A Conversation with Christian Kane – HuffPost 12.17.10

Mike Ragogna: Hi Christian, how are you?

Christian Kane: Hey, thanks so much for having me.

MR: I appreciate your visiting. So, you recently released a new album, The House Rules.

CK: Yeah. We are really looking forward to it. It’s been a long time. There are ten years of songs going on this one and a year and a half of being in the studio with the legendary Mr. Bob Ezrin who did Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Kiss’ Destroyer, Peter Gabriel…the list goes on and on. I am his first country album, so I’m really looking forward to it. A lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears went into this, and I owe it to everyone who has been a fan of ours for over ten years now. It’s more of a gratitude thing that this is coming out. I am very happy.

MR: Very nice. Your first single, the title track, “The House Rules,” is currently a hit on the country charts.

CK: We have had some good success. We charted last week and it’s been unbelievable man. For a new artist to come out and have the fans and radio stations get behind it, we have been so fortunate. This business is a tough business, especially for a new artist. We are on cloud nine right now.

MR: You co-wrote most of the music on this one.

CK: I wrote 90% of that album so it’s so much fun. There is a great nervousness if you can imagine what I am saying. It’s not an anxious nervousness, its a great feeling of nervousness to get out there and your heart and your words, and people can hear them and you can’t wait to see the response.

MR: What was the process like when you actually got down to recording the songs.

CK: We recorded some of these songs before. I was with another label at the time, and we actually rerecorded some of these songs. When Bob Ezrin and Jimmy Lee Sloas came in, they co-produced it, and it felt like home. It wasn’t like what do we do here. Bob through in a lot of his technique and his genius. It was fun man. That’s what music should be. Not saying that it wasn’t before. But this was an absolute blast. We were all family and we were sitting around and coming up with ideas and hugging each other and arguing with each other and there were some punches thrown but we all still felt like a family. It was so much fun to sit down with these guys and listen to the final product.

MR: How did Bob Ezrin jump on board?

CK: I walked in and played some songs with a good buddy of mine, Michael Powers, who was working with The Zac Brown Band at the time. I had gotten released by my other label and drove right back into Nashville and walked into Michael Powers’ office and said, “Dude, I am ready to go.” He played some songs for Bob Ezrin, and Bob said, “I need to take this project.” He is partners with this company with Keith Stegall who is responsible for Alan Jackson and others. He said, “Let me have this project.” We do like to pour a little bit of gasoline on our country, this is not your Dad’s country. This is your country. We like to have a little bit more fun on stage than normal. There is a stratocaster rather than a Telecaster on a lot of these songs. These are the songs I want to play. The Bigger Picture Group, who also has The Zac Brown Band, they allowed me to do that. They knew about the creativity that Zac Brown had, and they allowed me to come out and do that.

MR: The project also includes Jimmy Lee Sloas who worked with Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood…

CK: He’s played on Rascal Flatts. He has done all of it, man. Bob Ezrin is the rock ‘n’ roll guy who actually knows so much more about country than I thought he would. He is just now moving to Nashville. Jimmy has a little bit of his rock ‘n’ roll in his country, so that’s why it was such a good melting pot of all three of us together being creative. We came out with an album I am proud of. It doesn’t matter who you are if you don’t have the music, people just aren’t going to play it.

MR: Right. You co-wrote “American Made.”

CK: I did. My guitarist and I, Steve Carlson, were sitting around one day, and we were talking about all the girls we met in different cities and we said, “Oh, that has to be a song.” Every single one of those cities…one of those guys knew a girl from there, so it’s pretty much a true story.

MR: I’m confused. It’s Kane vs. Christian Kane, right?

CK: It’s Christian Kane. When we first started out, the band was called “Kane.” We go by both. The album (goes by) “Christian Kane” as it’s simpler that way, but we still close shows by, “We’re Kane, goodnight.” Steve Carlson, my guitarist and I started this thing over ten years ago.

MR: I think one of the album’s best topical songs is “Something’s Gotta Give.”

CK: That is a big song for me. I wrote that song specifically about my Dad, the old man, growing up and working hard on the Odessa oil fields trying to put food on the table. He did really well in that job but, not a lot of people know this, but 15% of the nation’s oil was in Odessa and it dried up in one day. That place became a ghost town. It was very unforgiving. West Texas is very unforgiving anyway, so when you run out of jobs, it’s even worse. I wrote that for the old man.

My dad heard it for the first time in Nashville. I said I wrote this song about my Dad and man, he was not happy. He didn’t like it. It’s always tough to hear a song about you. But to this day, it’s his most favorite song that I have ever written. That means a lot to me. It’s going on the album. I did that for him and no one was going to tell me that that song was not going on that album.

MR: Nice. Christian, you have a lot of new fans from being on the show Leverage. It also stars Timothy Hutton, who is one of my favorite actors, oh by the way.

CK: And he’s one of my best friends. He actually directed the video that is on CMT right now.

MR: Can you talk about the video?

CK: It’s “The House Rules.” Me and Tim talked about it in the trailer every day, we came up with an idea, and I came up with this idea of a steady cam shot that is never touched and Tim said, “What if we did it like this?” and the idea was ten times better because Tim brought it up. So, we did it. Jay Frank, one of the heads of CMT, loved it so we put it on.

