Better Than Ezra
Members of Better Than Ezra in Nashville, Tennessee, August 1, 2002.
Background information
Origin	Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Genres	Alternative rock Post-grunge
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Artemis Records Swell Records/Elektra Sanctuary Records
Website	betterthanezra.com
Members
Kevin Griffin Tom Drummond Michael Jerome James Arthur Payne (tour support)
Past members
Joel Rundell (1988–1990) Cary Bonnecaze (1988–1996) Travis McNabb (1996–2009)

Better Than Ezra is an American alternative rock trio based in New Orleans, Louisiana.

History[link]

Formation and early success[link]

Better Than Ezra was formed in 1988^[1] by its four original members - vocalist and guitarist Kevin Griffin; Joel Rundell, the lead guitarist; bassist Tom Drummond; and drummer, Cary Bonnecaze.^[1] All four members were attending Louisiana State University at the time of Better Than Ezra's formation.^[1] Better Than Ezra's first public performance was at Murphy's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, also in 1988.^[2] Though many theories abound, the band refuses to disclose the origin of its name.^[2] One theory is that it comes from a line in Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Moveable Feast" where in describing a particularly annoying sound, Hemingway remarks that it "was no worse than other noises, certainly better than Ezra learning to play the bassoon." Fans of the group often refer to themselves as Ezralites.^[3]

Better Than Ezra circulated a demo cassette tape later in 1988, the Chimes Street Demo. While not an official release, this demo is sought-after by the band's fans, and traded by collectors. In 1990 the band released a cassette-only album, Surprise.

Joel Rundell, the band's lead guitarist, committed suicide on August 8, 1990.^[1] The remaining three members of the band took some time off to reassess its future following Rundell's death.^[1] However, Griffin, Drummond and Bonnecaze reunited Better Than Ezra as a trio by the end of 1990.^[1] The trio continued playing house parties and fraternity shows across southern United States during the early 1990s.

The band released its first nationally-distributed album Deluxe in 1993 on its own indie label,^[4] Swell Records, which caught the attention of major record labels and radio. Better Than Ezra signed with Elektra Records in 1995.^[4] Elektra Records rereleased Deluxe in 1995 and the single, "Good", reached the #1 position on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart which helped push the album to platinum record status by the end of 1995.^[5]

Success came quickly to Better Than Ezra. Tom Drummond commented later in a 1998 interview with CNN, "It took us seven years to get signed, and then seven weeks to get to No. 1." when describing the overnight success of Deluxe and its single "Good".^[4]

1996–2000[link]

After Deluxe's major label release, original drummer Cary Bonnecaze left the band in 1996.^[1] He was replaced by drummer Travis McNabb,^[1] formerly of the band Vigilantes of Love, who was tapped to play on the band's upcoming album, Friction Baby. Bonnecaze's departure set off a series of lawsuits and counter-suits between Bonnecaze and Better Than Ezra.^[6] Bonnecaze, who brought his suit to the United States District Court in New Orleans, argued that the band owed him money "based on his role in fortifying the band's reputation," according to Rolling Stone.^[7] He asked for approximately $1 million dollars in damages.^[7] A settlement was reached between the band and Bonnecaze on August 5, 1999.^[7] The exact terms of the settlement were not released at the time, though Better Than Ezra's manager John Isbell was quoted as saying that Bonnecaze received "way less" than the one million dollars he had originally requested.^[7]

Better Than Ezra released their second major label album, Friction, Baby, in 1996 through Elektra Records. Friction, Baby produced the hits "Desperately Wanting" and "King of New Orleans". Their sophomore release was not as commercially successful as Deluxe, but, as of 1999, sold almost 500,000 units.^[4]

The trio began work on their third major release, How Does Your Garden Grow?, soon after the end of touring for Friction, Baby. The album was recorded between mid-January and late-April at a studio in New Orleans.^[8] The album was produced by record producer Malcolm Burn and released on August 25, 1998.^[8] The album was described as "experimental" and a significant departure from their previous two albums.^[4] Griffin described the album in 1998 as "guitar driven ... rhythmic."^[8] Likewise, Tom Drummond described the band's thinking on its third major album, "We thought the third album was a very important record, because generally a band either makes or breaks on the third record. We wanted it to be a record that didn't necessarily sound like what people expected." ^[4] Despite the emphasis on guitar experimentation, two tracks, "One More Murder" and "Je ne m'en souviens pas" contain no guitars.^[8]

The single "At the Stars" debuted, and peaked, at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4] The band was dropped by Elektra Records following the release of How Does Your Garden Grow? in 1999.^[9]

Subsequent album releases from Better Than Ezra include Closer, (Beyond Records, 2001), Before the Robots, (Artemis Records, 2005) and Paper Empire.

