Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
The Drag is the best Britpop band in America. Never mind that the musicians hail from Myrtle Beach, S.C., rather than Manchester, England. Unless you hear them speak with their slight Southern drawl, you’d swear this young quintet hailed from the U.K.
The three musicians in Ash are so young that when their record label signed them two years ago, their contract stipulated that the kids could finish their school exams. In fact, the Irish teens turned down the chance to tour with Pearl Jam so they could graduate.
The next wave of British music is riding on the slim shoulders of Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills. Who? Tall, thin and extremely blond, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist (son of actress Hayley Mills) is the latest hottest thing across the Atlantic.
“I’d hate for you to write this story and have everyone think I’m a happy, cheerful person,” Jakob Dylan said. “It’s not good for the image of the group.” He’s joking. The Wallflowers’ lead singer-songwriter-guitarist proved to be anything but a wallflower during a recent telephone interview from his Los Angeles home. His pensive songs may exude bittersweet longing, but in real life he is chatty and quick-witted and the first one to poke fun at himself.
Eye Candy keeps watch on music-related items worth a closer look: The shotgun reunion between David Lee Roth and Van Halen may have been a bust, but the original Van Halen lineup looks young and happy in “Van Halen – Video Hits, Volume 1” (Warner Reprise Video). The 64-minute home video also includes “Me Wise Magic,” a new track featuring Roth on vocals . . .
When the album “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart last fall, the Smashing Pumpkins seemed destined for a stunning future. Their previous works “Gish” and “Siamese Dream” had made them superstars, but no one in the band imagined that “Mellon Collie,” which has sold more than 7 million copies in the United States, would become the most successful double CD ever.
Reverend Horton Heat is one of the best bands you’ll hardly ever hear on the radio or see on MTV. And that’s just fine with the Texas trio, which falls somewhere between the retro rockabilly sound and the frenetic psychobilly craze.
Despite the paradoxical name of the Gin Blossoms’ current album, “Congratulations, I’m Sorry,” the five-man band from Tempe, Ariz., has no reason to apologize. “Congratulations” is as good as the Blossoms’ 1992 breakthrough CD, “New Miserable Experience” – something many critics predicted wouldn’t be possible after the suicide of original member Doug Hopkins, who wrote many of the group’s hits.
I pity the fool who doesn’t like the Mr. T Experience. Playing a potent blend of poppy punk tunes, the 10-year-old San Francisco trio sings songs that are sweetly melodic and, at times, hysterically true-to-life (“I’m like, `Yeah’/But she’s all, `No’/And I’m all, `Come on baby, let’s go’/And she’s like, `I don’t think so’).
As a warm-up before resuming their world tour in Las Vegas, the Smashing Pumpkins played a “surprise” concert Friday afternoon at Metro. It was the band’s first show since the firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin in connection with the July 12 heroin overdose of keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin.
At the Aragon soundcheck, it was Liam who was intent on hassling Noel. The moody singer jumped off the stage and meandered around the venue playing with a worn soccer ball. Looking at Noel, who was still rehearsing, Gallagher took aim and expertly kicked the ball to or, depending on who you asked, at his brother. Noel stopped the ball with his right foot, but wouldn’t surrender it to Liam until the song was over.
Matthew Caws can’t wait until he gets to Chicago for his band’s Friday night concert at Metro. Sure, the Nada Surf singer is anxious to show fans that his trio has more substance than its kitschy single “Popular” would indicate. But just as important, he wants to collect his birthday present.
Scholars and artists may argue about punk’s origin, but few will disagree that until the Sex Pistols exploded onto the music scene in 1976, not many people paid attention. “The Sex Pistols were created by Malcolm McLaren, who was in the fashion business, so a look was pushed on them more so than on the American punks,” said James Stark, author of “Punk ’77” (Stark Grafix). “That definitely made them more marketable.
God save the queen – the Sex Pistols are back. And if they’re not as lean and mean as they were 20 years ago, they don’t care. The British press gleefully speared the quartet whose name has become synonymous with punk rock, accusing the 40ish musicians of being too old and fat to be punk.
When a cocky guy like Noel Gallagher rates your band as being better than his, there might be a tendency to get a swelled head, especially since the Oasis guitarist isn’t particularly generous in his assessment of other groups. But while John Power is quick to tout the merits of his band, Cast, he’s just as swift to set the record straight with a modicum of modesty.
Back in the early 1980s, when he was doing the Stray Cat Strut, neither Brian Setzer nor his fans would have envisioned the tattooed, pompadoured singer playing in an orchestra. These days, the former rockabilly hep cat not only performs in one, he fronts one.
J.R. Richards quit college to be in a band. His parents weren’t disappointed. “I was a music major, and there’s not much you can do with that other than teach or conduct,” Richards said, calling from his record company’s Hollywood digs. “I couldn’t envision myself doing either.”
Jason Gedrick’s career is red hot. The actor who claims that girls weren’t interested in him in high school now has a file devoted to him on America Online, where cyber fans lovingly dissect the merits of his acting, hobbies and, uh, other attributes.
The Smashing Pumpkins have an open invitation from the producers of “The Simpsons.” Should the Chicago-based supergroup ever decide to stop the music, they are welcome to join the cartoon’s cast.
“People are so preoccupied with the way they look, and looks are just a small aspect of any person,” Ben Chaplin, 26, said, having high tea at the Ritz-Carlton. “In my eyes, women who are smart and funny and confident have always been the most attractive ones. They just have this air about them that makes you want to be with them. I think there are plenty of women who are beautiful on the outside and lost on the inside, and their beauty ultimately isn’t nearly as interesting.”