I share this blog post with great pleasure. I had the opportunity to sit down (virtually) with L.A. crime authors Eric Beetner and Steve Lauden. These cats have a dozens of books out between them and a great podcast called Writer Types. I've busted up the interview into two parts. Dig part 1:
1. The three of us are musicians and writers so we’ve established that we’re cool.
Tell the 100k plus blog readers out there what your instrument(s) is and how long
you’ve been playing.
Eric: I play guitar and started around age 14, which was over 30 years ago, yikes! I also sang in two of my bands but that may not have been a great idea…
Steve: I’m a drummer. I’ve been playing (on and off) for 35 years.
2. When did you move from musician to writer? Are you rocking both passions today or have you hung up the instrument?
Eric: I’ve always written in one form or another. I look back to when I was 25 when I had a record contract and got my first screenwriting agent. So I did both concurrently for a long time. Today I don’t play out anymore. Since my last band broke up in about 2002/03 I played out a few solo shows for about a year and did some bedroom recording but it wasn’t as fun. I started playing to make a big noise and sitting down to play on an acoustic guitar just wasn’t doing it for me. Plus, like I said, me as a singer is nothing special so I hung it up. I still play around the house and I miss it every day in many ways, but being in a band the style I would want to do is a young man’s game. Writing on the other hand is something I’ll have no problem doing until I’m old and gray.
Steve: Music and writing books have always been my two biggest passions. Both came into my life in a big way in my teens and I knew that I wanted to record/play music and publish books in some shape or form for the rest of my life. Being lucky enough to do both seemed pretty unrealistic, so I decided to focus on music when I was younger (although I did manage to get a journalism degree in college). That led to lots of glorious backyard parties and hastily recorded demo tapes, all of which was fine with me. Then, sometime in my mid-twenties, I joined a band with more focus and suddenly found myself with a record deal. I did it professionally for about a decade after that. These days I mostly play for fun with a lot more of my attention on publishing crime fiction, although I did just release an album with a new garage rock/power pop band called The Brothers Steve. What I’m trying to say is that life is really unpredictable, if you’re lucky.
3. Name the first artist/band that compelled you to pick up the axe or drumsticks.
And same goes for writing: Name the writer, movie or smoking hot babysitter that
shoved you toward writing.
Eric: I was really influenced by the visuals. I used to stay up late as a kid (always been a night owl like I still am today) and watch stuff like Midnight Special and Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. Seeing bands like Blondie, DEVO, The Ramones and KISS play live like that would make anyone want to pick up a guitar. Then when MTV hit it was game over. I used to go visit my mom in summer (I lived with my dad in a different state) and I was alone all day while she and my stepdad were at work so I’d sit and watch MTV for hours. I found an old acoustic guitar in the closet and decided I’d play.
Then when I bought my first electric I saw a black and white strat-style (it was an Ibanez, not a Fender) but it looked like the one the Edge played in the video for New Years Day by U2 so I chose that one over the Les Paul the guy at the shop was trying to sell me. For writing, movies definitely set me on the path. Oddball stuff like After Hours, Repo Man and Heathers made me want to do it. Then when I showed up in Hollywood with weirdo scripts that were ready-made cult movies like that I realized those people don’t have long careers and it was a miracle any of those films I loved so much got made at all. It was not a good fit, me and Hollywood.
Steve: My next-door neighbor’s mom gave me a bunch of her old 60s records when I was in junior high, so I mostly got the drumming bug from Keith Moon (of The Who) and Charlie Watts (of The Rolling Stones). I also got a solid heavy metal/hard rock education from my older brothers via Tommy Lee (of Motley Crue) and Joey Kramer (of Aerosmith).
But it was punk/post punk/new wave/alternative rock that has been my main focus as a drummer. Grant Hart (of Husker Du) and D.J. Bonebrake (of X) are a couple heroes from those worlds. For writing, Kurt Vonnegut was the author who first blew my mind, followed by Charles Bukowski, Umberto Eco and Katherine Dunn. For crime fiction, surf noir books by Don Winslow and Ken Nunn are all time favorites, And I really love Nordic crime fiction by authors like Jo Nesbo and Arnaldur Indridason.