MR: Many remember you, as I do, from watching the Angel series. I should have introduced you as Lindsay McDonald.

CK: Yeah, you could have. That was a great show for me man. David Boreanaz is, to this day, still one of my best friends. We were friends before we started. It’s not often that someone gets paid quite a bit of money to try and go kill your best friend everyday.

MR: You guys seemed to be having a blast–the humor, the timing. And Joss Whedon, with the incredible universes he created, especially with Firefly, what fun pop culture contributions.

CK: Joss is a genius. Joss Wheden who created Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and all that…he is a genius. The great thing about that show is that there are no rules and you can do whatever you want. Not many shows can do that because they operate in the realm of reality or not. It’s fun. People are turning into Vampires, there’s magic. There is never going to be another Vampire show like that. I know people have come up with some pretty good ones, but that was the original.

MR: There are the Twilight movies, True Blood, and so much that’s followed that don’t seem to have the soul that Angel had.

CK: Was that a play on words because he was the Vampire with the soul.

MR: Oh, jeez. (laughs) Hey, let’s talk about your great acting career some more. You were in EDTV.

CK: My first movie with Mathew McConaughey, that was so much fun. I got to work with Ron Howard. I was so nervous. That was my first film.

MR: You were Dale Robin in the movie Summer Catch.

CK: We were all so young. Freddie Prinze Jr., lovely Jessica Biel, my lovely friend Ms. Brittany Murphy…we later on did Just Married with Ashton Kutcher which was a big movie for me. I miss her everyday. I am so sad that she’s gone.

MR: You were also Nick Taylor, Dawson’s Creek.

CK: I loved working on it.

MR: And Brian in Friday Night Lights.

CK: I played my 5th grade coach at the time. I went to Odessa and I met those real boys. Peter Berg directed that, and he was nice enough to create that role for me. I am actually playing my 5th grade coach in Odessa, Texas.

MR: That’s incredible. Let’s talk about your music career in the group Kane. As Kane, you did double duty by appearing on the Angel soundtrack. What else did you musically appear on?

CK: I was in a movie with Angelina Jolie called Life Or Something Like It where I played her fiancé and I have a song in there. And if you’re into Just Married, whenever I am hitting on Brittany Murphy and we are in Italy and Ashton goes to the American bar and is by the little blond girl, that’s actually my song called “Crazy In Love” playing in the background. It’s my voice and my song. I’m singing the song over the radio and I think that’s very awkward to hear. Here I am hitting on his wife, and he’s in a bar listening to my music.

MR: Nice. Can you give some advice to new artists coming on the scene right now?

CK: There is no right or wrong way to do it–well there is a wrong way. I can give you my two favorite quotes in life and maybe it might help somebody out. I get up everyday and work, regardless of if I have a job or not. I have a quote that I live by: “Ninety percent of life is showing up.” That is Woody Allen from Annie Hall. My ass gets up off the couch, man, and that’s just how it is, and you have to live that way. Another quote that I like to live by Bruce Lee’s, “You win the fight by fighting.” It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with throwing hands; you learn to do by doing. You can read books on stuff all day long, but until you get out there and just do it, if you want to start playing, and you want to make some music, then go out and play. Go find yourself a venue and play, even if it’s in your home. Just play everyday. You win the fight by fighting.

MR: I would be remiss if I let you go before getting a good Timothy Hutton story.

CK: All stories I know about him I am not allowed to say. (laughs) Let’s see.

MR: The reason why I am asking this is because I have been a Timothy Hutton fan sinceOrdinary People. He’s worked on so many great moody movies, and his video for The Cars “Drive” is classic.

CK: Yes, absolutely man. He has done very well. Me and Tim are really close and most of the stories I have are very confidential. But I can say, you know, his ex-wife is Deborah Winger, and they have a son who is 21 years old, Noah Hutton, who actually cut the video. Tim and I go out and play poker most every night we are on the road, we have a couple of beers, and his son comes out every once in a while. Noah is a really good pool player; it’s really strange though because the lighting of a pool table is very strange and when he would turn one way, he would be Timothy Hutton, then turn the opposite way, and he would be Deborah Winger. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen because the kid kept changing from his mom to his dad. He is a really talented kid, he’s directing, editing, and living in New York right now. That’s one I can tell you without catching one to the jaw from Tim.

MR: (laughs) Thanks for letting me put you on the spot. Can you talk about the tour and what your plans are for the future?

CK: We go back to Leverage on February 28th. When the album came out, that was such a big day for me. People don’t really understand, it was such a huge lift for me as so many doors have been shut in my face with the music. It’s tough being an actor and then want to do country music. This is a big win for me, getting the music out there. We will be out on the road December, January and February, and then I go back March 1st to film four months ofLeverage, its fourth season. Unbelievable. After that, we are in talks right now for us jumping on a major tour.

MR: Alright boss, I really enjoyed you coming and visiting with The Huffington Post and solar-powered KRUU-FM. I hope you visit with us again sometime.

CK: Dude you are very kind to have me and I really appreciate it.

MR: Anytime and all the best, Christian.

Transcribed by Erika Richards