2000–2008[link]

The band released the B-Sides and rarities collection Artifakt on its own "Ezra Dry Goods/Fudge" label in 2000. Artifakt was only sold online^[9] and at concerts. Tom Drummond, the band's bassist, noted in 2002, "It's basically an album full of rarities." ^[9]

Better Than Ezra, now no longer with Elektra Records, signed with the Beyond Records label and began work on new material.^[9] Drummond explained the reasoning for choosing a smaller label, "We decided we wanted to be big fish in a small pond instead of a little fish in a big pond. We just wanted to be with a label who wanted success as much as we did."^[9]

Griffin, Drummond and McNabb spent 18 months working on Closer, their follow-up album to 1998's How Does Your Garden Grow? and their first new material since being dropped by Elektra Records.^[9][10] The album was recorded in New Orleans in the band's own studio, which allowed the members to focus on creating music rather than rental costs per day.^[10] Closer was mixed in Los Angeles by Better Than Ezra and the album's producer, Brad Wood.^[10] However, the band felt that some tracks needed scratching. Producer Brad Wood's management company recommended DJ Swamp, who had previously worked with Beck, to mix several tracks.^[10] The use of a DJ for two of the album's tracks, the first single "Extra Ordinary" and "Recognize," marked a departure for the band, who hadn't previously employed a DJ before.^[10]

Closer was released on August 7, 2001.^[10] Better Than Ezra launched a tour in support of the album on July 26, 2001.^[10] The first single off the album, "Extra Ordinary," which had been mixed by DJ Swamp, was inspired by an AC/DC song.^[10] The album's promotion hit a snag after its record label, Beyond Records, went out of business in 2002 shortly after Closer's release.^[11] Beyond Record's bankruptcy left Closer out of print for several years.^[11] In June 2009, Better Than Ezra announced that it had acquired the rights to Closer and would re-release it in the Fall of 2009 with two new previously unreleased tracks, "Simple Song" and "Screwed Up and Beautiful."^[11]

In June 2001, Better Than Ezra filmed a series of commercials for ESPN's College GameDay^{[disambiguation needed ]}.^[10] The promo features the band while sports analyst Lee Corso crowd surfs to the stage, where he continues his sports reporting.^[10]

On September 28, 2004, the band simultaneously released their first live concert DVD, as well as an official live album, both entitled Live at the House of Blues New Orleans through Sanctuary Records.^[12] The DVD and album were filmed and recorded at two separate shows at the House of Blues in New Orleans during the summer of 2004.^[12]

A Greatest Hits collection was released on March 15, 2005, through Rhino Entertainment, a division of the Warner Music Group.

Better Than Ezra's sixth studio album entitled Before the Robots (Artemis Records), was released on May 31, 2005. In 2005, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry used the band's song "Juicy" as the background music for the second season of the show's promotional advertisements, which Griffin credited with bringing attention to the album.^[13] The song "Juicy" has also been heard in the background in commercials for Applebee's restaurants.

2009–2010[link]

Longtime drummer Travis McNabb left Better Than Ezra in February 2009, and their last performance together was Family Gras in Metairie, Louisiana.^[14] The primary reason given for his departure was the demand on his time by country and bluegrass group, Sugarland, with whom McNabb had previously been touring for some time. The split was amicable, with bassist Tom Drummond saying, "It's bittersweet. He's fantastic. We're still good friends, and there are no hard feelings. We'll miss him. But this is an opportunity he needed to take." Announced at the same time was McNabb's replacement, New Orleans-based drummer Michael Jerome, formerly of the band Pleasure Club. In addition, Better Than Ezra announced the May 12, 2009 release date for their seventh studio album, entitled Paper Empire, which is produced by Warren Huart and singer Kevin Griffin. The first single, "Absolutely Still" was released for iTunes purchase on March 17.