4. You cats are co-hosts on a podcast called Writer Types, which is awesome by the
way—rated number one by this blogger. Briefly, tell us your process. How do you
land your guests? Who edits the show? Do you write the interview questions
together? Separate? Or just one of you? Add anything else you think is cool or
uncool.
Eric: We book guests in a mixture of friends of ours with new books out and stuff publicists send to us. We work on questions more independently now and just merge them but most of the best stuff in an interview comes on the fly. Steve is great at picking up a thread and pulling at it until it reveals funny stuff or insight. I edit the show since it’s my day job so I can do it easily and quickly, then I send to Steve for any notes he might have which usually involve cutting out bits he didn’t like of his own voice. We’ve done close to 50 shows now with more than 200 interviews so we have it down pretty well with what works so we’ve been able to get a little looser and more off the cuff with interviews which we both like. It’s a lot of work and we love it when we hear from listeners to know people are actually connecting with the show.
Steve: We’re both podcast-lovers, so doing a show was just a matter of finding the right partner in, um, crime. The podcast partnership between Eric and I has been really fun and rewarding, but it’s also a lot of work making the kind of podcast we want Writer Types to be. In terms of process, I like to say Eric is the Conan O’Brien and I’m the Andy Richter.
5. Each of you, tell us how many books you’ve written to date and let us in on your
most-recent title. I imagine you both want to write until old age kicks in and
senility leaves you as hands-y old men in nursing homes. Do either of you have a
max number of books you want under your belt before the nursing home
caregivers slap your hands away? If so, what’s the magic number?
Eric: I’ve published 22 books between novels, novellas and co-written novels. I’ve written an additional 8 yet to be published (some of which never will) I have outlines or notes for at least 30 more so I don’t plan to stop anytime soon, unless it gets to be just too depressing or a grind which it always threatens to do every day when I confront the realities of making any decent dough at this game, which is hard as hell. But then I get an idea in my head that won’t leave and I have to get it down so I’m a victim of my own imagination.
Steve: Three Greg Salem punk rock PI novels including Bad Citizen Corporation, Grizzly Season and Hang Time (Rare Bird Books). Two Tommy & Shayna crime caper novellas, Crosswise and Crossed Bones (Down & Out Books). One self-published power pop novelette, That’ll Be The Day. I also co-edited a power pop essay collection with Paul Myers that’s being published by Rare Bird Books this October. I’ll keep writing as long as it’s fun.
6. Kale? Or Spinach? And if the question locks you up for more than 30 seconds feel free to say, beef, or none of the above.
Eric: Spinach. Or brussel sprouts. The 11 year-old me would be horrified at what I’ve become.
Steve: Kale AND Spinach. Stir-fried with beef.
End of Part One: The Rockin' Interview, Stay tuned! Part two really rips!
Where to find these cats: ericbeetner.com & s.w.lauden.com
1. The three of us are musicians and writers so we’ve established that we’re cool.
Tell the 100k plus blog readers out there what your instrument(s) is and how long
you’ve been playing.
 |
| Eric Beetner |
Eric: I play guitar and started around age 14, which was over 30 years ago, yikes! I also sang in two of my bands but that may not have been a great idea…
Steve: I’m a drummer. I’ve been playing (on and off) for 35 years.
2. When did you move from musician to writer? Are you rocking both passions today or have you hung up the instrument?
Eric: I’ve always written in one form or another. I look back to when I was 25 when I had a record contract and got my first screenwriting agent. So I did both concurrently for a long time. Today I don’t play out anymore. Since my last band broke up in about 2002/03 I played out a few solo shows for about a year and did some bedroom recording but it wasn’t as fun. I started playing to make a big noise and sitting down to play on an acoustic guitar just wasn’t doing it for me. Plus, like I said, me as a singer is nothing special so I hung it up. I still play around the house and I miss it every day in many ways, but being in a band the style I would want to do is a young man’s game. Writing on the other hand is something I’ll have no problem doing until I’m old and gray.
