Storyville has a tale to tell

(July 4, 1996)

When people like what you're doing, it's always a good feeling, says Storyville lead singer Malford Milligan. "Like Peter Gabriel said, 'I love to be loved,' especially in an industry like this."

Milligan is enjoying an outpouring of support from Atlantic and its subsidiary, Code Blue, for the Austin, Texas-based rock 'n' soul band's major-label debut album, "A Piece of Your Soul" (due July 16).

"People at Atlantic and other labels get inundated by tons of artists on a regular basis," Milligan said during a recent stop in New York, where Storyville opened for Joe Ely at Tramps. "So it's nice to meet them on a person level. One of the reasons I got into the business was because of the 'love you' thing, and hopefully we're giving them all something they really dig."

It's a long way from 1994 when Storyville's first album, "The Bluest Eyes," was released on November Records. The band, which features Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble rhythm section (drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon), received six Austin Music Awards in 1995, but November folded shortly thereafter.

Milligan says he had too much faith in the group to let that get him down.

"I really felt that we were going to be signed to a label deal and get a chance to work," he said. "I wasn't discouraged at all. I know in November's case, they worked their butts off. ... It's very hard for an independent to make it in this business."

For "A Piece of Soul," Milligan wanted to capture "an energetic sound on tape."

"Our live shows are pretty energetic and really dynamic, and that's what we were looking for," he said. "No matter what the imaging is, it's a flat sound and you have to make that thing live. And that's what we tried to do, make it live."

With Layton, Shannon and guitarists David Grissom and Dave Holt in his fold, Milligan pinches himself often.

"I'm so grateful to be a part of this thing, to do music, period," he said, "because I was supposed to be a sociology teacher by now and never dreamed I'd make a living at this.

"One of the things about sociology, it's basically the study of groups of human beings - a group is defined as two or more - it presents you with a lot of society's problems. Our songs, to a degree, are autobiographical. They have a piece of me in them, it's a part of who I am."

Playback with Julie Strain: An e-mail Q&A

(April 30, 2000)

Headbangers are in hog heaven right now. Though "Heavy Metal 2000," the long-awaited sequel to the 1981 animated adult sci-fi classic, doesn't open in theaters until this summer, Restless Records released the soundtrack album on April 18.

Among the fast and furious tracks are Monster Magnet's "Silver Future," Insane Clown Posse's "Dirt Ball," Pantera's "Immortally Insane," Coal Chamber's "Wishes" and the reemergence of Billy Idol ("Buried Alive") and Bauhaus ("The Dog's a Vapour").

"Heavy Metal 2000" was adapted from the graphic novel "Melting Pot" by Kevin Eastman, who patterned the main character, Julie (aka FAKK2), after B-movie queen and former Penthouse Pet of the Year Julie Strain.

Strain, who provides the voice of Julie in the film, recently sat down to play "10 questions" with Pause & Play via e-mail, discussing the film, the soundtrack album and other subjects.

Pause & Play - How did you meet Kevin Eastman?

Strain - "I met Kevin in a comic book store (The Golden Apple in L.A.). He stood in line, joined my fan club and bought a Polaroid picture of me. It was love at first sight! I love his innocence; I could tell he had never been to Vegas or been with a hooker."

P&P - Every time I see your name, you're described as the "queen of the B-movies." Is this fine with you or would you like to be known for more than just that?

Strain - "I don't mind being called the Queen of B-movies. I'm happy here and I answer to my fans. A 'star' answers to suits and that's not any kind of lifestyle for me, to be a pawn on a chessboard. I'm not into hiding out and backpedaling."

P&P - "Heavy Metal 2000" took years to complete. What kept everyone motivated through the long process?

Strain - "We were in too deep for anyone to bail out on this project. It was too important, and we all had invested so much of ourselves. For me, it was like being pregnant for five years. Doing photo sessions, costume fittings, interviews, voice lessons, rehearsals, you name it. I'm now finally ready to spread my thighs and push this puppy out! Besides, the fans would stampede us if we did not deliver soon."

P&P - There, no doubt, are critics of the sex and violence depicted in the comic book and movie. What are your thoughts on the subject?

Strain - "It's fantasy, folks! This kind of stuff always comes under fire from some uptight critic or power-hungry pulpiteer. Relax and stop taking life so damn seriously. My character is a smart, sexy, strong female heroine. It's empowering! Give me a break, the movie's rated PG-13, not XXX. It's based on a graphic novel by Kevin Eastman called 'The Melting Pot.' The comic book, on the other hand, is pretty aggressive and risque and definitely not for the meek. If you don't like it, then don't buy it!"

