You may not realize it, but a song by Better Than Ezra is all over the radio right now. It's not the band's new single, "A Lifetime," which has garnered some airplay but has yet to become a smash; it's not even a song by the band, per se. It's Howie Day's "Collide," co-written by Day and BTE frontman Kevin Griffin. Although his band has faded from the spotlight since their one huge hit, "Good," from their 1994 debut album, Griffin is more popular than ever, enjoying a healthy second career as an in-demand songwriter for artists from Day and Louis XIV to Cher and Paris Hilton.
"Ideally, you don't want to put your stamp on it; you want to help them make it their own identity," Griffin says of working with other artists. He prefers co-writing, as he's done with Day, to just submitting songs, as he's done for artists such as Hilton and American Idol runner-up Bo Bice. Having been through the industry machine, with BTE's huge success in the alt-rock era and subsequent cooling off, Griffin sees himself as a mentor to people like Day and up-and-coming band Louis XIV. "Most of them have been co-writes, and I've hooked up with them for the purpose of helping them write a song for their album, maybe a single or something like that. That's been my role as kind of like a song guy. At 36, the elder statesman."
Even though it's been a while since his band has been in the spotlight, Griffin has helped raise BTE's profile with his own success as a songwriter. People who like "Collide" are slowly starting to notice that the songs Griffin sings himself are just as good, if not better. "When you're around other people who have different background and influences, you're influenced by them, by whatever they're into, maybe a cool chord progression or a tuning," Griffin says. "I became a better songwriter by collaborating with other people."
Unfortunately, just as Griffin's songwriting success was starting to lift the band, Beyond, the label that released BTE's 2001 album Closer, went bankrupt. Griffin and his bandmates spent a long time dealing with bankruptcy court, trying to get their contract released. It was four years before they were able to sign with successful independent label Artemis and release the new Before the Robots. Closer is now out of print, and the masters are owned by a company in Canada—Griffin doesn't even know its name.
"A Lifetime" was set to be Closer's next single and now, years later, a newly recorded version of that song from Before the Robots has landed the band back on radio and VH1. "People just kept saying, 'That song's too good not to be heard,'" Griffin says. "And when you're in a band you're like, 'Eh, I don't want to put an old song on an album.' But enough people do it these days, so I was like, 'Screw it, let's do it.'" The decision has paid off, and "Lifetimes'" infectious hook and melancholy lyrics, with the story of a group of friends scattering the ashes of a dead compatriot, are giving BTE the most airplay they've had in years.
Whether or not they're on the radio, though, BTE are leagues ahead of former colleagues like the Gin Blossoms and Spin Doctors. Their dedicated fans keep their tours profitable, and Griffin's heartfelt, unpretentious, roots-rock songwriting keeps their albums improving with time. "It seems that, especially for us, if you really make good music, then you're able to keep your fans," Griffin says. Nothing could be simpler.