Steve: Music and writing books have always been my two biggest passions. Both came into my life in a big way in my teens and I knew that I wanted to record/play music and publish books in some shape or form for the rest of my life. Being lucky enough to do both seemed pretty unrealistic, so I decided to focus on music when I was younger (although I did manage to get a journalism degree in college). That led to lots of glorious backyard parties and hastily recorded demo tapes, all of which was fine with me. Then, sometime in my mid-twenties, I joined a band with more focus and suddenly found myself with a record deal. I did it professionally for about a decade after that. These days I mostly play for fun with a lot more of my attention on publishing crime fiction, although I did just release an album with a new garage rock/power pop band called The Brothers Steve. What I’m trying to say is that life is really unpredictable, if you’re lucky.
3. Name the first artist/band that compelled you to pick up the axe or drumsticks.
And same goes for writing: Name the writer, movie or smoking hot babysitter that
shoved you toward writing.
Eric: I was really influenced by the visuals. I used to stay up late as a kid (always been a night owl like I still am today) and watch stuff like Midnight Special and Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. Seeing bands like Blondie, DEVO, The Ramones and KISS play live like that would make anyone want to pick up a guitar. Then when MTV hit it was game over. I used to go visit my mom in summer (I lived with my dad in a different state) and I was alone all day while she and my stepdad were at work so I’d sit and watch MTV for hours. I found an old acoustic guitar in the closet and decided I’d play.
But it was punk/post punk/new wave/alternative rock that has been my main focus as a drummer. Grant Hart (of Husker Du) and D.J. Bonebrake (of X) are a couple heroes from those worlds. For writing, Kurt Vonnegut was the author who first blew my mind, followed by Charles Bukowski, Umberto Eco and Katherine Dunn. For crime fiction, surf noir books by Don Winslow and Ken Nunn are all time favorites, And I really love Nordic crime fiction by authors like Jo Nesbo and Arnaldur Indridason.
4. You cats are co-hosts on a podcast called Writer Types, which is awesome by the
way—rated number one by this blogger. Briefly, tell us your process. How do you
land your guests? Who edits the show? Do you write the interview questions
together? Separate? Or just one of you? Add anything else you think is cool or
uncool.
Eric: We book guests in a mixture of friends of ours with new books out and stuff publicists send to us. We work on questions more independently now and just merge them but most of the best stuff in an interview comes on the fly. Steve is great at picking up a thread and pulling at it until it reveals funny stuff or insight. I edit the show since it’s my day job so I can do it easily and quickly, then I send to Steve for any notes he might have which usually involve cutting out bits he didn’t like of his own voice. We’ve done close to 50 shows now with more than 200 interviews so we have it down pretty well with what works so we’ve been able to get a little looser and more off the cuff with interviews which we both like. It’s a lot of work and we love it when we hear from listeners to know people are actually connecting with the show.
Steve: We’re both podcast-lovers, so doing a show was just a matter of finding the right partner in, um, crime. The podcast partnership between Eric and I has been really fun and rewarding, but it’s also a lot of work making the kind of podcast we want Writer Types to be. In terms of process, I like to say Eric is the Conan O’Brien and I’m the Andy Richter.
5. Each of you, tell us how many books you’ve written to date and let us in on your
most-recent title. I imagine you both want to write until old age kicks in and
senility leaves you as hands-y old men in nursing homes. Do either of you have a
max number of books you want under your belt before the nursing home
caregivers slap your hands away? If so, what’s the magic number?
Steve: Three Greg Salem punk rock PI novels including Bad Citizen Corporation, Grizzly Season and Hang Time (Rare Bird Books). Two Tommy & Shayna crime caper novellas, Crosswise and Crossed Bones (Down & Out Books). One self-published power pop novelette, That’ll Be The Day. I also co-edited a power pop essay collection with Paul Myers that’s being published by Rare Bird Books this October. I’ll keep writing as long as it’s fun.
6. Kale? Or Spinach? And if the question locks you up for more than 30 seconds feel free to say, beef, or none of the above.Eric: Spinach. Or brussel sprouts. The 11 year-old me would be horrified at what I’ve become.
Steve: Kale AND Spinach. Stir-fried with beef.
End of Part One: The Rockin' Interview, Stay tuned! Part two really rips!
Where to find these cats: ericbeetner.com & s.w.lauden.com
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