The Vandalias taste as Sweet as the Raspberries

(Feb. 26, 1998)

Playing at the recent Poptopia Festival in Los Angeles was a religious experience for at least one member of The Vandalias.

The Minneapolis power-pop quartet opened for former Raspberries bassist Scott McCarl, who later was joined onstage by the legendary Cleveland rock band's guitarist, Wally Bryson. That's when lead singer JimJim Vandalia bowed down before deity.

"I got Wally to sign the back of my guitar," JimJim said. "It was like touching the hand of God.

"I told Wally that, seriously, he's the reason I'm playing guitar. Badfinger was cool, the Hudson Brothers were cool, but the intro to 'Go All the Way' is a classic rock 'n' roll song, and a lot of these other bands sort of flushed out the rock 'n' roll and would write just melodic tunes. The Raspberries were the real thing."

The Vandalias - JimJim and brothers Alan (lead guitar) and Bobby (bass) and drummer Tommy Etelamaki - keep the Raspberries' spirit alive on their second Big Deal album, "Buzzbomb!" (released Feb. 17). Throw in some Sweet, a little Thin Lizzy, a bit of Cheap Trick and lots of '90s savvy, and you have one of the purest pop pleasures in months.

On the surface, "Buzzbomb!" may seem like a throwback to the Me Decade, but there's much more to it than that.

"When we started playing as The Vandalias," JimJim said, "Alan was listening to his Nirvana and Pearl Jam records, and Bobby was starting to listen to The Sundays and some of the older standbys, like The Shoes and Spongetones.

"I like Nirvana and I like Spongetones, but where I was coming from, I was playing them these Raspberries records, and that was the combination. You put 'em all together, and very few bands have been able to do that. That was sort of the model we started working from."

The Vandalias' previous album, "Mach V," pretty much picked up where the Raspberries left off when Eric Carmen and his band mates parted in 1974. "Buzzbomb!" maintains that tart, nostalgic ode, but with an expanded touch of Sweet-ness.

"Rather than concentrating on our Raspberries influence," JimJim said, "when we were touring with the last album, we had been listening to a lot of Sweet records and ranging more into that kind of stuff. So we thought we were going to make a Sweet record, and we've got a couple of tunes that approach that sort of amphetamine uptightness, but for the most part, it's very much a Vandalias record.

"It wasn't nearly the Sweet tribute album we wanted to make. There's more Sweet than Raspberries; there's a lot more jitteriness. There's places in there with the vocals where the neighborhood dogs would get upset with us. Sweet records, when you listen to them, they're incredible. You pick apart the vocal harmonies and there's sounds in there that no human beings can make. Obviously, there's studio trickery, but it's really subtle stuff that makes a Sweet record shine."

One of the best "Buzzbomb!" cuts is a remake of Thin Lizzy's long-lost "No One Told Him." JimJim said they stumbled across the song during a tour stop in Chicago.

"Our van broke down, so we had to go to this rent-a-wreck place," JimJim said, "and there was this '68 International Harvester Traveler; it's like the International Harvester version of the Suburban. It was all rusted out; it was just full of shit.

"We were loading our stuff on and this album popped out from behind the back seat, and it's 38 Special and we were about to throw it away, but someone actually pulled the vinyl out and it was Thin Lizzy's 'Renegade' (1982 LP).

"We gave it a listen at a friend's house, and that tune was great. It's almost a punk tune. I didn't pick it up right away, but when we started to play it at rehearsals, it was obvious this was Phil (Lynott) doing his Sex Pistols impersonation. It's such a great tune. It's a shame it wasn't a hit."

And it's a shame The Vandalias haven't been able to quit their day jobs and devote their full attention to helping revive power pop.

"I don't understand why it's not a million-selling hit. I don't understand why it didn't ship gold," JimJim said jokingly of "Buzzbomb!" "My gut feeling is that by the next album, there's going to be a lot more attention because the entire presentation of this album - we made a good record, I think Big Deal has done a great job promoting it and the graphics job - is top-rate.

"I look at other stuff made on similar budgets and under similar circumstances and they look like indie records. I've had several people comment that this is a Warner Bros. album or a Capitol album. The whole packaging is that high quality."

BWF (before we forget): Give The Vandalias a buzz on the Web @ www.vandalias.com.

With Varga, size isn't everything

(March 17, 1994)

Joe Varga may not stand out in a crowd - he's a mere 5 feet 3 - but he didn't have to be a scrappy guy to gain some respect.

"I'm a lover not a fighter," says the Hamilton, Ontario native who is the namesake of the industrial-rock quartet Varga. Its Zoo Entertainment debut disc, "Prototype," and the tight-fisted single "Greed," have metal fans taking notice.

It has Varga walking taller than Buford Pusser.

"One guy came up to me after a show recently and said, 'I thought you were a lot taller on stage,' " the singer-bassist says. "What you do is come back with a snappy comment and move on from there. I'm pretty mellow about it, so nothing's gonna bother me."

Varga the band has paid its dues and then some. Formed in the late '80s, the group - also featuring Adam Alex (guitar), Dan Fila (drums) and Sean Williamson (guitar) - honed its speed-metal sound amid the steeltown grit of Hamilton.

"The town has a pretty big influence on us," Varga says. "I'd say about 90 percent who live there work in the steel mills or has some link to the industry.

"You hear a lot of big bangs, there's lots of smoke. It seems like it's dark all the time ... you don't see much light there."

That gloomy side had an impact on Varga's blue-collar, hard-edged sound. He wouldn't have it any other way.

"That's probably why we sound the way we sound - you know, maybe dark and sinister," he says, "but don't get me wrong, we're proud of where we come from. That dark vibe from Hamilton gave us the ability to write some cool songs.

"It sure beats growing up in Beverly Hills and writing the girls and cars thing."