On January 22, 2010, American country-pop singer Taylor Swift covered "Breathless" at a performance on Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, a charity telethon to benefit the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Current members[link]

In addition to vocalist, chief songwriter and guitarist Kevin Griffin, the other current members of Better Than Ezra as of February 2009 are bassist and backing vocalist Tom Drummond and drummer Michael Jerome, who joined the band in 2009.^[15] In addition, James Arthur Payne accompanies the band on tour, singing background vocals and playing supplemental guitar and keyboard accompaniment.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Better Than Ezra on Myspace
• Better Than Ezra at Allmusic
• Ezralites.com (Fan Site)
• Personal site of Better Than Ezra's 1996-2008 drummer Travis McNabb
• 2009 interview with Kevin Griffin at Bullz-Eye.com
• CBS News: Making New Orleans "Better": Rock Band Better Than Ezra Donates To New Orleans F.D, Brad Pitt's Foundation
• 2010 Interview With JACK FM Chicago

Ezra from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum

Site traditionally described as the tomb of Ezra at Al Uzayr near Basra.

Ezra ( /ˈɛzrə/; Hebrew: עזרא, Ezra;^[1] fl. 480–440 BC), also called Ezra the Scribe (Hebrew: עזרא הסופר, Ezra ha-Sofer) and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible he returned from the Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem (Ezra 7-10 and Neh 8). According to First Esdras, a non-canonical Greek translation of the Book of Ezra, he was also a high priest.

His name may be an abbreviation of Azaryahu, "God-helps". In the Greek Septuagint the name is rendered Esdras (Greek: Ἔσδρας), from which Latin: Esdras.

The Book of Ezra describes how he led a group of Judean exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem (Ezra 8.2-14) where he enforced observance of the Torah and cleansed the community of mixed marriages.^[2][3]

Ezra, known as "Ezra the scribe" in Chazalic literature,^[4] is a highly respected figure in Judaism.^[5]

In the Hebrew Bible[link]

The canonical Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah are the oldest sources for the activity of Ezra,^[3] whereas many of the other books ascribed to Ezra (First Esdras, 3-6 Ezra) are later literary works dependent on the canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Book of Ezra-Nehemiah

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one scroll. (Nehemiah 3:32, footnote)^[6] Later the Jews divided this scroll and called it First and Second Ezra. Modern Hebrew Bibles call the two books Ezra and Nehemiah, as do other modern Bible translations. A few parts of the Book of Ezra (4:8 to 6:18 and 7:12:12-26) were written in Aramaic, and the majority in Hebrew, Ezra himself being skilled in both languages.^[7][8] Ezra, a descendant of Seraiah the high priest, was living in Babylon when in the seventh year (~ 457 BCE) of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the king sent him to Jerusalem to teach the laws of God to any who did not know them. Ezra led a large body of exiles back to Jerusalem, where he discovered that Jewish men had been marrying non-Jewish women. He tore his garments in despair and confessed the sins of Israel before God, then braved the opposition of some of his own countrymen to purify the community by enforcing the dissolution of the sinful marriages. Some years later Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah, a Jewish noble in his personal service, to Jerusalem as governor with the task of rebuilding the city walls. Once this task was completed Nehemiah had Ezra read the Law of Moses (the Torah) to the assembled Jews, and the people and priests entered into a covenant to keep the law and separate themselves from all other peoples.

In later Second Temple period literature[link]

1 Esdras[link]

1 Esdras, probably from the late 2nd/early 1st centuries BCE, preserves a Greek text of Ezra and a part of Nehemiah distinctly different from that of Ezra-Nehemiah - in particular it eliminates Nehemiah from the story and gives some of his deeds to Ezra, as well as telling events in a different order. Scholars are divided on whether it is based on Ezra-Nehemiah, or reflects an earlier literary stage before the combination of Ezra and Nehemiah accounts.

Josephus[link]

The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, deals with Ezra in his Antiquities of the Jews. He preferred 1 Esdras over the canonical Ezra–Nehemiah and placed Ezra as a contemporary of Xerxes son of Darius, rather than of Artaxerxes.^[9]