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Archived North Carolina's News And Observer Stories
1991-1994


April 5, 1991
The News & Observer


Following a hit-or-miss career
Cadre of fans is solid to the core

By DAVID MENCONI
Staff writer

It's a comment on pop music's current level of stasis that some of the past few years' most interesting records have been tribute compilations. On these records, various contemporary bands perform cover versions of songs by some hugely influential entertainers like the Byrds, Neil Young, Cole Porter or Buddy Holly.

Not all these tributes involve artists from the top of the charts. Take "For the Love of Todd," which Charlotte musician Mitch Cooper (formerly of Fetchin' Bones) is assembling as a tribute to Todd Rundgren.

After word about the project got around, Mr. Cooper received more than 130 submissions. The final version, which should be out this month on Third Lock Records, includes contributions from Tar Heel types such as Mitch Easter, Peter Holsapple, the Woods, Don Dixon, Parthenon Huxley and Jamie Hoover. As for the subject of "For the Love of Todd," Mr. Rundgren says the project leaves him feeling both flattered and bemused. "I'm not exactly sure why anybody would donate their time to it, actually," he says, speaking by phone from San Francisco. "A Led Zeppelin tribute I could see -- they were a very big band with a large audience. But few enough people buy MY albums. I don't know how many will buy a record of other people doing my songs." Mr. Rundgren, who brings his band to the Showcase on Thursday, has on occasion sold a great many records. His commercial high point remains his 1972 masterwork, "Something/Anything?" which included the hit singles "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light." But hits remain the exception rather than the rule for him. "I'm like a classical pianist who tours the concert circuit and does the occasional record," he says. "My sales are at about that level. Selling 100,000 copies is respectable for me -- it's never in the millions. But I'm a musician, not a recording artist or a 'personality' who needs immediate huge sales to validate my work. "I've been making records for 23 years. As far as I know, I'll continue to make records at least into the next decade. One of the great things about being a marginal artist is that it isn't very hard to get deals -- other labels always think they can do better with you. So I'm not worried, because there always seems to be enough demand for my services as a musician and a producer to keep me busy." Whatever Mr. Rundgren's following lacks in numbers, it more than makes up for in devotion. Few artists this side of the Grateful Dead cause anything like the degree of fanaticism Mr. Rundgren inspires. At times the adulation reaches embarrassing proportions. A Spin magazine review of his 1989 "Nearly Human" album concluded, "I want this man to be the father of my children."
"Well, that's flattering yet extreme," Mr. Rundgren says with a laugh. "But it doesn't really say anything about the music, does it? Some people react to my records in strange ways, but it's nothing I think about when I'm doing music. It would be too much of a contrived Teddy Pendergrass type of thing to try to be as 'sexy' as possible."
One factor limiting Mr. Rundgren's commercial appeal is the variety and eccentricity of his output. Start with his producer's resume. Like a lot of pop-geniuses (Nick Lowe and Don Dixon come to mind) Mr. Rundgren is better-known as a producer. His past credits include Grand Funk Railroad, Janis Joplin, The Band, Hall & Oates, the Tubes, Cheap Trick, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, XTC and Pursuit of Happiness.
As a recording artist, he works solo and as leader of the band Utopia. Some of his solo projects are literally solo, with Mr. Rundgren overdubbing all the instruments himself. While his last few records have been band projects, Mr. Rundgren says he's getting the itch to try going it alone again.
"Before, I really missed the interaction with other musicians," he says. "Now I sort of miss being off in the studio by myself. So I imagine a change could be coming soon, especially since it's difficult to keep a band together. But it's great to be able to do both."
As for eccentricity, Mr. Rundgren is famous for making weird, self-indulgent records. Some of his odder past works include 1985's "A Cappella," composed entirely of music from voice synthesizers; 1976's "Faithful," which included one side of eerily perfect covers of '60s rock classics like "Good Vibrations"; and 1980's "Deface the Music," a hilarious parody-tribute of Beatles music. Much of his work is thematically conceptual, such as 1981's philosophical "Healing." And every now and then he'll do a perfect pop record like 1982's underrated "The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect," which had his last hit of note, "Hideaway."
Mr. Rundgren's latest album, "2nd Wind" (Warner Bros.), is a little of both. Recorded live with a 12-piece band in front of a San Francisco audience last year, "2nd Wind" has a number of ace pop songs like "Change Myself." It also includes three show-tune styled numbers -- "The Smell of Money," "If I Have to Be Alone" and "Love in Disguise."
Andrew Lloyd Webber he ain't, and these three songs are definitely on the hit-or-miss side. They come from Mr. Rundgren's score for "Up Against It," which was originally written as the Beatles' third movie. Playwright Joe Orton wrote "Up Against It" shortly before his 1967 murder, but it was never filmed. After lying fallow for 20 years, it was revived by the New York Shakespeare Festival, which staged it as an off-Broadway musical in 1989. Mr. Rundgren wrote 16 songs for it.
"The story line for it was always sort of a problem," he says. "It involves a fantasy world in which women are in charge, and they order all the men around. This happened after a revolution broke out, which the women won.
"Because of that, a lot of people think it has a feminist agenda. But everybody in it really comes out looking like a jerk. It doesn't really have anything to do with the Beatles; Orton just wanted to upset as many people as he could."
Before "2nd Wind" was released, one of its songs -- a nasty swipe at Sen. Jesse A. Helms, R-N.C. -- received a lot of attention. A number of bootleg copies surfaced after the song was recorded, but Mr. Rundgren ultimately decided not to include it on the LP.
"That was never actually intended to be on the record, but a lot of people said I should put it out," he says. "Ultimately, the label left it up to me. I doubt it would have had a substantial effect on how the record has done -- maybe it would have sold more with a sticker, I don't know.
"More important to me is that it would not have fit into the musical concept of this record."
Mr. Rundgren closed last week's Los Angeles show with the song. But will he do it here, in Mr. Helms' back yard?
"I don't know," he says, laughing mischievously. "I'd say that's entirely possible."