P&P - What's your favorite song on the soundtrack album?

Strain - "My fav is the Billy Idol song 'Buried Alive' because that's what I eventually do to his character in the movie. He tricks me and uses me to try and destroy all carbon-based life form, so, of course, I put him 10 feet under!"

P&P - Who has your vote in November: Bush or Gore (or maybe even someone else)?

Strain - "I don't vote. Politicians are like Hollywood pigs, I don't give them a glance or even a courtesy peek. Look on my site, www.juliestrain.com, and see my version [before 2000] of Monica Lewinsky 'doing' a cardboard cutout of Clinton."

P&P - Elian Gonzalez: Should he stay or should he go?

Strain - "Well, the FBI just came in and got him. The kid should be where he wants to be."

P&P - What was the first record you ever bought?

Strain - "It was a Beatles 45, maybe 'fixing a hole where the rain came in.' I also remember an 8-track laying around of 'American Woman.' Who did that song? The Carpenters?! Ohhhhh, wait, Ricky Nelson was my first, yep - and first love too! His son was in the movie I directed called 'Lingerie Kickboxer.' Funny how life is. Okay, okay, I suppose my first record was The Guess Who."

P&P - What was the first concert you ever went to?

Strain - "Day on the Green with Heart, Fleetwood Mac and more. It was such a rush (combined I'm sure with the psychedelics!). I went to every concert I could ... no parents, yeahhhhhh!"

P&P - What was the last CD you bought?

Strain - "Not sure, but it's a female rapper. The song I like says, 'Oooh, you gotta be a bad girl in this world ....' I strip-dance to this song to keep my legs tight!"

Stroke 9 thinks 'Nasty Little Thoughts'

(Aug. 1, 1999)

They were handpicked by director Ron Howard to appear as "the bar band" in his film "EDtv." Their major-label debut album was co-produced by Jerry Harrison and Rupert Hine. They regularly play to sold-out audiences in their native San Francisco. The lead singer - tall, tanned and handsome - has all the makings of a Tiger Beat pin-up idol.

Who is this new group?

Stroke 9, and they're not new. Not at all. They have been together nearly eight years, and only now are things finally going their way.

The group's Cherry/Universal debut album, "Nasty Little Thoughts," is scheduled for a Sept. 7 release, on the heels of its first single, the caustic "Little Black Backpack."

"We're real happy with the way the album came out," singer-songwriter Luke Esterkyn said recently. "It's been about four years in the making. Everyone said once it happens, it's going to happen fast. It just took a long time for it to happen for us.

"Every step we took, everything we recorded along the way, we loved it and had complete faith in everything we did. We've been our biggest fans all along, and we finally convinced some other people to like us."

Jolene Cherry, president of Cherry Entertainment Group, really liked Stroke 9 - Esterkyn, guitarist John McDermott, bassist Greg Gueldner and drummer Eric Stock - and signed them in 1998 after hearing the biting "Little Black Backpack," about a guy who wants to use the trendy carryall to put his love interest's new suitor in place. "I don't wanna tangle with you," the singer wails. "I'd rather tangle with him. I think I'm going to bash his head in. This shouldn't concern you, except that just don't expect to get your bloody little black backpack back."

"After our last (indie) album, 'Bumper to Bumper,' somebody said to me, 'Your music's so upbeat, but what happened to you? Man, you must've gotten fucked over once really bad,' " Esterkyn said, laughing. "I guess you could say that about some of the lyrics, that I'm pissed off, but a song like 'Little Black Backpack,' it was an obsession we all had with little black backpacks when they first came out and everyone all of a sudden had them.

"We were trying to figure out what they were. Then one day we were playing, jamming out another song and reworking it. We said, 'This isn't working out, let's redo it,' so we gave it this waltzy feel and it took on a whole other mood once we did that. When we got to the chorus, I started going off on little black backpacks. It's a story song that no one can figure out. That's one of the appeals of it, that people can get different things from it."

There's hit-potential to be had in other tracks, such as "Letters" and "City Life."

"All these songs were written over a long period of time and have been recorded many times," Esterkyn said, "but this is the first time we've gone in with a big-time producer."

Make that two big-timers: Harrison (Talking Heads, Live, The Verve Pipe) and Hine (Rush, The Fixx, Duncan Sheik).