Varga landed a recording deal in 1990 with the independent label Maze America, but it folded before an album could be released. The foursome didn't give up - they pursued a new deal with BMG Canada and Zoo in America in 1992.

"We were really ready to tour and everything, but I guess those things happen," Varga says, looking back on the experience. "It could've been fate. Maybe it wasn't our time. In the long run, it was probably for the best because we learned a lot of things along the way."

One of those things was incorporating more technology into their solid-rock sound.

"Before 'Prototype,' we were pretty straightforward," Varga says, "but we were always interested in technology and getting it into our music without any compromises. We couldn't afford to do it before, but the record company loaned us a bit of money to get caught up."

Varga acknowledges an affinity for Rush and Black Sabbath, but he says the biggest influence on his career is his mother.

"My mom used to play Black Sabbath while I was sleeping, and it would seep into my brain," he says laughing. "She had me when she was young. She was a total Sabbath freak. Still is."

Jaci Velasquez sticks to her beliefs

(Aug. 16, 1998)

While most 18 year olds are preparing for college and venting at "Scream" movies, Jaci Velasquez has her hands full with her self-titled second Myrrh/Word/Epic album and holding on to her reign as the leading Christian pop female artist.

Whether mainstream radio looks beyond the seemingly loaded phrase "Christian music" and latches onto such instantly accessible pop tracks as "God So Loved the World" and "Glory" is the big question.

"I'm going to continue doing songs that are important to me, songs that have important messages, whether it's my faith or spirituality or real-life issues," Velasquez said recently. "If they become popular, that would be cool, really very cool, but that never would've entered my wildest dreams for that to happen."

Velasquez never imagined herself as a successful singer - her 1996 debut album, "Heavenly Place," was certified gold and her latest album is at No. 97 this week on Billboard's pop chart - or as young America's version of Amy Grant. In fact, the Nashville-based singer never imagined singing for a living, period.

"As a little child, I wasn't trying to be a singer," she said. "Mom and Dad would sometimes make me get up and sing, then one day I was kind of at the right place at the right time, the right person heard me and brought me to this record label. I knew that I loved to sing, and I was like, 'Okay, whatever.'

"When I recorded the first album, I was hoping people would like it, that it wouldn't be a disappointment to the record label or a disappointment to people around me. After the success of the first record, I went, 'Okay, what happened?' Everything's happened so fast. I'm barely catching my breath now, and I put out the second album and it's kind of in the same place, I was hoping it wouldn't disappoint anyone, but knowing that I can't please everybody, it made it easier."

Velasquez's youthful R&B counterpart, Brandy, recently told TV Guide that she wished she could smudge her own goody-two-shoes image every now and then. Like Brandy, Velasquez said, she's human, too, and she has likes and dislikes.

"I know I'm a good girl," Velasquez said. "I do have my wild side, not a hard-core wild side or anything, but I'm a good girl. I have things I believe in. I believe in God, and I sing about it. I believe in sexual abstinence. I'm one person who's made a commitment to keep myself pure and not have sex until I get married. People go, 'That's weird,' but that's something I did because it's something I believe in."

Being a role model for kids comes with the territory, and Velasquez accepts it, with reservations.

"I have little girls coming to me," she said, "and going, 'Jaci, I want to be just like you when I grow up.' I'm like, 'No, you don't. Don't say that, that's too much pressure on me.' That means I have to do everything right, and in actuality, I can't do everything right, but I'm going to try my best."

BWF (before we forget): There's a heavenly place for Jaci Velasquez on the Web @ www.sony.com.

The Veldt arouses the rock world with 'Afrodisiac'

(Jan. 13, 1994)

It's obvious to twin brothers Danny and Daniel Chavis, of the North Carolina alternative-rock quartet The Veldt, where they get their inspiration.

Women.

On the group's big-label debut album, "Afrodisiac" (Mercury), there are recurring themes of optimism-overrules-despair and try-to-progress-not-to-regress. They would know.

"Danny and I were raised by four women - our mother, grandmother and two aunts," lead singer Daniel Chavis said recently, "and they didn't have anything. Our father wasn't around.

"I've seen how men are and what our momma had to go through, so I have to understand their point of view because they were our providers. I know where they're coming from. It's not a condescending, 'Oh, I know how you feel.' I was there, and I have an idea that, with any woman, they want to be treated right."

That inherent fortitude came in handy while the Chavis twins waited patiently for their big break in the rock world. Formed in 1986 by the twins, The Veldt has been the hot topic of the clubs in and around Chapel Hill, N.C., ever since. Fans have been asking, "When are they finally gonna hit the big time?"

It hasn't been easy.

"What you're hearing off 'Marigolds' (their '91 EP) and 'Afrodisiac' are songs going back to 1989 up until now," said guitarist Danny Chavis. "All those songs were supposed to be on 'Marigolds,' so we're backed up with songs.

"In that timespan, we should be on our fifth album by now. There was a mixup with Capitol, our first label, and all that happened to Mammoth Records. We were in litigation for a while ... so you're hearing things that should be on one record."

Through all the delays and broken promises, the Chavis twins applied the tenacity instilled in them from the women in their lives.

"We're comics," Daniel said. "It got to the point where we just had to laugh about it. That's what our momma would do."

"Sometimes I think it's for the good," Danny countered, "because it gave us a chance for our songwriting to mature."

Velocette tries to make the best of a bad situation

(May 30, 1999)

It's one step forward and two steps back for the British pop group Velocette.

The band's "Fourfold Remedy" album (Wiiija/Beggars Banquet) made its U.S. debut on May 4, but rather than enjoy the moment and prepare for an American tour, singer Sarah Bleach, guitarist Sam Pluck, drummer Phil Sutton and bassist Jax Coombes are saddled with finding a new label back home.