Todd Rundgren, Thursday at the Showcase, 2840 Industrial Drive. Doors open at 7 p.m. $15. Charge by phone:
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April 5, 1991
The News & Observer
MANY PARTINGS: On a sadder note, Chapel Hill's Popes are calling it quits. The Popes had made waves in alternative circles with their 1988 EP "Hi, We're the Popes," which inspired critics to favorably compare the band to contemporary power-pop bands like Let's Active and the dB's.
More recently, the Popes were in the studio recording a full-length album (with aforementioned Sex Policeman Mr. Plymale producing) for New York-based First Warning Records. But the contract fell through, partly because the band didn't actually come to terms with First Warning before recording the album.So for now, at least, the album won't be released and the Popes are disbanding.
"We feel like we've been kind of strung along for a while," says Popes guitarist John Elderkin. "A couple of the guys in the band have just had enough."
First Warning manager Doug Schoemer expressed regret about what happened.
"The record they did is very good, and I'll always think they're a great band," he says. "But the situation wasn't handled well, and the timing just didn't work. We all feel bad about it."
One Popes recording that will be coming out is the band's contribution to a still-untitled Alex Chilton tribute compilation. The album, which also includes a song by Let's Active leader Mitch Easter, will be released on Munster Records in Spain this summer and should be available as an import.
Before splitting up, the Popes will play Saturday at Cat's Cradle. Show time is 10 p.m., and tickets are $5. They'll also play with Satellite Boyfriend on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. at the Brewery. Tickets are $3.

GETTING AHEAD: Getting back to better news, Chapel Hill's Snatches of Pink is the latest area band to graduate to the big leagues.

The band, which features former Let's Active drummer Sara Romweber, has signed with Hollywood Records, Walt Disney's new label subsidiary. Snatches of Pink formerly recorded for R.E.M. manager Jefferson Holt's Dog Gone Records.

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BEACH-BOUND:May 1, 1992
The News & Observer
After weeks of deliberation, the North Carolina Showcase committee has narrowed the field of several hundred applicants down to 16 bands, who will play at the showcase in Wilmington June 4-6.

Perhaps the biggest showcase news is that ex-Let's Active frontman Mitch Easter will play this year's event, performing as Mitch Easter and the Virtuosos.

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May 29, 1992
The News & Observer

Southern culture at the beach Tar Heel bands seek fame and fortune in Wilmington.

By DAVID MENCONI; Staff writer

It looks as if Mitch Easter won't be playing in the N.C. Music Showcase after all. The former Let's Active leader was going to be one of the main attractions at this year's event, partly making up for the absence of such bands as Superchunk (who declined to enter).

Unfortunately, Easter is still in England on a production project, and he won't make it back in time for the showcase.
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###November 5, 1993
The News & Observer
BETTY BOOP: Just like last week, there are local band breakups and album releases to talk about.