"Jerry lives in the Bay Area," McDermott said. "We'd see him around, and he worked at The Plant (studio) a lot. We were in there one day and met him and he befriended us. He had been working on Live's new record for about a year and got about a month off to produce us, so that's why he only did half the album. He was our No. 1 choice, because we've always loved his work, but he could only do six songs.

"The record label people knew Rupert and said to check him out. Then they listed all the things he had done, like The Fixx, Howard Jones and a little band called Rush, and we're like, 'Wow, we do know this guy's work really well.' It's pretty unconventional for a first album to be splitting producers, especially for a rock band and especially when we're supposed to be defining our sound. They have two distinct styles, making the album that much more listenable, because it's not all one take on things."

Even at the band's lowest low, when they were rejected six years ago by every big label around, they never gave up hope, Gueldner said.

"We always met the obstacles head-on," he said. "Like, 'Okay, we're not getting any gigs in the city, let's book our own tour.' 'We don't have any product; look, let's paint this house and put a CD out ourselves,' instead of trying to go to an indie label. It was never like, 'It's not working, let's give up.' It was like, 'Here's the obstacle, let's go around it.'

"Now look at us. We were in a movie and we're sitting here talking about our major-label debut. Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. Believe in yourself."

BWF (before we forget): Box Stroke 9 on the Web @ www.stroke9.com.

Subrosa carries on in For Squirrels' memory

(Aug. 7, 1997)

Surviving members of the Gainesville, Fla., rock group For Squirrels had little time to grieve over the deaths of two band mates and their tour manager in September 1995. They have been too busy trying to keep their memories, hopes and dreams alive.

Now, nearly two years since lead singer Jack Vigliatura, bassist Bill White and tour manager Tim Bender were killed when their van overturned in Georgia on the band's return trip from a gig at CBGBs in New York, the healing process finally has begun.

Guitarist Travis Michael Tooke, now on lead vocals, drummer Jack Griego and new bassist Andy Lord have left behind For Squirrels and started over as Subrosa. Their debut 550 Music album, "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" (released July 29), is their ode to three lost friends.

"We really didn't have much time to reflect on anything after the accident," Griego said recently. "We were trying to keep the focus on the record (For Squirrels' debut 'Example'). It was real important for us to get out there and perform. It was therapy for us.

"It wasn't really until the past six months that we really got a chance to sit down and think about doing something different, something other than For Squirrels. We wanted to do something they would be proud of."

They would be proud: "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" is a raw catharsis, infused with the spirit of For Squirrels and Tooke's blossoming songwriting skills and artful venting. The 13 tracks were recorded at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Canada, and produced by Nick Launay and Subrosa.

Griego said he thinks of "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" as another chapter in their still-developing book.

"This particular book is more erratic than 'Example,' " he said. " 'Example' was more like one book, and this new one seems more like three books. Each part of the album has its own book and a song that tells the story.

"You have your 'head' songs, the ones about emotions, and you have your 'never' songs, which are a little cathartic, and you have your 'devil' songs, which are pretty obvious. Doing this record was our way of grieving. It's a very dark record, with a lot of emotions in it.

"We're just now coming to terms with what happened, whereas before it was always on the backburner."

In the band's press kit, Tooke said For Squirrels' spirit has moved on, but its body and soul remain.

"In medieval times," he wrote, "knights brought to the brink of death, consumed under oath, could be reborn under a new oath - an oath to the death for their cause, their loyalty, their integrity. This was called an oath under the rose, their private crusade to a new life, a new meaning: Subrosa."

Choosing a new name was perhaps their most difficult decision, Griego said.

"Not only did it have to mean something to us," he said, "it also had to pay homage to our friends. Subrosa honestly says it all for us."

BWF (before we forget): See a related story on For Squirrels.

Suddenly, Tammy! gets there from here

(March 30, 1995)

Beth Sorrentino, lead singer of Lancaster, Pa.-based alternative-pop band Suddenly, Tammy!, isn't asking for much.

She's not dreaming of a No. 1 album, arena shows or a headlining slot on Lollapalooza.

Her objective is much more ... let's say adolescent.

"My goal is to make the jukebox at Pizza Hut and then I can sleep easy," a half-serious Sorrentino said recently from Warner Bros. Records' headquarters in New York to promote the trio's big-label debut album, "(We Get There When We Do)."

