Jere: I was at your show here in Birmingham just a few weeks ago…

Mize: Oh yeah. I remember that one specifically. That was a good show.

Jere: I noticed during the show that Adam [Duritz, the Counting Crows’ lead singer] changed a lot of the lyrics which dealt with fame. Was that his way of saying that fame’s not all it’s cracked up to be?

Mize: Perhaps. Maybe that it’s just different. You grow up having a certain idea of what it’s going to be, and you have certain dreams, but when those things become a reality it’s a little different. It’s different than you’d thought it would be, but not necessarily in a bad way. Your hope for something is a romanticized view, but the reality of it is just that -- reality.

Jere: One of the things that surprised me about the Birmingham show was that you played "Mr. Jones" during the acoustic set instead of later in the show.

Mize: Yeah. People always expect the big "rock" version. But we’ve been doing that acoustically ever since I’ve been in the band. I’ve played that song’s electric version maybe twice. And one of those was during the audition (laughs).

Jere: I’ve read in several places that Adam doesn’t feel any real connection to that song anymore.

Mize: Yeah, and that makes sense to me. The thing I like about good songs, and I think "Mr. Jones" is a good song, is that you can play them a bunch of different ways and they hold up. I hope people aren’t disappointed that they hear the acoustic version. I’d like to think that people realize the depth of the song. I’d rather people feel that they’re getting something special. But there’s a lot to that song, and I think the acoustic version brings out more of what the song’s about. Even before I was in the band, I thought there was a certain darkness about the song that the electric version didn’t capture.

Jere: Plus Adam needs to perform the song in a way that he can reconnect with it.

Mize: Right, right. And that’s a song about a young person striving to be a rock star, and Adam’s not a young person striving to be a rock star anymore. It’s understandable.

Jere: Where is the tour right now?

Mize: Well, we’re playing in Washington tomorrow, but we’ve stopped at this resort town in Idaho right now. We’ve actually got a day off today (laughs).

Jere: You’ve struck up a pretty close friendship with the Wallflowers, haven’t you?

Mize: Yeah. They’re great guys. We’ve been on the road with them for a long time. It’s always great to tour with bands that you like, because you get to see them every night. I just sit at the side of the stage and watch every night. You learn from ‘em, and you get excited about your own show.

Jere: How much longer will you be touring?

Mize: Until December 20^th. We’ve been on tour since October of last year, so it’s been about fifteen months.

Jere: And a couple of weeks ago you filmed an episode of VH-1’s "Storytellers" series, right?

Mize: Yeah we did.

Jere: When is that going to air?

Mize: I think it’s sometime in late September. I’m not sure of the exact date.

Jere: Will we be hearing the new song "Good Luck" on that show?

Mize: It’s possible. It was recorded. Adam did it by himself on the piano. Whether or not it makes the final edit is up to the network, I guess.

Jere: Was it difficult to go from playing large concerts to playing in that intimate setting?

Mize: It was really strange, I have to tell ya. Especially playing the drums, ‘cause you go from having an audience 45 feet away from you and playing really loud to having people about two feet behind you. It was like playing in your basement in high school when all your friends came over. When everybody just sat around and you played Led Zeppelin covers (laughs). It was certainly different recording for VH-1.

Jere: Speaking of VH-1, I wanted to congratulate you guys for being named their "Artist of the Month" for September.

Mize: Wow, really? That’s good. I wish I watched TV more (laughs). When they told me about "Storytellers" I had to be briefed. I’d never heard of it. But that’s cool. I guess we’ll get a bit of the media overload this month (laughs).

Jere: Do you guys get to write much material while you’re on the road?

Mize: It’s hard. We try, you know? But being on tour is somewhat regimented. You have daily schedules, and usually the only time we get to play is when we’re soundchecking. And there are certain things we have to do when we’re at soundcheck. For a long time we were rehearsing for the acoustic VH-1 performance during our soundchecks. So, for about a month there, we were spending all of our playing hours doing the things we had to do. But there has been some songwriting going on since VH-1. It’s a different mindset altogether. We tend to write in the studio while the tape’s rolling. It’s more intuitive with us. We do things really spontaneously. We’ll get general ideas on tape while we’re on tour, then we sort through them all when we get back. Touring and writing are two different monsters, but we do what we can.

Jere: Will you be taking an extended break after the tour?

Mize: Not really, no. We did last time. We took four months off after that one. This time we’re trying to make sure that the last part of the tour isn’t too grueling so that we won’t be worn out when we get off the road. So hopefully we’ll be taking it easier this Fall so we won’t need as much time off. We’ll probably try to do some writing during that time off, then get back into it after Christmas. That way we’ll be excited about recording again. I think the general mood right now is one of excitement. We’re ready to re-open the creative process.

Jere: You’re probably ready for some new music since you’ve been touring with these two albums for so long.

