Golden band returns to Tiger Land

In 1988, during his first semester at LSU, mechanical engineering student Tom Drummond answered an ad placed in The Daily Reveille by a band searching for a bass player.

Those first practices—with vocalist and guitarist Kevin Griffin, lead guitarist Joel Rundell and drummer Cary Bonnecaze, who all attended LSU at the time—would eventually lead Drummond to leave the university during his senior year and follow rock star dreams as his new band Better Than Ezra gained national popularity.

“I knew from our first rehearsal that it was something special,” Drummond says. “I had been in a lot of bands previously, but as soon as we got together, I knew this was something lasting.”

Twenty-two years later, with a platinum record under its belt and consistent hit songs throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Better Than Ezra never lost touch with its Tiger roots. The band has now come full circle with its new Death Valley EP.

The eight-track album finds the alt-rockers putting their personal spin on LSU Tiger Band classics and tailgating standards, including “Hey Fightin’ Tigers,” “Hey Baby,” Chinese Bandits and “Tiger by the Tail.”

“When you travel around and see some of the other schools, you realize there is a very special thing that goes on at LSU between the tailgaters and the team,” Drummond says. “There is a culture [at LSU] that has built up over the years that you can’t find anywhere else. We decided, ‘Why not take some of these songs that were hits to begin with in the ’50s and ’60s and do them BTE style and modernize them?’”

The album also includes two Better Than Ezra originals inspired by the band’s time at LSU: “Hell No!” and “This Time of Year.”

Each song recorded brought back memories of road trips to Ole Miss games, when the band was touring the South and playing college shows wherever it could, Drummond says.

“It was an honor working on this EP,” Drummond says. “We loved going to school at LSU. We love that the band started there. I doubt the inspiration would have presented itself if we went to any other school. LSU tailgating culture made it possible, and we hope this becomes a part of that.”