Bleach says the band split with Wiiija, fed up with the lack of promotion.

"We've had a lot of trouble with Wiiija over the last year," Bleach said recently. "We just had enough. First and foremost, we want to get ourselves another record deal here. Once that happens, what we gave up our jobs for in the first place, we can go on tour and see a bit of the world and have fun playing for people in America and Japan.

"Although it's a setback leaving them, it's a relief at the same time, because we won't make the same mistakes again. We'll make sure where we stand the second time around."

Not being able to tour in support of "Fourfold Remedy" may have doomed any chances the album and the leadoff single, "Get Yourself Together," had in the United States, but Bleach is buoyed by the favorable reviews she has read.

"The people who really liked it," she said, "they seemed to see it the way we saw it, that we tried to do something different and try to mix big, upbeat pop songs with mellow, slow songs and create a whole picture on a record as well so every song had kind of a beginning and an end."

Velocette frequently has been compared to British pop compatriots St. Etienne.

"We can see that, coming from the same background as Etienne," Bleach said, "but most of the time we don't personally think we sound like them. I can see how 'Get Yourself Together' did, since it's '60s-influenced, but generally speaking, a song like 'Someone's Waiting' I don't know how that can possibly be compared to Etienne. We confuse a lot of people by having different styles on the record and not turning out the same song."

If given a chance, Bleach said, "I could see us doing well in the states. I think we could cross over. I don't think we're too English-sounding."

In the meantime, the group will forge ahead, she said.

"We're filled with a desire to prove everybody wrong. It's one of those things where you don't want to give up because to give up is what they would expect you to do. You just want to get to the point where you can turn around and say, 'Fuck you, really.' That's my dream."

BWF (before we forget): Get a load of Velocette on the Web @ www.beggars.com.

Vertical Horizon is 'Everything You Want' and more

(Aug. 15, 1999)

Vertical Horizon lead singer Matt Scannell still has the kid in him, the boy who used to bounce up and down on his bed and strum a tennis racket like a guitar.

He's downright giddy talking about the New England rock quartet's long-overdue good fortunes. Their big-label debut album, "Everything You Want" (released June 15 on RCA), contains a bona-fide college radio hit, "We Are," which climbs to No. 21 this week on Billboard's modern-rock tracks chart and sits atop P&P's weekly Picks chart. And the band is sharing stages this month with The Verve Pipe, Hootie & the Blowfish, Fuel, Everything and Dovetail Joint.

But when you've been together eight years, sometimes you have to wonder, "Why now? Why didn't it happen earlier?"

That's why, with still-vivid memories of days when money was too tight to mention, Scannell and guitarist Keith Kane, bassist Sean Hurley and drummer Ed Toth are taking nothing for granted.

"You can't do something 24 hours a day for eight years and not really feel at some point that you're banging your head against a brick wall," Scannell said recently. "There were definitely those moments where I would say, 'Screw it, let's just go and have an ice cream soda and call it a day and sell all the gear.' Every time that happened, almost without fail, something happened that was just such an incredible indicator, like some voice from heaven or wherever saying 'Hey, don't do that. You have to keep going.'

"I think it's important to listen to that voice, and at the same time, I think at some point it's important to make your own voice that says, 'Hey, I've had enough.' I haven't heard that voice from inside of me yet."

Scannell stops dead in his tracks, thinks back on his comments and starts laughing.

"It sounds like I'm hearing lots of voices, doesn't it? I don't know why this sounds like a Tori Amos interview," he said. "I'm starting to wonder about that, but I'm channeling some energy here, I'm feeling it."

He should feel it. Vertical Horizon has struck it big with "Everything You Want," a collection of ambitious guitar pop in the tradition of Live, Matthew Sweet and - don't laugh here - the vastly underrated Outfield.

"We Are," in particular, is instantly likable, something that will incite you to turn up the volume on your car stereo, roll down the windows and shout out the infectious chorus, "I don't know how/And I don't know where/We are we are."

"We Are" is a bold, grand production, smothered with multilayered guitars and harmonies in Wall-of-Sound fashion, thanks in large part to producers Ben Grosse (Republica, Filter) and Mark Endert (Madonna, Fiona Apple) and veteran mixer Tom Lord-Alge. That's in keeping with the song's heavy message, of someone questioning their own existence in a mixed-up, messed-up world.

"Generally speaking, I try to write about things I'm thinking about, things that are happening to me or at least things that have happened to me, things that I can relate to, then when I sing about it, I feel like I'm singing from the heart," Scannell said. "So when I wrote 'We Are,' I was really thinking about how isolated I've become, we've become as people from each other. That's a pretty scary thing.

"When people say, 'Are you questioning your own existence?' it sounds pretty grandiose, but I really didn't mean for it to feel that big. But when you start singing the chorus, 'I don't know how, I don't know where we are,' that is a big question. The chorus came off as a pretty big existential moment, but the song itself is really more about 'seven days and not a return,' working every day at a job that you just hate and getting nowhere, something like that. Those kinds of things, everybody deals with issues like that. I was feeling them, so I wrote them down on paper."

After tracking "We Are," the group sat down with Lord-Alge and observed his mixing magic. They loved what they heard.

"I felt from the very beginning when I wrote 'We Are' that I was proud of it," Scannell said. "Along the way, and this probably goes for the whole record, as we were listening to the record develop, I think everyone in the band felt like we were doing something we could be proud of. Whether or not we'll score is probably still to be determined, but we knew we had a pretty good shot. We knew we had worked real hard, and it showed."

"We Are" is a great song to hear on CD, but can its mammoth sound be duplicated live? Scannell hopes so.

