2L April 00 Studio - Two Louies Magazine

THE GRAND OL' SOAP OPRY
On the cover: Curtis Salgado. Portland’s most seasoned
pro. Steve Miller says Curtis’ newest CD for
Shanachie Records “Wiggle Outta This” is “The best
R&B album of the decade.” Curtis is in Los Angeles recording
his second album for Shanachie. Marlon
McClain, who produced the first Shanachie album, will
again man the helm.
This is a big month for local major label acts.
Everclear is ignoring the conventional wisdom
and releasing “Learning How To Smile” on Capitol,
April 25 th . Elliott Smith’s sophomore effort, “Figure 8”
is due out on Dreamworks, April 18 th . The Dandy
Warhols are in town shooting music videos for “Thirteen
Tales From Urban Bohemia”, their upcoming
Capitol lp. Slowrush is beating the bushes for airplay
on their new Epic lp “Volume”. Meredith Brooks just
returned from Washington, D.C. where she and
NARAS lobbied congress for increased funding for arts
and Arts Endowments.
Elliott Smith got a bump instead of a bounce out
of his high profile South By Southwest showcase in
Austin at La Zona. The Austin American Statesman’s
Jeff Salamon panned the band’s set observing, “Elliott
Smith didn’t seem to be having a particularly good
time…neither did most of the audience.”
“Smith has a new album, ‘Figure 8’, coming out
soon from Dreamworks, and a new band in tow to play
its songs. Unfortunately, the newness was painfully
apparent.”
“At La Zona, with Sam Coomes on bass, Scott
McPherson on drums and Aaron Embry on keyboards,
Smith switched tacks, trying to re-create the finery of
his albums. The result was neither/nor.”
“The crowd, which had pressed itself tightly
against the stage the moment Creeper’s set ended, figured
out three songs in that no fun was to be had, and
started churning and drifting. Smith made the brave
decision to mostly stick to new songs the crowd didn’t
know, and if the band had been crack enough he might
have pulled it off. But Embry’s tinkly keyboard made
Ben Folds sound like Cecil Taylor by comparison, and
McPherson spent an awful lot of time on his ride cymbal,
which meant there was no backbone to the music.
Toward 1 a.m. as more of the crowd headed for the
door, the music picked up. But it was too late to save
the night.”
“The reassuring thing is, Smith’s talented enough
to overcome a bad night, even one so high profile. He’s
a major talent, one of the few people who understands
the beauty of song and the beauty of riffage, and can
pull off both in world-class manner. He’ll either get
this band into shape or get rid of them. Here’s hoping
he gets to it pretty quick.”
We shall overcome.
Page 16 - TWO LOUIES, April 2000
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Everclear is the subject of yet another large story
in Billboard (4/1/00) entitled Everclear’s Dual Releases
On Capitol Cover Pop, Hard Rock.
BB’s Larry Flick finds “fans of Everclear will get a
double dose of music within the next six months, as
the Capitol act plans to issue two albums before the
close of 2000.”
Art Alexakis tells BB, “Maybe it doesn’t make
sense, but you’ve got to go by your gut. We feel
this is the right thing to do.”
“On April 25, the label will issue “Songs
From An American Movie, Volume One: Learning
How To Smile.” Later this year, a second
volume, Good Time For A Bad Attitude
will be released.
“Learning To Smile” was
actually first planned as
Alexakis’ solo debut.
“The songs I wrote
were very melodic, but
when I started writing the
lyrics, they sounded like
Everclear.”
Art says that ultimately, he
wasn’t happy with the way the music
was turning out. “It just didn’t
have the soul of an Everclear album.
When the band started working on it,
it was obvious it should be an Everclear
album.”
“Learning To Smile” is a minor departure
for the band in that it offers “a lot of
keyboards, a lot of harmonies, strings on four of
five songs, and horns on a couple of tunes.”
“There’s really not a whole lot of big guitar on
the album, but there’s a little bit on two or three songs.”
“‘Learning To Smile’ has a sweet pop tone, while
‘Good Time For A Bad Attitude’ has a more aggressive
rock attack. What we do is very poppy at times, and
then there’s a part of us that’s very noisy.”
No release date has yet been set for “Good Time
For A Bad Attitude”.
Art’s decision to make his solo effort a band
project met with agreement from key retailers in BB.
Marlon Creaton, manager of Record Kitchen, an indie
outlet in San Francisco says, “Although the band has
had a strong presence in the marketplace, there’s not
enough curiosity to warrant a solo record by Art just
yet.”
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Slowrush needs some airplay…
Rob Daiker’s act is back in town after the one
horse town tour promoting last month’s release of their
debut on Epic Records. They’ll put the Econoline back
out on the road again in May. “Junkie”, the first single”
from “Volume” has faded from the Radio & Record
modern rock charts and Epic is servicing radio stations
with the second single “Breathe”.
“Breathe” was co-written by Dan Reed.
Reed also co-produced the track for the album.
Dan Reed Network members Blake Sakamoto and Dan
Pred played on the album but quit the band on the eve
of the release, unhappy with Epic’s proposed tour-support
package. And managed by rookies.
Dandy Warhols; videos for Europe.
Slowrush’s managers Rob Erickson and Steve
Walker couldn’t leave their day jobs to join the band
tearing up Tempe but did have enough space and creative
energy to sign the band Blyss to a personal management
agreement.
Timing. It’s everything.
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David Leiken and Shane Tappendorf were management
partners for over fifteen years till last year
when Shane took Curtis Salgado and left the Double
Tee offices to strike out on his own. Shane and David
disagreed over whether Curtis’ newest CD should be
on Shanachie Records or Leiken’s label Lucky Records.
Since David put up most of the money for the album
he thought it should be on Lucky Records. Shane
thought Shanachie could promote it better. They dissolved
the partnership over the seeming conflict of
interests. “The last thing David did was negotiate a really
great record deal for me with Shanachie.” says
Salgado.
Leiken has already found new talent to nurture.
photo B