First the bad news -- Raleigh's Bettys have given up the ghost, citing the usual reasons. Last weekend's show at the Brewery was their last performance.
"We all started out with expectations of what we wanted to happen, and the band just wasn't what everybody wanted it to be," says guitarist Jerry Kee. "So I guess we'll just split up and start all over again in different combinations. The good part is that something good may come of it."
While Kee says he is feeling depressed over the Bettys' breakup, the success of one of his other bands should ease the sting a bit. Kee plays drums in Dish, who are picking up record company attention. While pondering label options, the band recorded with producer Mitch Easter at his Drive-In studio in Winston-Salem.

The News & Observer
Vault cleaning
Chris Stamey gets a studio tan handling reissues.
By David Menconi; Staff writer

There will probably never be a box set documenting North

Carolina guitar pop. But if you were putting one together, Chris Stamey and the dB's (plus assorted spinoffs) would account for a huge chunk of it.

After forming in Winston-Salem in the late '70s, the dB's charted a course for melodic postpunks everywhere. Since their razor-sharp power pop was ahead of its time, they never received their propers. But dB's albums like 1981's landmark "Stands for Decibels" sound just as good today as they did then.
So do the plethora of dB's-related reissues that have come out in the past year. These include:
"Ride the Wild TomTom" (Rhino Records), the great lost dB's album that hit the stores last week. It consists of 26 late-'70s vintage tracks and demos, many of them quite wonderful (especially the jittery "We Should Be In Bed").
"It's a Wonderful Life" (ESD Records), Stamey's 1983 solo album. It was released last fall as a 16-track disc that also includes Stamey's 1984 mini-album, "Instant Excitement."
"Racket" (ESD Records) by Sneakers, Stamey's pre-dB's band with Mitch Easter, also reissued last fall.
Another reissue in the works is Stamey's 1985 Christmas album, "Christmastime," due out in October on ESD. Stamey expanded this version to a 17-track collection with contributions from familiar associates like Syd Straw, Alex Chilton and his old dB's band mate Peter Holsapple.
To get all these records into presentable shape for the digital age, Stamey had to put in a lot of unexpected studio time -- remixing almost everything and even cutting some new tracks.
"All these projects seemed like they would only take about a week to finish when I agreed to do them," says Stamey, who moved to Chapel Hill last year. "But they've all taken a long time. If nothing else, it's been a real education in what you can do with recording techniques.
"Some of those dB's tracks were literally put together from scraps on the floor, and some hadn't been sung when they were first recorded. It was interesting to go back and do those again. To sing 'We Should Be In Bed,' I had to get real nervous. Will {Rigby, the dB's drummer} is ahead of the beat on that one and the vocal had to be ahead of him. There actually was a vocal version of that one, but with no kick drum and you could hear a chair banging really loudly. So we redid it."
These albums also include some historical oddities. "Ride the Wild TomTom" has "I Read New York Rocker," a never-used radio spot for the dB's favorite rock magazine (they rehearsed and recorded in the magazine's offices during their early years).
"Racket" contains "B&G Pie Commercial," Easter's tribute to "a famous Winston-Salem delicacy." As the album's liner notes explain, "The chords under the words 'B and G' were meant to be B and G, but had to be transposed to A and F to accommodate the singer's 'range.' It's the thought that counts."
"B&G pies are what some people might call vile -- these seriously deep-fried, not at all low-fat things, especially the chocolate pies," Stamey says. "But we liked 'em."
Now that the vaults have been more or less cleared out, Stamey can get back to more timely projects like his "Big Band," which features guitarist Jeff Hart, Swamis guitarist Brent Lambert, former Finger drummer John Howe and old partner Easter on bass.
Stamey and band play tonight at the Brewery, a show that Stamey says will be "a relatively straightforward, uncomplicated evening." Since he's getting married next month, he probably won't be playing around these parts for several months -- especially since he has a new record he wants to finish.
The album includes tracks like "That's Why I Hate the Replacements," "Learning How to Scream" and the Byrds' "5D (Fifth Dimension)." For now, Stamey just wants to finish it and hasn't given any thought to which label he'll put it out on.
"I'm very interested in trying to make a good record," he says. "That part of it I find appealing. Lawyers do the other bit. I've never liked the 'rock-star business' and am less interested in it than ever right now.
"I like records, more than songs. It's sort of like some people like plays and some like movies -- I like movies. I like the otherworldliness of making records."
Showtime for the Stamey Big Band is tonight at 10:30 at the Brewery, 3009 Hillsborough St. Grover (featuring Easter's wife, Angie Carlson) opens the show. Tickets are $5. 834-7018.
Stamey

Copyright 1993 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

There are a couple of bands I'd recommend, starting with Winston-Salem's Urban Edge. Though they have a stupid name, this young quartet follows in the fine Tar Heel power-pop tradition of bands like the dB's and Let's Active.