"There's tons of guitars on that song, like Def Leppard-many guitars," he said. "That's going to be a challenge (capturing it live), but in a live setting you have a lot more of a grace period people offer you. They come to see it and they say, 'Okay, look, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief a little bit and forget about the 90-piece string section that happens in 'Best I Ever Had' and just listen to you sing the song. In that sense, we do allow ourselves to miss some of the atmospheric parts, but at the same time you have to make sure the band can play. If the band can play, the audience is willing to go wherever the band takes it.

"With 'We Are,' the most important thing for me is that the vocals are nailed. And we nailed the vocals. It's three-part harmonies live. It's there. What you hear on the record happens live."

BWF (before we forget): Get online with Vertical Horizon on the Web @ www.verticalhorizon.com.

Louise Post resolves to keep Veruca Salt together

(July 16, 2000)

Ian Astbury may say rock 'n' roll is dead or dying (see last week's P&P), but Veruca Salt singer-guitarist Louise Post says au contraire, it's alive and well.

In fact, she even tips her hat to Astbury's group, The Cult, on "Disconnected," a track off Veruca Salt's debut Velveteen/Beyond Music album "Resolver" (released May 16).

"I've been trying to get back to the music I love, and looking for inspiration," Post said recently. "In fact, one of my favorite records of all time is The Cult's 'Electric.' On 'Disconnected,' I say (singing) 'Disconnected, it's the way that I want it; The Cult's 'Electric,' it's my favorite record of the week and I'm not feeling sweet.'

"I'm doing my part to keep rock alive, in a huge way. There aren't a lot of great rock records right now. It's very startling to feel like my record is one of the best out there right now.

"Rage (Against the Machine) is huge right now, and what's more rock than Rage? I don't listen to Korn or Limp Bizkit, and that's a hybrid of rock and funk, but they are huge. What's more rock than that? It may not be a certain type of rock that Ian's referring to, but there are rock bands thriving right now."

Among them Veruca Salt, which easily could have become another alterna-rock casualty after co-founder Nina Gordon quit in 1998 and recently released her debut Warner album ("Tonight and the Rest of My Life"), and the band also lost drummer Stacy Jones and bassist Steven Lack. Instead, Post resolved to keep Veruca Salt together, recruiting bassist Suzanne Sokol, guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick and drummer Jimmy Madla.

"Resolver" packs the same kind of crunchy intensity as the band's 1994 breakthrough album, the gold-selling "American Thighs," and 1997's "Eight Arms to Hold You," but it's tempered with a few introspective moments, self-mocking humor and slices of harmless pop here and there.

One of the album's highlights, "Born Entertainer," examines the very reasons why Post chose her profession, which she describes as equally exalting and ridiculous ... especially the touring aspects.

"When you're swept up in a tour," she said, "and I know that there are going to be 500 to 10,000 people there tomorrow night at the next venue that have already paid for their tickets and have planned their weekend around the show, I'm going to show up. I'm committed, and that's what keeps me going, as long as those people are there.

"That and wanting to get better as a band onstage; there's such an art to performing. It's an incredible process to watch one's self grow through it and get better at it and more comfortable. For me, I've been performing for a long time, and I love it. I gravitate toward the stage; I feel so comfortable once I'm up there."

Seeing Nine Inch Nails perform at the first Lollapalooza in Chicago helped convince Post that she was headed in the right direction.

"They were one of the first bands during the daytime, when 'The Downward Spiral' was out," she said. "(Trent Reznor) came out, and it's so much harder to play in the daytime during those things, he bent over his microphone with no shirt on and no shoes, wearing Army fatigues that were cut off. He was blazing; it was so intense and so powerful, and they completely stole the show. I never forgot those 45 minutes. That's the idea and the responsibility of every band to go on and make sure that this is indelibly imprinted on every person's mind in the audience. And I don't mean by pissing on the side of the stage."

Veruca Salt has left its own impression as well. Post recounts how she reluctantly agreed to let the band tour with Bush in 1997, rather than doing their own club tour, as she preferred.

"It turned out to be such a great experience, because we played to like 20,000 people every night," she said. "The cool thing is all those people came to Bush, many of them were young girls wearing 'I love Gavin (Rossdale)' T-shirts; those same girls saw us and many of them still come up to me and say, 'I saw you play with Bush. I started playing guitar,' or 'I started a band, you're the reason I play guitar,' 'Here's my tape, thank you.'

"I'm so blown away by that, because to have impacted that many girls and directed them into music, it's such an incredible honor. It totally fills me."

Even after coming off a grueling two-month tour, Post says she still loves her job.

"But I also know it's the craziest way to live your life," she said. "It's nuts. You have to be ultra-patient with everyone, including yourself, because everyone's under the same kind of pressure as you are.

"What's really strange is that you play to all these people on one night and then you go your separate ways and never really check in. That's a really odd concept; you've exposed yourself, you've achieved this magic onstage together and then go 'Okay, bye.' It's like meeting a thousand strangers and then not acknowledging that. Fortunately, Veruca Salt fans tend to be really intelligent and really loyal, if not ravenous. They're really sweet."

Despite all the ups and downs, Post is happy to be in the game, while many of her contemporaries from the early 1990s have faded away.

"With the first record, I began feeling like I was in junior high and definitely the youngest kid at school," she said. "If you consider the entire rock arena and the pop world to be like a high school, I was kind of looking up at the big kids. We came on the heels of so many great records and so many great bands in the midst of 1994; we were so inspired by Nirvana and were devastated when Kurt died and we wrote songs about it. It impacted us so intensely.

"Now I feel like even the bands I really love then have either disappeared or choked in terms of their records. There aren't a lot of follow-ups from the bands that were thriving then. There's a sort of emptiness in music that's kind of frightening to me. But there are some exceptions, definitely, and I've been looking for them desperately recently. One of them is Starling, which we toured with. I usually find one song on an album that I adore and I play it over and over again; my latest obsession is 'Die Hard Crush' by Starling. And there's a song on the new Bush album called 'War Machine,' and it's beautiful. I went out and bought it, went to Coconuts to support my boys.

