Ryan Cabrera has played for George Bush, been intimidated by Dave Matthews and catapulted into fame via “The Ashlee Simpson Show.” His current tour comes to the House of Blues this Tuesday, March 22, at 7 p.m. Cabrera, who floated in on the recent wave of pop singer-songwriters, discussed his music and his hair in a telephone interview with The Maroon. Plus he admitted to wearing a man thong, which you probably won’t be seeing on MTV.
M-First of all, we have to talk about your hair. Is it a trademark or something? Because, seriously, it’s massive.
R.C.-You should see it right now. It’s getting so long. It’s funny, when [I’m] on the road, I can’t get a haircut … It’s definitely something that people always talk about and recognize.
M-How many times per interview do you get asked about Ashlee Simpson?
R.C.-You know, it was a lot more before … right now we’re not even together anymore. But the show’s on now, and it’s weird because of the time.
M-Some of the staff here at [The Maroon] didn’t really know who you were until we said you were Ashlee Simpson’s boyfriend. Does that make you mad sometimes?
R.C.-Well, it was a lot more so like that in the beginning, which got kind of tough … but it’s gotten a lot better, once I came out with the second single. After having a second song in the Top Ten, now people talk about music more … and we’re coming out with a third single now, which helps.
M-I also read that you were a big Dave Matthews fan. Have you ever met him?
R.C.-Yeah, I got to meet him once. It was a long time ago at the Grammy’s two years ago, and I freaked out. I was shaking. There’s only three people I get nervous about: Definitely Dave, Sting and Paul Simon. Paul’s the only one I haven’t met yet, which should be amazing.
M-What kind of freak out? Did he run away from you?
R.C.-Oh no, he was very nice. He was cool, we took a picture together … he was a very nice guy.
M-Have you been to New Orleans before? I know you’re from Texas, so you’re pretty close.
R.C.-I have. I just played this summer. Jessica and I played at the [New Orleans] Arena.
M-What’s your favorite bar here? Have you been out?
R.C.-Yeah, we went out that night. I forget where we went … oh, we went to Pat O’Brien’s while we were there. They made me drink some grenade or bomber. I don’t know. It was horrible.
M-You performed at a function for President Bush. Are you a big supporter of his, or do you just stay out of that?
R.C.-Well, I am because he’s the president … it was a big honor to be asked. At the time of the election, I was really into encouraging people to vote … but I never tried to tell anybody who to vote for.Either way, I had my feeling about who I wanted to win, but whether it was one or the other I would support … so I supported Bush and I went out there and did the show. He was really nice, too. But yeah, I stay out of all the political stuff.
M-What do you think about celebrities who do get into that. Is that a good thing?
R.C.-See, I wish that they would just encourage people to vote. Because I think, “Why should anybody vote for somebody just because some celebrity said so.” And you know people do that. You know people see their favorite celebrities, and it’s “Oh, they’re voting for them. Ok, I don’t really know anything about the election, but I’m going to vote that.”
M-Are there really 40 kinds of sadness?
R.C.-It’s like a quirky, kind of fun song just saying that there’s a person you just can’t get enough of. And that “I know you’re in the next room, but I miss you anyway. Just because you’re not with me right now.”
M-I was going to ask you to name all 40, actually.
R.C.-Oh, I’ll do it. I can’t name them, but I can show you. You’ll see them in the new music video.
M-Can you actually describe your music for me? I know it’s the best question ever.
R.C.-I guess it’s acoustic rock-pop-with-an-edge, I guess.
M-One more question that I’ve been dared to ask – boxers or man thong?
R.C-Nooo!! Boxers.
M-Oh come on, man thong. You’ve got to say man thong.
R.C.-Backwards man thong.