Mitch Easter (who knows a thing or two about power-pop)

produced Urban Edge's fine self-released debut album, "Songs From the Hydrogen Jukebox," stocking it with plenty of crisp guitars and killer hooks. And you don't even have to stay up too late to see them -- Urban Edge plays tonight at 10 on a bill with Second Skin, Buster Rogue and Straight Ahead.

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February 11, 1994
The News & Observer

But the highest-profile sphere of all now involves Motorolla and Dish, two bands that appear to be headed for bigger things. Both bands have the same guitarist, Bo Taylor; the same manager, Glamour Puss bassist Cheetie Kumar (who also manages Finger and Flat Duo Jets); and recording contracts with the same major label, Interscope Records (also home to big-time acts like Nine Inch Nails, Dr. Dre, Helmet and Primus).
As much as they have in common, however, neither band really sounds a thing like the other. One way to compare them is by the songs they cover. Motorolla does The Who ("Dogs Part Two," an obscure Keith Moon-penned song), while Dish covers The Band's "Tears of Rage."
Centered around the nucleus of the former 8 or 9 Feet, Motorolla is a loud-and-fast power trio that injects a sense of humor and punky firepower into classic-rock riffs. Imagine a cross between Nirvana and Cream (a gross oversimplification, but you get the idea).
Where guitarist Taylor is Motorolla's front man, he has a supporting role in Dish, which is centered around the soaring vocals and intricate piano of Dana Kletter. A logical extension of Kletter's old band the blackgirls, Dish plays something like gothic, moody country-rock.
Since they fit right into alternative rock's prevailing commercial ethos, it was no surprise when Motorolla became the object of a major-label bidding war after playing the New Music Seminar in July. One advantage of being in demand was that they could name their terms -- one of which was that Motorolla came as a package deal with Dish.In an impressive coup for everyone involved, manager Kumar got Interscope record deals for both Motorolla and Dish. It's an unusual arrangement, but not entirely unprecedented.One reason Interscope won out over the other labels (primarily Capitol and Warner Bros.) was that it had a similar arrangement with two other acts, San Diego bands Rocket From the Crypt and Drive Like Jehu. Singer/guitarist John Reis (who produced Superchunk's 1992 album, "On the Mouth") splits time between the two bands, which are both signed to Interscope.
"There's a sort of skeleton structure in place for this at Interscope," says Dish's Kletter. "They have a precedent for dealing with a situation like this, which has a lot of complexities to it. At least they're somewhat versed in the subtle art of placating everyone."
Another point Dish and Motorolla negotiated was the right to put out independent-label singles even while under contract to Interscope. In a wise move, both bands will release one-off singles and mini-albums on independent labels before putting out full-length albums on Interscope.That will allow both bands to tour and build audiences through alternative channels. It's a strategy that paid off handsomely for Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins, who released an independent-label album after signing to Virgin Records. After putting in a couple of years of incessant touring, the Pumpkins hit it big with their first Virgin Records album, which quickly went platinum when it was released last year.
"Interscope is a pretty cool label, in that they're willing to let us express ourselves where and when we want to," says Kletter. "It's a matter of context, I think. There are some things that are out of context for a big, huge major label, but make sense for a smaller one. And with all of us having been in little alternative bands for so long, it made us all more comfortable being able to do that."
If all goes according to plan, 1994 will see a steady stream of records from both bands. Motorolla will have a six-song mini-album out in late March on Chicago-based Cargo Records, followed by the full-length Interscope album this summer.
Dish releases a single, "And Then"/"Moving Day," late this month on Richmond, Va.-based Tenderizer Records. That will be followed by a five-song mini-album on New York-based Engine Records in April, and an Interscope album in October.
Mitch Easter is the producer on all these records. Motorolla began recording its album this past week, and Dish is tentatively scheduled to record its album this summer.
Obviously, for Taylor to play in both bands will present some serious logistical difficulties in terms of touring and recording. The two bands' artists-collective approach could get awkward in a hurry, especially if one band or the other takes off.
"It's just a matter of all of us being understanding, and communicating, and good scheduling," says Kletter. "There might be times when Bo can't come with us on tour, and we'll get friends to sit in. But we hope he'll work with us as much as he can and as far as I know, he plans to. There's a great thing between me and Bo that's kinda groovy."
One impending change involves Motorolla's name. Since corporations like Motorola don't take kindly to bands using their names (even if they're spelled differently), Motorolla will have to change names soon. When they release their mini-album in March, it will be under the new moniker Motocaster.
"I talked to the trademark guru at Motorola about a year ago about this," says Taylor. "You know, asking him, 'What if?' He was very nice and patient about it, and said they wouldn't sue. But he said they would ask us to change it. Since they're one of the biggest companies in the world, they're gonna get their way, so what are you gonna do?"
As if Kletter isn't busy enough with Dish, she's also playing a Valentine's Day show Monday at the Cat's Cradle with local supergroup Boss Tweed, which also includes Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster, Tinsel drummer John Ventura (who will sing) and Spatula guitarist Chuck Johnson. Dish will also open the Uncle Tupelo/Joe Henry show Wednesday at the Cradle. Then it's off for some live dates in the Northeast.
I'd advise seeing Dish while you can.