Mize: Yeah, exactly. We do tend to rewrite some of the stuff while we’re on tour, and we play some things differently every night. That keeps it stimulating. But touring is more about execution than creation because you’re performing the same basic songs every night. But when it’s just the band in a room together we get to create something out of nothing. It uses a different part of your brain, and I miss that part.

Jere: Does everyone in the band get quite a bit of input during the songwriting process?

Mize: Yeah, I think so. I mean, Adam’s the primary songwriter, but the band has written some stuff just as a band. But it’s pretty much up to each musician to put their own stamp on their own instrument.

Jere: You joined the band back in September of ’94. Were you still in Redneck Grease Deluxe at that time?

Mize: (laughs) Oh my gosh. Where’d you dig that info up?

Jere: An old drummers’ magazine. I did my research (laughs).

Mize: Well, I sat in with that band a few times. They had another drummer who was married and had kids, so I sat in with them from time to time. I also played in a band called Daisy, which was from Athens. We played at the Nick there in Birmingham a few times. We also played at some place that had a really nice restaurant downstairs…

Jere: Zydeco?

Mize: Yeah, that’s the one. And I played with Marlee McLeod for a while. She’s from Alabama, actually.

Jere: I just got her Vertigo disc a while back.

Mize: She finally released that, huh? I got demos from it about three months ago when we were in Minneapolis. That’s where she lives now. I saw her while we were up there. Anyway, I played on her first record, and we toured around the South for a while.

Jere: Right after you joined Counting Crows, the band headed off to Europe for a few months. Was that your trial by fire, so to speak?

Mize: Yeah. It was a pretty intense time. We went to Europe with Cracker opening for us, and that was comforting in a way. Cracker was the band that I played with that led to me playing with the Counting Crows. I had played with Cracker for a while in ’93. They told the Counting Crows about me, and that got me the gig with the Crows. So we went on tour in Europe, and it was kind of an extended audition. They were just being careful, wanting to make sure that everything worked out personally. Right before we headed back to the States they inducted me as a member.

Jere: When you got back to America, you took a few months off and then went into the studio. You’ve obviously escaped it, but was there any fear of the infamous "sophomore jinx" as the band recorded Recovering the Satellites?

Mize: I wasn’t, and I don’t think anyone was, really. We weren’t thinking about that record as a political or a business move. We were just thinking about the songs, actually. All of that sophomore slump stuff and all of the business aspects were kind of forgotten while we were recording. And I think that was important. If you think about stuff like that it can really psyche you out. We just did the best that we could, and Adam just wrote from his heart. The idea was just to do something sincere and not be too aware of the consequences.

Jere: Along those same lines, does the band pay much attention to its reviews?

Mize: It’s always good to read a good review (laughs). ‘Cause that’s reassuring. I mean, we work really hard. We rehearse a lot. We critique ourselves after every show. But so much of the press early on was this really strange personal press. It was more about Adam’s personal life, and that was so unimportant to us. This record doesn’t have anything to do with his celebrity or people’s opinions of him. To us, it’s just fourteen songs. That got tiresome after a while. It just got tedious. The press wasn’t saying a thing about the music, they were just commenting on his social life…

Jere: Or his dreadlocks, for that matter.

Mize: Right, right. I don’t need to read about his social life (laughs). And most of it’s fabrication anyway.

Jere: Like the whole Jennifer Aniston thing being blown so out of proportion.

Mize: Yeah, exactly. That’s kind of insulting to us as a band, you know? That’s not what we’re about. Adam’s personal life has nothing to do with Counting Crows or the music that we make. We spent a year putting out hearts into a record and then heard almost nothing back but talk about his personal life.

Jere: The Counting Crows performed two consecutive nights on Letterman’s show, and you’re still one of the only bands who’s ever done that.

Mize: Yeah, that was pretty cool.

Jere: Letterman seemed to be a huge fan of yours.

Mize: Yeah. We had heard that we were one of his favorite bands. And that made it more fun to play on his show. We knew we weren’t just there for the publicity or whatever. He really wanted us there, and to be asked back for a second night was pretty special.

Jere: We talked about Adam, and how the press has latched onto him. Do you feel more comfortable being in the background?

Mize: Totally, yes. I enjoy playing drums. And I enjoy being in this band and playing at this level. But I never wanted the other stuff – all the peripheral fame stuff. I can’t see it adding to my life in any way. And seeing how it has weighted down the people who have to deal with it all the time, I feel really fortunate. I do exactly what I want to do, and I don’t have to lose anything for it.

Jere: Does the rest of the band feel the same way?

Mize: Yeah. Anonymity is an extremely valuable thing. Especially if you’re a private person and just enjoy doing what you do. To me, fame in and of itself has no value. I can’t see any, anyway.

Jere: Well, thanks for calling. Hope you have a good show at "The Gorge in George" tomorrow.

Mize: Yeah, I’m looking forward to that show. I hear that’s a great place to play.