"I also sang on this song by this band called the Drowners, who are from Sweden. It's so great; I play it over and over again, even though I'm on it. So, there's still some great stuff out there. You just have to look for it."

THE FIRST RECORD I EVER BOUGHT: "They were two Jackson Browne albums that I bought at the same time, 'Late for the Sky' and 'The Pretender.' I especially loved 'The Pretender,' it was such a sad, penetrating album. At the time, my parents were going through a divorce when I was 8, so it really hit home."

THE FIRST CONCERT I EVER WENT TO: "My mom took me to see Jackson Browne at the Pavilion (in Illinois) when I was 10, and the second one, which I will never forget, was The Cars on their first tour in St. Louis, where I grew up. I had super feathered hair; I was trying to impress this ninth-grader and I was in the seventh-grade. He was not at all amused; my breasts weren't up to par yet."

THE LAST CD I BOUGHT: "The last Yo La Tengo record. It's so beautiful. They're one of my favorite bands, and they have this uncanny ability, which I try to do with my music, to pull out the rock song and then follow it up with such a beautiful song. The pendulum will keep swinging from style to style, and they use all kinds of instruments. There's a point in the record where I just go, 'Fuck you guys, please stop being so absolutely heartbreaking.' "

BWF (before we forget): Veruca Salt is seethering on the Web @ www.verucasalt.com. ... The Veruca Salt album discography - "American Thighs" (Minty Fresh/DGC, 1994); "Number One Blind EP" (1995); "Blow It Out Your Ass, It's Veruca Salt" EP (1996); "Eight Arms to Hold You" (Outpost, 1997); "Resolver" (Velveteen/Beyond, 2000).

The Verve Pipe's little studio shop of horrors

(Aug. 1, 1999)

A horror mockumentary called "The Blair Witch Project" is scaring fright fans into a frenzy. Keyboardist Doug Corella and his Verve Pipe band mates have had their own version of psychological terror.

Producer Michael Beinhorn (Marilyn Manson, Soundgarden, Hole) cast a spell on the East Lansing, Mich., rock quintet for its self-titled second RCA album, released July 27.

Group members didn't know quite what they were getting themselves into last summer when they entered The Hit Factory in New York.

"Michael literally had this tent set up in the control room," Corella said recently. "If you go down to the control room, it's dark. The only thing that's lit up is the console itself. He has this thick, black canvas tent totally encompassing the room with poles holding it up and everything. It's really regimented and kinda spooky.

"There's a copper-wire cage down there as well, like a torture chamber in a way, because (guitarist) A.J. (Dunning) would have to sit in this cage because of so many RF (radio frequency) signals coming through from the city. A.J. would play his guitar parts in this cage.

"It was a real trip to go into that room, because if you're in there for 12 hours a day, you come out thinking, 'Where the hell have I been?' Michael's quite the disciplinarian. Once he has a vision of a sound, he'll be on it, it could be a week or two weeks. He doesn't let up."

Though the experience was probably more than they bargained for, it was exactly what they needed, Corella said. They wanted to stir things up, rather than become stagnant.

"It was such an important record for us that nothing ever stopped us," he said. "We knew we had to get it done, no matter what kind of thing we were going to go through. We kept the doors shut as much as we could to keep out all the distractions. It was really worth it in the end. We have great management, too, which really helps. They keep us all in good spirits as well."

The group - Corella, Dunning, singer-guitarist Brian Vander Ark, drummer Donny Brown and bassist Brad Vander Ark - wanted someone unconventional behind the boards, the opposite of Jerry Harrison, who produced the group's platinum-selling debut album "Villains" in 1996.

"To tell you the truth, with 'Villains,' there was a lot that we as individuals and as a band didn't dive into deeply," Corella said. "There was more to be said on that record, and we didn't get a chance to do that with Jerry, because that was his thing. He was into less harmonies, that was his call. He was into light keyboard parts so the guitars could stand out as big as they were.

"But I feel like we've had the capability to write the kinds of songs that you hear on this record for a long time, we just haven't found the right producer that could really put it out with us. Michael really relieved a lot of anxiety that we had.

"The angles that he would take, especially what he did with the Marilyn Manson record, were really interesting to us and it was exciting to know there was a guy who liked to take chances. We really wanted to bring new life into our sound, a new approach for things, and bring it into '99, like using loops, which we had never done before. Still, the bottom line is, we're still in love with artists like Elton John, Elvis Costello and the Beatles."

That's apparent on such effective tracks as "Hero" (the first single), "Supergig," "She Loves Everybody" and "In Between."

"For a long time, we've been telling people we're huge XTC fans and Beatles fans," Corella said, "and then we'll put out a song like 'Villains,' and people are like, 'Yeah, sure you are, you little grungies.' We're more of a pop band than any kind of grunge band. The only reason that one's still around with us is because of Jerry Harrison. When grunge was out, there was a certain way of recording guitars, a certain way of recording drums. Jerry was into that, so often you hear those same kinds of textures, so people say, 'You're kind of a grunge band.'

"Honestly, we have elements of a lot of different things, especially on the new record. I guess it's hard for people to label us now. And with this record, you get a real sense of the connection we all have in the band, as people, as writers and as performers."

BWF (before we forget): Get a buzz off The Verve Pipe on the Web @ http://thevervepipe.com.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY IN THE VERVE PIPE (July 18, 1996):

Members of The Verve Pipe haven't been home in East Lansing, Mich., since early January and the road toll is clearly heard in bassist Brad Vander Ark's voice.