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June 10, 1994
The News & Observer
As such, Motocaster's "Acid Rock" (Fistpuppet/Cargo Records) doesn't disappoint. A six-song mini-album released as a teaser for the band's big-league debut album (due Aug. 2 on Interscope Records), "Acid Rock" all but leaps full-throttle out of your stereo's speakers. As Bo Taylor howls at the start of "The Train," "Crazy is like crazy does."

Mitch Easter produced "Acid Rock," but it sounds nothing like most of the records he's usually involved with. This is a hard, verging on metallic record, and a perfect mini-album -- intriguing enough to pique interest in the band without giving too much away, right down to the obscure cover song.

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August 19, 1994
Easter resurrection
North Carolina producer breaks free from shackles of 'jangly pop' label.

By David Menconi; Staff writer

Ten years ago, it was hard to pick up an album without seeing the words "PRODUCED BY MITCH EASTER" stamped on the back cover.

That's what happens when you work on one of the most influential albums of all time, R.E.M.'s "Murmur." Easter co-produced the first three R.E.M. records, and that put North Carolina on the map as a recording center. For the rest of the '80s, countless bands beat a path to Winston-Salem to record with Easter at the Drive-In, the unassuming studio Easter ran out of the garage of his parents' house.
Easter's credits from back then read like the Southeastern wing of the college radio hall of fame: Pylon, Beat Rodeo, Windbreakers, Game Theory, his own band Let's Active and members of the dB's and Bongos, as well as big-timers like Suzanne Vega and Marshall Crenshaw, and Triangle acts like Hege V, the X-Teens and Fabulous Knobs.
But Easter's omnipresence had an unfortunate side effect in that he was typecast as "the Southern pop guy." The label soon became an albatross, because the very mention of Easter's name conjured up rock-critic-cliche adjectives like "jangly."
After the Southern pop sound fell out of fashion, Easter's association with it became a serious career liability. Things hit rock bottom a few years back, when I heard a story about a manager who said he would never hire Easter to produce his band's record because it would be "the kiss of death."
Ouch.
That's unfair for a lot of reasons, the biggest being that Easter has never made a bad record. A couple of times a year, I'll get an Easter-produced demo from yet another obscure Triad band he has made to sound sensational.
Lately, Easter's national profile is starting to rise again. He has produced albums, singles and mini-albums by Dish, Motocaster and June. The latest Easter-produced Loud Family album is due out this fall. Easter also produced "Teenage Symphonies to God" (Sony Records) by Rhode Island trio Velvet Crush, who play the Brewery tonight.
"Teenage Symphonies to God" is quite tuneful in a Teenage Fanclub sort of way, but nobody will call it "jangly," "winsome" or "polite." Those are also the last adjectives that come to mind about Motocaster's verging-on-metallic "Stay Loaded."
Easter likes it that way just fine, thank you.
"During the mid-'80s, it would've done my reputation a world of good to do a record like Motocaster," Easter says. "Just to get out of that 'Southern pop' thing. I love stuff that's absolutely acoustic, but I also love stuff that's absolutely thundering.
"It's easier for everyone to have categories, and I wound up as 'the guy to go to when you want nice, clean guitar sounds' -- when I'd spent years playing heavy, heavy guitar, all the way back to high school. It became almost insulting, this idea that I couldn't understand rock music.
"Getting pegged the way I did was really crummy, and it hurt my career because it wasn't gonna stay 1981 forever. There was not an endless supply of 1981-vintage Southern pop bands and besides, that's not all I wanted to do. So I'm glad that it fell apart. But to this day, I've had trouble because of my heavy-duty association with that one sound. It's a very fine sound, but there are others out there, too."
Another change from the old days is that Easter is no longer using the Drive-In as his primary base of operations. He has moved most of his recording equipment from Winston-Salem to his own house in Kernersville, dubbed "Brick Henge.""We started calling it that when we were fixing it up because it was this big, rotting pile of bricks," Easter says. "A sort of monumental ruin. I moved a bunch of equipment over here to do the Motocaster record. We were gonna record it at the Rialto, but that didn't work out."Led Zeppelin just always rented some huge, crumbling old place and rolled up the recording truck, so that's what we did here. This house has real high ceilings, and it's got a good sound. I don't know how long I can keep this setup, but it's working for now."
Easter is presently taking a break from producing to tour with Velvet Crush as second guitarist, primarily because he's been itching to get out and play. Eventually, he wants to get back to his own career as a recording artist and spend less time producing other bands.
When that happens, he'll need a new band. Let's Active has been gone for five years, dissolving after 1988's "Every Dog Has Its Day." Since then, Let's Active alumni have turned up in Triangle bands Motocaster (bassist-turned-drummer John Heames), Snatches of Pink (drummer Sarah Romweber), and Rubbermaid and Grover (singer/guitarist Angie Carlson).
One reason for Easter's long layoff was his terrible experience with Let's Active's label, I.R.S. Records, which was also R.E.M.'s first label. Easter says it left such a bad taste in his mouth that he has been hesitant to try again.
"That label got sort of warped," Easter says. "They started out very hip and cool, and it was great for about the first two years. Then it just turned horrible. All of a sudden, their biggest act was Belinda Carlisle, and we just didn't fit anymore. It was awful, like they hated us or something.
"So right after that last record was made, I asked to get out of the deal and they let me. Even though it was a step backward, it was great to get out -- I haven't tried to do anything about getting a deal since, it was that traumatic.
"But I'm aiming to record a bunch of songs by the end of this year, and then see if I can put something out again. I need to sit down and do some more writing. The stuff I have now was written over about three years, and it's really varied. I don't trust doing that anymore because it seems to confuse people."
Maybe the listening public won't get the wrong idea about Easter on his next go-round. In the interim, Velvet Crush plays with Grover and Reverb-A-Ray tonight at 10 at the Brewery, 3009 Hillsborough St. Tickets are $5 at the door. 834-7018.

