Judybats hang in there
It comes straight from Judybats bassist Paul Noe’s mouth: The Tennessee quintet’s latest album, “Full Empty” (Sire/Warner), “came out on Aug. 2 with little or no fanfare, as you may have noticed.”
The band’s “What We Lose” video has since quietly resurfaced, noticeably on CMJ’s video chart. It’s all news to Noe and company.
“The video was passed on by MTV,” Noe says. “It is by far the best video we’ve done and they’ve played worse videos by the band, so I don’t really know what the problem is.”
After four albums and no national breakthrough to speak of, Judybats’ future with Warner may seem in doubt. Noe doesn’t know what to think.
“The ugly truth, as we’ve slowly realized, is that Warner Brothers is so huge that it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle,” he says. “Sire is our A&R branch and after the record’s done, Warner takes over production, promotion, etc.
“We’ve heard talk about a ‘new push’ (for ‘Full Empty’), but we’ve yet to see it. On the positive side, they did allocate a bigger budget than usual for the ‘What We Lose’ video.
“They’ve also put out four albums by this band in four years, so either they’re committed to the band or the accountants have been on vacation for a few years.”
Noe operates the band’s online address, posting tour dates and responding to fan e-mail.
“It’s new and hopefully more people will catch on, although I’m already having trouble keeping up with the mail,” he says. “That’s what we get for putting the e-mail address on the CD. Imagine if it were actually selling!”
BWF (before we forget): After four brilliant but overlooked albums, the Judybats disbanded in 1995.
About the Author
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
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