Ask Better Than Ezra the same question and they’ll say by hard work and taking a new direction in their music. Better Than Ezra’s latest album, How Does Your Garden Grow? is not only sprouting hits for the New Orleans-based trio, but it marks a real opportunity for sowing the seed of self-expression. "This album is the most accurate reflection of what Tom, Travis and I are currently into musically," said lead singer Kevin Griffin.

"A lot of time bands that have been around for a while are making the exact same music they did when they started. Ask them if the music they’re making today is the music that reflects their own musical tastes, and if they are honest, most would say no," he said.

Coming off the heels of the roots-driven, platinum plus Deluxe CD in 1994 and the more brazen, guitar-edged rock of Friction, Baby in 1996, Kevin said that he and cohorts Tom Drummond and Travis McNabb were ready to shake things up a bit. "We wanted to make an album that would stretch what people may think Better Than Ezra is like; something that would reflect what we were into at the time. It meant throwing a curve ball, but that’s what has made me most proud about this production."

Produced in New Orleans at BTE’s own Fudge Studios (named for Travis’ "amazingly good walnut fudge" according to Kevin), How Does Your Garden Grow? is a collection of songs ingrained with personal experiences and likes, with a dash Louisiana cuisine. "I think the music down here has an osmosis property to it when you’re a musician," Kevin said. "It’s the rhythms, that second line kind of backbeat property that starts to infiltrate your music whether you like it or not."

"You can definitely hear it in ‘Like It Like That,’ ‘Particle,’ and ‘Allison Foley;’ that almost funky Meters kind of rhythm section going on. That’s a very unique sound for a rock band." Recording in their own studio tended to offer a more playful and relaxed setting, allowing for the songs to become full and multi-dimensional, said Kevin. "At first, ‘Beautiful Mistake’ was a straight ahead rock thing, but Malcolm (producer Malcolm Burn) wanted more atmosphere. We worked it and that playfulness gave us the sound that we wanted."

" ‘One More Murder’ is about living in New Orleans," Kevin said. "You’re faced with the fear of crime all the time living here. I’ve even had people threaten me with a gun when I was just walking out of a convenience store in a nice part of town. But, there’s more to it than that. The song is literally about coming across a crime scene and how people have become numb to it all because they’re so deluged with these images of tragedies every day in the media."

Kevin said that many times a song will come to him from the simplest thought or phrase. "One night I was walking in Springfield, Missouri, with a friend and we were looking at the moon. I thought, I wonder if it’s waxing or waning? That seemed to be a nice question to ask someone in your life. Are you on the way up or on the way down? Are you waxing or waning? That’s a question that people always ask themselves, too, so it seemed appropriate. I also wanted ‘Waxing or Waning’ to be about someone leaving their home and striking out on their own, maybe leaving behind a lot of baggage and all that goes with that."

Another song close to Kevin’s heart is "At The Stars," recently "15 with a bullet" on the music charts, said the songwriter with pride. "In a snapshot form, 'At The Stars’ describes that time in your life when you’re young and no one understands you. So, you just get into a car with that one person who knows you so well, turn up the music and disappear. It’s a great feeling," Kevin said.

On the new CD, if you look real close beneath the title you’ll find an asterisk and the fine-print notation A Series Of Nocturnes. "We originally wanted to use the title Nocturne because we felt that some of the songs had a twilighty quality to them. But Nocturne sounded too heavy metal. Somebody said if we named the album Nocturne we’d have to make the ‘T’a dagger or something . . . it sounded evil," he said half-jokingly.

For the short-term BTE wants to continue riding the success of this album. "It’s doing so well for us; the album and the tour. In fact, we will probably extend the tour into the fall," Kevin said. The group’s long-term goal involves flexibility and a keen sense of what’s going on around them. "It’s hard enough making it in the business, but once you do, the shelf life for any artist is very short. Our goal is to continue making the music that we like while keeping a finger on the pulse of the people’s tastes," said Kevin.

"Most successful artists, whether it’s Madonna or U2, have an ability to maintain their own identity, but still assimilate the current trends into their music and their sound. That makes them relevant and keeps people interested."

"One thing that I’ve found out about this business is that in the past, if you had a platinum album you could consider yourself as established," said Kevin. "These days there is so much music and so many other things to vie for people’s attention, be it video games or the Internet, you just have to keep bashing away and proving yourself over and over again. That’s what we’ve done with this album."

That’s how Better Than Ezra continues to make their garden grow.