He is tired and unenergetic, but amazingly, after less than a week in his own quarters during a Fourth of July break, he is equally bored.

"It takes you like three or four days to get used to not being on the road, and by then you're ready to go back out there," Vander Ark said recently. "I've just been watching TV and staying in the apartment most of the time. Basically, I've done nothing, which is fine by me."

The best part was getting a respite from bandmates A.J. Dunning (guitar), Doug Corella (keyboards/percussion), Danny Brown (drums) and Brad's brother, Brian (lead vocals, guitar).

"As long as we didn't have to see each other that week," Brad said. "Don't get me wrong. It's not that bad, really. I mean, on the road you have a big bus and if you get sick of somebody you can stay away from them by hiding in the back for a while. It's just little things, and they just aren't a big deal. Luckily, our friendships haven't changed."

Of course, that break didn't last long: The Verve Pipe is back on the road in support of its RCA debut album, "Villains," which has sold more than 100,000 copies. And as massive airplay for the first single ("Photograph") wanes, a new single ("Cup of Tea") waits in the wings.

It's easy for Vander Ark to pinpoint the band's peaks and valleys for the first half of 1996.

"There was a week or so at the end there that was really hectic for us," he said. "There was one particular day where we were in Sacramento for a show in the early afternoon, then we had to fly to Portland (Ore.), played there later in the afternoon, then flew back to L.A. That was kind of tough. Every once in a while you have something like that."

The high point was seeing the freshly cosmeticized Kiss performing at the annual Wienie Roast in Los Angeles.

"Their tour actually started in Detroit, but the Wienie Roast was their first one with the makeup back on," Vander Ark said. "We were all going crazy. They had everything, all the pyrotechnics. It was pretty awesome. We all grew up listening to them. That's our generation."

The excitement is back in his voice when he says that The Verve Pipe may play a few dates on the "Kiss and Make-Up" tour this year.

BWF (before we forget): Patience finally paid off for The Verve Pipe in 1997, with the third single, "The Freshmen," reaching No. 5 on Billboard's pop chart and going gold, while the album went platinum and peaked at No. 24.

Violent Femmes hail 'Viva Wisconsin'

(Nov. 21, 1999)

Their legion of followers may not be aware of it, but the Violent Femmes are the best band never to have a hit song.

Even lead singer Gordon Gano admits it.

"If we had been connected to some kind of trend in the '80s or '90s, we might've been in the Top 40 or whatever, but then it probably wouldn't have the staying power," Gano said recently. "We've never been a hit singles band, but we've had a song like 'Blister in the Sun' be voted the No. 1 all-time favorite among the listeners of a few radio stations, which is an unbelievable thing. Of all the songs ever in rock 'n' roll, this is the No. 1 pick?! Over 'Stairway to Heaven'? But it was never a single, it was never a hit."

Neither was the Violent Femmes' self-titled debut album in 1982. And, yet, the Milwaukee punk-folk trio owns a piece of rock 'n' roll history: That album (on Slash Records) was the first ever to sell more than 1 million copies without hitting Billboard's Top 200 sales chart.

"That's the truth unless or until somebody says 'No, you forgot about so-and-so,' " Gano said. "At the time, when that happened, there was somebody at Warner Brothers that we were connected with who looked into it. I thought it was a great little historical footnote. It speaks to the popularity of the group, and it goes through years, how we've hit different generations."

The "Violent Femmes" album did briefly chart nine years after the fact in 1991, due largely to the continuing resurgence of "Blister in the Sun," the ode to masturbation. A subsequent hits collection, "Add It Up (1981-1993)," was another shining moment for Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie and original drummer Victor DeLorenzo: The album of unreleased demos, album tracks, alternate takes, B-sides and live performances was a gold-seller (more than 500,000 copies).

So, let's add it up again: The Violent Femmes have an established fan base; without any hit songs, they have one platinum album and one gold to their credit; "Blister in the Sun" popped up on the "Grosse Point Blank" film soundtrack in 1997; they have toured the world and then some, proving they're not some regional phenomenon; even losing DeLorenzo, who got the acting bug and also wanted to try a solo career, didn't affect the band's popularity (He was replaced in 1993 by Guy Hoffman).

Then why has it been five years since the Femmes' last album, "New Times" (Elektra)?

"The reason we didn't have a new record," Gano said, "is because we were signed to a record label that didn't want to put out anything that we were doing. It doesn't make sense. If you try to think logically or sensibly about it, it doesn't work. A lot of my experience in the music business has been that something that would make sense to anyone it means almost it won't work in the music business; it won't make sense to the music people.

"For years and years, we've had lots of fans. In fact, the fans keep increasing in numbers when we go play shows. A record company unwilling to put anything out, I guess what they wanted to hear was not just one song they thought could be a hit single; they wanted to hear three songs that they thought would be hit singles to even make it worthwhile to putting out a record. If they thought the album would go gold, even that's not worth it. So why do you sign a group like that?"

The Violent Femmes didn't stick around long enough to find out.

"The good thing is that it didn't go to any lawsuits or the courts," Gano said. "We were able to part and have the music we've been working on and go somewhere where people are having the obvious thoughts, 'Here's a group that has established fans and it's good music.' "

The Femmes were well prepared when they approached Beyond Music for a deal. They had two projects already in the can: their first live album, titled "Viva Wisconsin," and a full-length studio album, "Freak Magnet."

Beyond didn't waste any time in signing them. "Viva Wisconsin" will be released Nov. 23, and "Freak Magnet" will be out in March, a month after a 40-city U.S. tour begins.

"Viva Wisconsin" is a fun, 20-track unplugged romp, featuring such fan favorites as "Blister in the Sun," "American Music," "Kiss Off," "Add It Up" and "I'm Nothing," as well as the soul-purging "Don't Talk About My Music" and a seven-and-a-half-minute version of "Confessions" (off the Femmes' debut album).

