HOME | MUSIC EVENTS | FAMILY EVENTS | ART EVENTS
THEATRE | MOVIES | UPCOMING EVENTS
ARCHIVES | ABOUT | ADVERTISE | CONTACT | DISTRIBUTION
entertaining u newspaper: your monthly guide to entertainment
<< Rusty Springfield | Main | Circa Survive >>
riding the creative wave
Cottonmouth Texas interview
by erin thursby    scopes1925@msn.com

WHAT: Cottonmouth Texas on Warped Tour

WHEN: July 19th, from 11 am – 11 pm

WHERE: Reynolds Park Yacht Center


      Cottonmouth Texas might be one of the more unusual acts traveling on Warped Tour. While sometimes the members of starving pop-punk bands seem to outnumber the crowd, Cottonmouth Texas’ spoken word poetry, backed by music, stands eerily alone. It’s a weird, cool mind trip that’s gone from personal stories of parties and people gone wrong to political statements. We got the chance to interview Jeffrey Liles, the writer and voice behind Cottonmouth Texas.



EU: What can you tell us about ‘Charming Psychotic,’ the first spoken word song that pops up on your MySpace page? Is it just a general statement about how screwed up people can be?

JL: That particular song was just about one person, not a bunch of different people.



EU: About a girl…

JL: Both her parents were doctors, you know, and her family had really high expectations of her and she didn’t really live up to her family’s expectations, so she took it out on other people…Her family had taught her to be polite, to make a good first impression, put on airs, put on appearances…



EU: How long did you date her?

JL: Almost a year. That was about 3 ½ years ago. Took a long time to be able to get to the point to write about it…I left her and she flipped on me, put me in the hospital.



EU: In the hospital? What happened?

JL: …There’s a certain ambiguity when it comes to making the songs. You don’t want to give away too much. The people who it is about, they hear it…so you have to leave it open-ended. Be just ambiguous enough to where other people can relate to it; plug in their own experiences.



EU: Spoken word poetry isn’t really the standard act at Warped Tour…how’s it been so far?

JL: We’ve only had one show and that’s it. You’re right, it’s not typical at all…it’s very different. Everybody on this bus is some kind of comedian or writer or DJ or rapper. It’s all good stuff that’s definitely left of center, for the Warped Tour anyway.



EU: You did Lollapalooza in ’97 and ten years later you’re doing Warped Tour. How different is the stuff you’re doing now from what you did back then?

JL: Well there’s a lot different about it actually. The stuff in ’97 was all first person, it was all true stories filtered through Cottonmouth Texas personally, and the stuff I’m writing now is not real poetry, it’s just reactionary dialogue. Especially political stuff that’s happened in the past 5 years…it’s less about me personally. I’m painting with a much broader stroke.



EU: I read on your blog that you’re in the middle of one of your spurts of creativity. What compels those? What gets the ball rolling?

JL: I don’t know. I’m at the mercy of it coming and going. This creative bender has gone on for almost a year, that’s the longest time it’s ever happened. It’s usually only there for a month or so, every couple of years—then it’s gone.



EU: Kind of like a surfer. Unless you have the wave, you can’t ride it.

JL: Exactly. That’s an apt metaphor.


You can catch Cottonmouth Texas on Warped Tour on July 19th.

Entertaining U Newspaper, eujacksonville.com. Published by N2U Publishing, Inc. 3101 University Blvd., South #201 Jacksonville, FL 32216. Copyright N2U Publishing, Inc. 2006. Reproduction of any artwork or copy prepared by N2U Publishing, Inc. is strictly prohibited without written consent of the publisher. We will not be responsible for errors and/or omissions, the Publisher's liability for error will not exceed the cost of space occupied by the error. Articles for publication are welcome and may be sent to the following address: 3101 University Blvd., South #201 Jacksonville, FL 32216. We cannot assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. For information concerning classified advertising phone 904-730-3003.