparison from a few reviews of our tour and I thought that was pretty laughable. I say that because I seriously have never seen any UFO live footage, and I couldn't even tell you what Pete looks like! What???????? Blimey! I have heard some great stories about him from Jeff and Phil, and I've heard that he is an absolutely beautiful human being. I hope I get to meet him at some point. I also heard that his stage presence is triple mine in intensity, so I would never think to try to emulate that. I certainly wasn't copying his style, but I guess people have to make some comparisons. I can't help but move around on stage. I think it's a strange illness, probably terminal.

What plans are there for a second $o4 album? Have you got anything written and ready? Currently, the band is on hiatus while we set up other deals for Dancing With St. Peter. However, I hope we get to write some new tunes soon. I think it would be great to get Phil out here to stay again for an extended time and have the five of us in a room banging out ideas.

One thing I'm curious (nosey) about.... is this ... You made no secret of the fact that your recent album 'Control' was written as a way of getting all the angst out of your system after the breakdown of your marriage. You said "To find the source of your problems, you only need to look as far as your own mirror". Did it work - do you feel purged by having got it out that way? Going through my separation and eventual divorce certainly gave me enough subject matter to make Control. It wasn't an intentional thing to write about the breakup to help me get over it. That's what I was going through, and so that's what I wrote about. After I had about two dozen songs and ideas, I came up with the idea to make the CD conceptual about the breakdown of relationships and someone's struggle to regain some semblance of control in his life. In a way, I do feel purged that I got some emotions out of my head and thus out of the way to some respect. It was out of the way in terms of just having a conduit to express myself. Just like someone who just needs someone to talk to, I had my songs. Just putting it on paper, or in music or out in the world helps you heal.

What about when all the angst has worked its way through? Did it leave you with an open-wound? Wounds only hurt you when you do one of two things: ignore them or keep picking at them. Writing the songs for Control and putting the CD together was my way of facing my mistakes and my needs from that breakup. Of course, I could keep reliving those moments and feeling all kinds of guilt, but that just keeps you picking at the scab. I think guilt and regret can be very positive and powerful emotions, in that they teach you that you have violated some of your own important rules. If you learn from it, you can keep yourself from making the same mistakes in the future. That thought process will keep you tending to the wound instead of picking at it. Gross analogy, I know, but there you have it.

Do you think you'll ever regret making a 'public statement' out of it, and making it a less private event? Initially, it was very private. In fact, not many of our closest friends knew anything until it was over. We very much kept it to ourselves. If you read the initial press releases for Control, there is no mention of divorce at all. I didn't want to personalize it so much, and there was part of me that wanted to keep it private. That was a disservice, though, because the CD IS about the breakdown of a relationship. I thought that being more open with the subject matter would help people to relate to it in a more personal way. I believe it was a good decision to be more honest in that way. I have no regrets. Sorry if it seems like I'm keeping on about this, but there are a lot of people who'll read this who will relate to what you went through - even though many of them won't have been able to write any songs about it, of course. Has your ex-wife heard the album, and does she understand exactly how the songs relate to her? Much to her credit she has heard it. We never really sat down and went over each song. I'm sure she understands. I don't feel many of the negative feelings about her that I wrote about then. Time and healing have done some good work. Plus, this is just one person's story (mine), and it deals with more than just a divorce. It was my whole struggle with trying to see what my life was about, what I was doing wrong, what I could do to be happy, how I can hurt people, and all that. I think anyone who had gone through a loss, whether it's a death, divorce, job loss, breakup, addiction, anything where they feel they have lost control of their life and/or emotions will find solace in listening to Control. Also, many of the songs that are written in the second person are actually about myself, such as Tell Me and Day Like This. I use that little writing method to sometimes mask that I'm actually writing about myself.

Are you able to communicate with her on a different level now you've worked it out of your system? Well yes, but I don't think it has so much to do with working it out though writing and recording Control. You can work some situation out of your system, but still carry an awful lot of shit around with you that you HAVEN'T worked out. That's why so many people keep making mistakes in their lives; because they haven't figured out how to fix the real problem...themselves. A lot of the blaming I did towards her and other people really should've been aimed at myself. We tend to think of our problems and challenges as things that are brought on by other people, but they rarely are. People leave relationships and go into new ones, but they keep bringing themselves and their old habits and ways of thinking with them. It's easier for them to start something new rather than to face the changes they need to make within themselves. Believe me, I'm speaking from my own experiences of running away from what I've needed to face. You've got to cultivate your own garden first. When I REALLY started to do that, then I was able to be more open with her and the real healing could begin.