Recorded Oct. 25-31, 1998, at a variety of venues in Wisconsin, the album finds the Femmes stripped down to the basics: two guitars, two drums and three voices.

"We played smaller places, both the venues and the towns, in Wisconsin where we hadn't played before," Gano said. "The idea was to do it all acoustically, recording each show. The way we recorded it is something we're very proud of, the sound, the engineering and producing. (Co-producer) David Vartanian did a tremendous job.

"In the past, we often played places that weren't good acoustically. When you play at a college, it's usually at a gym, which was built for basketball not for music, or other kinds of places where it's hard for people to hear subtleties in music even if they wanted to. The places we played in Wisconsin were old opera houses and theaters, some very nice sounding places.

"On this tour, at all the shows the audiences were listening audiences. We were able to play with the dynamics, play the music loud or soft, and play off the audience. It makes for such a great experience. It's great when they're listening and also very enthusiastic."

The best part about the Femmes' longevity, Gano said, is that it's not just the diehards showing up at concerts looking to rekindle memories. They're attracting a whole new generation of faithful.

"It's great that the music speaks to people in the now, as opposed to nostalgic," Gano said. "If somebody puts on a Violent Femmes record, the only way they feel something from the 1980s is that they first heard the Violent Femmes in the 1980s. If they first heard the Femmes in the 1990s, it's the '90s for them, not the '80s. Twenty years from now, people are going to say, 'I first heard the Femmes when Y2K happened.' You couldn't ask for a better way to maintain a career."

THE FIRST RECORD I EVER BOUGHT: "I'm not sure if I bought it or I got my parents to buy it. I remember at some point I had to have a Partridge Family record. But I do remember the first single I bought, 'Bennie and The Jets' by Elton John. No matter how many times I listened to it, there were certain parts where I couldn't understand a word he was saying, but I loved the way it sounded."

THE FIRST CONCERT I EVER WENT TO: "Jethro Tull. A friend of mine had a mother who always went to concerts. My brother and I were begging and pleading with my mother to let us go, and this woman agreed that she would take us and look out for us. She actually let us go, couldn't believe it."

BWF (before we forget): Develop a blister in the sun with the Violent Femmes on the Web @ www.vfemmes.com. ... The Violent Femmes album discography - "Violent Femmes" (Slash, 1982); "Hallowed Ground" (1984); "The Blind Leading the Naked" (Slash/Warner, 1986); "3" (1988); "Why Do Birds Sing?" (Slash/Reprise, 1991); "Add It Up (1981-1993)" (1993); "New Times" (Elektra, 1994); "Viva Wisconsin" (Beyond, 1999).

Virgos Merlot has eyes on the big time

(Feb. 7, 1999)

It's jarring at first to meet members of the Birmingham, Ala., rock quintet Virgos Merlot eye to eye, face to face, one by one.

Did one of them break into Marilyn Manson's toiletry bag and run off with his lifetime supply of zombie contact lenses? Did they get their hands on a bad bottle of Visine? Did an experiment with Wite-Out go horribly wrong? Or were they extras in the teen fright flick "Disturbing Behavior"?

All fears of a vampire invasion fly out the window after hearing them, in their polite Southern drawls, discuss their Atlantic Records debut album, "Signs of a Vacant Soul" (due March 2), their unbridled potential and the overwhelming fan reaction up to now.

"(Atlantic) needed a big rock band," lead singer-guitarist Brett Hestla said. "Rush has its audience, but kids pretty much don't listen to them, so they needed somebody new, and STP (Stone Temple Pilots) has been having problems for a while. They're looking for us to come and step up to the plate. I think we can do it.

"It's scary that so much is riding on this, but I feel really good about it. The way people are reacting at shows, it's very scary."

Drummer J.D. Charlton, in particular, was taken aback by fans at a recent New York show opening for Fuel.

"Girls were actually crying," he said, "and they don't even have our album yet. They were screaming and yelling the minute we walked onto the stage. We just stood there and stared at them, and they were going crazy, just nuts."

Back home in Birmingham, where Remy Zero and Brother Cane rule, Virgos Merlot - Hestla, Charlton, guitarist Deacon Ted Ledbetter, guitarist Jason Marchant and bassist Chris Dickerson - initially had a tough time.

"Birmingham's a great town, a nice place to live and there's some really great people there," Hestla said, "but it's a weird music scene. It's kind of like you have to leave for the town to really embrace you. They don't accept you as a real thing until you go after it and move somewhere else, get signed or whatever, but after that, the town goes, 'Yeah, they're from here.' "

The band was a veteran of the club circuit by the time it ventured to South Carolina last year for a gig that changed things dramatically.

"We did a show there and Creed ended up opening up for us because their show got rained out," Charlton said. "We met their manager, Jeff Hanson, gave him a CD; he brought us down for a few shows with them. He told us, 'Go do me a demo,' and we did a 10-song demo that's basically our record. Then we went back and added a couple more songs.

"He signed us to his management company and we were there for like one month, and in that time, we did one showcase at the House of Blues in Orlando and, four songs in, we got signed to Atlantic."

The 12 tracks on "Signs of a Vacant Soul" are straight-and-to-the-point rock 'n' roll. At 3 to 4 minutes apiece, they're lean and mean and ready for radio, particularly "Kiss My Disease," "The Cycle" and "Gain."

"We've been writing songs for a long time," Hestla said. "Instead of waiting on them to be edited for radio, we just went ahead and did it ourselves. Then you're not disappointed when they cut your favorite part of the song to get on the radio.

"We were really torn. There were a lot of songs that didn't make the record that we really thought should've, so it was a tough decision of what songs should be on there. We had so much left over, our next record's just about ready."