"When I was a kid, you got five songs for 50 cents and those five songs were always my favorite songs. If some 12-year-old kid walked into Pizza Hut, like after a roller-skating party, and picked 'Hard Lesson,' that would be so excellent."

Indeed. "Hard Lesson" is the exuberant leadoff-single, bursting with potential pop appeal (you would swear Sorrentino was Jane Wiedlin's vocal twin). That and the other tracks have such an amiable, garage-pop spirit, it's barely noticeable that Suddenly, Tammy! is not-so-suddenly guitarless.

For Sorrentino (piano) and her brother, Jay (drums), and Ken Heitmuller (bass), adding a guitar to the fold just wasn't in the picture.

"We didn't need it," Sorrentino said. "We thought we had enough, and we also knew that it'd be a challenge just to get the most out of our instruments that we play, as opposed to not playing a lot and adding more instruments. It's also more manageable; I mean, three people is definitely more manageable than four or five."

With influences ranging from Ray Charles to Bugs Bunny, Suddenly, Tammy! - the name is an offbeat tribute to Tammy Faye Bakker - carved its own niche with a four-song demo that attracted interest from the majors. A few summers ago, they landed an opening spot on Suede's tour and Warner swooped in. "(We Get There When We Do)," recorded at Bearsville Studios (N.Y.), was produced by Warne Livesey, who has worked with Midnight Oil, Julian Cope and the The.

Sorrentino's greatest fear is that her bandmates will get lost in the shuffle.

"We're a band," she said. "It's not a female vocalist backed up by a rhythm section. That's the thing I'm trying to avoid the most, people thinking that I'm a girl singer like other girl singers out there, that I have some womanly perspective.

"It's definitely a fusion of three people, and we all play equal parts in the band. That's not the impression most people get, I'm afraid."

Sugarspoon finds a fork in the road

(Aug. 1, 1996)

A band spends years together, toiling on the smoke-filled, whiskey-drenched club circuit in relative obscurity, only to be discovered by an enterprising manager who has Svengali visions dancing in his head.

They record their first album, a single takes off and the band suddenly transforms into an eight-year overnight sensation.

Sound familiar? Of course. It's one of the most common tales told in the rock world.

Here now is a new one you may not have heard before: Tampa, Fla.-based Sugarspoon formed quickly, concentrated on creating high-quality demo tapes instead of cutting its teeth on low-paying live gigs, used its big-label connections to secure a recording deal and is only days away from the Aug. 13 release of its self-titled debut album (on MCA).

Welcome to the 1990s.

"Most bands that are pursuing original music would like to do it this way," drummer Mark Henry said recently. "I don't think this is totally unheard of, but there's one key ingredient: They have to have really strong songs. Of course, if you do it this way, you better be sure that you're an adequate musician and can pull it off.

"We've got a real good band here and we're real comfortable, and we're real proud of our live performances. We're ready to go and back it up live."

Few concertgoers in the Tampa Bay area may know of Sugarspoon, but they will shortly. The rock quartet, cut from the same mold of Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket, is clearly ready for prime-time, particularly after listening to the pop-pumped first single, "Like Shine."

Singer-guitarist Paul Sisemore, who founded Sugarspoon with guitarist Kent Bradley (and then added Henry and bassist Jeff McDonald), said the group's path to success is so unusual that they couldn't possibly have planned it that way.

"Kent and I had lived in Los Angeles, writing songs, and we came back about two years ago," he said. "We were trying to do demos on our own, and we just decided we had to put this thing together. We had known Jeff and Mark for a number of years because they were in bands around town. They listened to the songs and liked what we were doing."

It also helped that they had a manager and an attorney in Los Angeles to do the major-label legwork.

"A lot of times when a band starts out," Sisemore said, "they spend a large amount of time not only writing the songs together but also trying to get further down the road to where you actually meet these people. We kind of already had that thing taken care of. It wasn't really that we didn't want to go out and play live or anything."

Not having a local following may work to Sugarspoon's advantage, especially if the album breaks out nationally, because the Tampa Bay area also will be hearing it for the first time, as opposed to being oversaturated with it beforehand.

"Everybody asks what kind of advice we could give to young bands, and I don't really know," Sisemore said. "I know, collectively, the four of us have played music and have been in bands for the last 10 years and went through the same thing, trying to make a name for yourself, thinking about maybe putting out your own CD independently.

"Who knows what's going to happen with ours. It could really take off, maybe take a while or maybe do nothing. What we're doing as a band now is trying to focus our energy on going out and playing live shows."