You played about 3794750486968 different instruments on the Control album. First of all, congratulations, and secondly, was that another way of putting ALL of yourself into it? Well, first of all, thank you very much. Second of all, I think it was just easier for me to do as much as I could on my own, and then ask my friends for help. It also gave me a chance to take my time and really get the arrangements that I was hearing in my head. I liked rising to the challenge of playing other instruments. Plus, how lucky am I that I can have Shane Gaalaas on drums and Brett Garsed on guitar?!? Hmmm, now that I'm thinking more about your question, I think there is part of me that wanted to keep it all close to me. I don't know. I guess it's a little of both.

You've worked with Jeff and Shane before, of course, especially when you've stood in for Bazz on the Cosmosquad gigs. The regulars at the Baked Potato know the trio from their many appearances there - how well did they accept you? I actually did the first half dozen or so CSquad shows with the boys, because Barry was out doing another one of his stellar gigs. In a way, a lot of the people who came to see us who didn't know about CSquad before thought I was the main bass player. I feel like a part of that band, even though I've always been only a sub on it. I think the hardcore CSquad fans always prefer to see Barry, but I think they've accepted me quite well.

Do you do your own interpretation of the basslines laid down by Bazz, or do you try to copy his style? The music in CSquad is very orchestrated, so I have to learn things note by note for the music to work. That's an incredible challenge since those lines are so difficult to play. Barry has got chops for days, much more than me, so I have to work very hard to get them up to where he plays. He's a monster.

I remember going the the first Cosmosquad gig where he was playing and saying "you know Barry, I've got two words for you pal.... WHOLE NOTES!! Play some damn whole notes for a while... these songs are killing me." We had a good laugh at that. There are parts of the music where I do get to stretch out and play my own things. That happens during the solos. When Jeff's soloing, I usually play my own grooves under him. Of course when I solo, it's totally my own thing.

If you could take a pair of scissors and a comb to Bazz's hair, would you have a go, or do you think it needs something more radical, maybe involving rotary blades like they use in the Kansas wheat-fields? I tell you, I think all my Squad brothers look so stellar in their short, spiky blond doo as opposed to their hair farmer days as pictured on the first CD. It's funny, I don't really know Barry at all. We never get to hang, because we're both bass players and are never in the same band together. Jeff keeps telling me how much we are alike and how insane it would be to have both of us on the road together. We'll have to see how we can work that. Although I don't know him well, I felt horrible when I heard of his father's passing this November. I heard from the boys that his family is incredible. Yes, they are - a wonderful group of people. I have yet to see him since to wish him my best. I can't imagine how hard that must be.

I usually think 'Blimey, who's that gorgeous skinny redhead?' and then realise it's Me, so yeh, I know what you mean. THAT was pretty trippy to say the least. Secondly, unless I had some festering boil growing on the tip of my nose, I would just glance at my face while I was checking out my hair in the mirror. With no hair, all I saw was FACE. I had never seen my face like that before, and it was almost like getting to know myself in a whole new way. Finally, it was interesting to see other people's reaction to what I looked like. Not people who knew me, but people who didn't know me. Within fifteen minutes, I went from "long-haired, rocker, hippie boy" to "skinhead, army private, hare-krishna lovin', homo-erotic, Michael Stipe wannabe". Hahahahaha, yeh! People give you different looks and a whole set of judgments with these different characters. It made me notice how much I judge or prejudge people by what they look like.

Why bass? Don't most young fellas who are doing the whole air-guitar thanggggg play lead guitar? How come you picked bass? Simply, I've always loved the sound. I've always been into deep-low sounding instruments. The only time I dug guitar was when it was chugging down low and dirty, like the Heart tune Barracuda. When MTV came to my city, I got to see a bass guitar up-close for the first time ever, and I went into my first guitar shop shortly after. I saw all those guitars and basses on the wall and MAN...that was it. Of course, it wasn't an easy road. I played that little recorder thingy for a few months until I got bored with that. Then I played drums for a while, but got sick of hitting some stupid practice pad for hours a day working on my five-stroke rolls. So you could imagine my parents ambivalence about my wanting a bass guitar at age 13 being 0-2 on the instrument game. I used my paper route money and bought a used bass, amp, case and accessories for $100. The only provision that my parents made was that I start taking lessons immediately, which I did.