Aside from the obvious visual impact, Virgos Merlot wants to leave its musical imprint.

"Everybody we work with, everyone who worked on the album, we're all young and hungry. We are really excited about bringing rock back," Hestla said. "You get a feeling, you hear so many horror stories about big labels and how much trouble it is, but Atlantic's really gone out of their way to make sure that we know that we're on top of their list.

"It took years and years for us to get as seasoned as we are, to meet the right people, and finally it paid off. We were involved in situations before where we were closed to being signed, but I look back now and I'm so glad that it's now instead of then because the record's so good, the material's a lot better."

BWF (before we forget): Prepare to toast Virgos Merlot on the Web @ www.virgosmerlot.com.

California is home sweet home again for Voice of the Beehive

(April 11, 1996)

Tracey Bryn feels like clicking her ruby slippers together and saying, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home."

She's not in England anymore.

Bryn, who fronts the pop group Voice of the Beehive with sister-fellow vocalist Melissa Belland, is living in her native California for the first time in more than 10 years. She couldn't be happier; she doesn't even mind the loud car wash next door to her home in Encino.

"You can do so much more here," Bryn said recently. "The sun comes up and you're able to go outside. In England, it's a cliche, but the weather really stops you from doing a lot. It's so cold and gray all the time. I really found that, for my sister and I, it really affected our moods."

That and a few other factors weighed heavily on the Beehive's stateside return: They had lost their record deal in London; a few band members quit; then they had a pure-pop album, "Sex & Misery," out but it floundered amid Britain's love affair with the dueling Oasis and Blur.

That's when Warner-distributed Discovery Records came to the rescue and convinced the sisters to move back home.

"Also, it sounds corny, but we both missed the ocean," Bryn said. "We were born and raised by the water. Of course, we lived on an island for 10 years, but Dover's not exactly Malibu. You can't really kick back, it's always freezing."

"Sex & Misery" was released nationally on April 2, just as the radio-friendly single, "Scary Kisses," is becoming the group's most widely played hit of its career.

One of Bryn's coups before leaving England was getting an opportunity to write with her hero, XTC's Andy Partridge. Their "Blue in Paradise" is among the highlights of "Sex & Misery."

"I was terrified to work with him," Bryn said. "Someone told me, 'Would you like to write with Andy Partridge?' and I thought, 'Oh, my God, what can I bring to that?' I mean, the guy's a genius, what does he need me for? So I went on the train to Sweedon where he lives and I was so nervous I got sick. It's 9:30 in the morning, so I thought I would have a brandy to calm me down. I get there and he's probably thinking, 'Boy, this girl starts early,' and I had brandy on my breath. But he was as nice as anyone could be."

When Partridge played her some of the chords for "Blue in Paradise," Bryn knew she had reached Oz.

"That was such a good experience," she said. "I learned so much from him. He constructs songs, he thinks of them as landscapes, how the skyline goes up and down or staggers or it's going to be a long field. It's kind of confusing to explain, but he had a whole different approach which was good. Any fresh approach to songwriting helps me."

While "Sex & Misery" has plenty of pop sass and smarts, behind the upbeat melodies is a paean to lost souls in Bryn's life.

"Both of us went through a lot in the past two years in London," she said. "A couple friends of mine died, for different reasons. One of them died of AIDS, and I watched it basically. It was horrifying. It gives you a whole new perspective on things.

"There are a lot of angel songs and a lot of love songs for people who have parted, so that was really the only way I could get that out. I kept thinking, 'C'mon, write about something else,' but all I wanted to do was say I missed my friends."

Ska is all around: Voodoo Glow Skulls and Reel Big Fish help set the pace

(May 15, 1997)

For a feature on the Orange County, Calif., ska-punk band Voodoo Glow Skulls, see Reel Big Fish.

The V-roys pay homage to the King of the Road, Roger Miller

(Nov. 14, 1996)

The V-roys, a self-professed beer-drenched country-pop quartet from Knoxville, Tenn., pledge their allegiance daily to their almighty deity, the late great Roger Miller.

Lead singer-guitarist Scott Miller, no relation, says The V-roys owe a big debt to Roger Miller's penchant for witty, thought-provoking songs, which in his heyday were equally at home on country and pop radio.

"We've all been playing in bands for a while," Miller said recently of bandmates Mike Harrison (guitarist-vocalist), Paxton Sellers (bassist) and drummer Jeff Bills. "Jeff and I really started getting into the '50s and '60s country and rock, which you've heard all your life, but we really started to pick them up the albums and listened to them closely.

"Just the way that they write songs, they're very simple, straightforward with some hooks. And the productions of the albums themselves, very raw and dry. That's exactly what we were going for on our album, and that's what Roger Miller's albums are like, smash stuff."

The V-roys debuted in early September with "Just Add Ice," co-produced by E-Squared Records owner Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy. The songs move effortlessly from bittersweet ballads, such as "Lie I Believe" and "Good Night Loser," to blues-inflective ravers like "Sooner or Later" and "Around You," all with just a pinch of humor between their cheeks and gums.

Before "Just Add Ice," The V-roys were on Praxis, which later became E-Squared and Earle bought into the label. He kept the band, and they couldn't be happier.

"We asked him to produce the album, it was that easy," Miller said. "You can't imagine what it's like to work with him, and then we got to tour the U.K. with him, so he has set us up right. It's up to us to do the rest."

The band isn't consumed with visions of Triple-A airplay, album sales and distribution, Miller said. They're all about songs.

"Hopefully, the rest of it will take care of itself and we can leave with a clear conscience," he said. "If you write a good enough song, I'm naive enough to believe that somebody will hear it and buy the record."

BWF (before we forget): Check out The V-roys on the Web @ www.vroys.com.