What bass players influenced you in your career? Mostly British dudes. I was into John Taylor, Mark King, Chris Squire, Sting, Geddy Lee (Canadian, eh). When I got into college, I got more into the jazz/fusion cats, like Stanley Clarke, Jeff Berlin, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller. I've always liked music that was a little left of center...and passionate. Music to me must contain passion or it's really got nothing. Some exceptions, but not many.I agree, definitely.

What do you think of the Winmax/Napster/Audiogalaxy situation? Good or bad, or both, and why? I'm on the fence about that. I believe that an artist should be paid if someone is listening or certainly copying/distributing their music. At the same time, I spent an awful lot of time as a teenager taping dozens of my friend's albums onto cassettes, and the sky didn't fall on the recording industry. I like that the record companies keep saying that the "artists" aren't getting their money from these "pirates", as if the artist will see anything once it goes through the record company anyway. Hopefully there will be a mix someday of ALL artist being somewhat independent, where you purchase music on line directly from the artist, or that the artist is directly paid through a distributor and not a record company. I think we'll always need the companies though. People will still want to go to a store and grab something physical. C'mon, we've been hearing about the demise of the video stores now for the past ten years. It won't happen anytime soon.

If you could put together your dream line-up for a band, who would be in it? Shane Gaalaas on drums, Jeff Kollman and Brett Garsed on guitar, Evan Beigel on keys. If those guys aren't available, I'll get Manu Katche on drums, Allan Holdsworth and David Gilmore on guitar and Nick Rhodes on keys. What the hell, I'll get Tony Levin on bass, and I'll just stand there and sing. That works for me.

Tell us about the time you played for President George Bush...... Do I still have that on my bio? That's awesome. Well, this was Senior, not GW. I was still in high school and my jazz band got to play at a rally he did in Syracuse, New York. We did a song called Big Noise From Winnetka, and the drummer and I did the original bass and drum arrangement. It was pretty badass for a little 17 year old, pimpled-face, braces-wearing, body-wave hairdo bass boy to do I must say. Anyway, I don't even think ole Georgie boy even heard it, but it sure sounds cool.

This movie soundtrack competition thing - tell us about that. Two songs from Control (Day Like This and Control) are up to be used in a movie called Heart of the Beholder. The movie is about a young couple who struggle with a moral decision in the midst of huge pressure from the religious right. I'm all about underdog stories. It's a fun thing, really. There have been a couple thousand submissions, and only 7 or so songs from male singer/songwriters have been pre-selected, and I have two on there. I'm a firm believer that music is absolutely NOT something to be judged, but in this case it's for a specific topic. I think it's all about the most appropriate song as opposed to the best song, so I don't mind being part of that.

What's next on the agenda? I'm currently doing lots of shows with my friend Lao Tizer and his band, which also features the lovely Jeff Kollman. His music is really cool, and I enjoy being a part of it very much. This is a contemporary jazz band, so it's different from what Jeff and I do in the rock vein. That' s why we like it though, as you've got to do different things and play different styles to keep you fresh.
My main focus, though, is to get on with my own solo acoustic shows. It's much easier for me at this point to go out and do shows by myself and promote in that way. I'll put a band together again soon, but this is the way for me to go now. It's still a high energy show, though. The last thing I want to see is some cry-baby whimping out with his little guitar. I can take about a song and a half of that. My show's different. I'm still a cry-baby, but there's a lot more energy. I think it evens it out to some extent. Folks can sign up and be part of the E-Team or just email me from the site and find out about gigs, giveaways, new tunes and all that good stuff. I'm dying to get back over to the UK for some shows as well. I'll drink to that! As far as $o4, I'm still kind of the "new guy" as far as any decisions about the group goes. It's such an amazing band and it's gotten such great response that I'd love to see us do more with it. I think we'll kidnap Phil and get him out here soon. We are working on getting Dancing With St. Peter out in the rest of Europe, Japan and the US, so we still have life in that CD. I'm so impressed with how the folks in the UK were talking it up. I am so grateful.

© Batttttty - June 2003