Caption:
Mitch Easter, in his performing days.

Copyright 1994 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

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August 5, 1994
The News & Observer
Pretty in punk
Motocaster's raw sound aims for the big time, while Dish's artful pop holds promise.

By David Menconi; Staff writer

So here it is, finally, the moment of truth. After last year's unprecedented (for the Triangle) record company bidding war, hometown boys Motocaster's first major-label album is in the stores -- "Stay Loaded" (Interscope Records).

I wish I could say for sure that "Stay Loaded" will sell boat loads and make all the labels that missed out on signing Motocaster even more envious. But who knows? That's up to the fates (with, we can only hope, some juice from the promotion gurus at Interscope).

What I can tell you is that "Stay Loaded" is an unexpectedly aggressive, in-your-face album. Apart from the occasional sound-effects embellishment, "Stay Loaded" sounds even more raw and less produced than "Acid Rock" (the independent-label mini-album Motocaster put out a few months back). It's as if producer Mitch Easter took one listen to Motocaster's demos and threw out a dare:

"Y'know, you guys just don't rock hard enough ... "

The results should have you reaching for that air guitar. Or maybe air drums, because "Stay Loaded" will show the rest of the world what the Motocaster faithful already know: Keith Moon may not be alive, but Motocaster drummer Jon Heames is the next best thing.

It's a good thing Motocaster is only a three-piece band, because Heames takes up so much room. But in Motocaster's medium -- postpunk classic rock rendered the way God intended, loud and fast -- overplaying is something to be treasured. There's little subtlety or finesse to Heames and bassist Brian Sliwa's rhythms; just raw, bludgeoning power.

That also goes for main Motodude Bo Taylor, whose guitar playing has come a long way the past couple of years. I saw Taylor with his former band Eight or Nine Feet shortly before they broke up in 1991 and almost didn't recognize him the first time I saw Motocaster (who were then called Motorolla) in 1992. Sometime during that year, Taylor went into the woodshed and metamorphosed into a guitarist of monstrous intensity.

Taylor is all over the place on "Stay Loaded," with guitar heroics that ought to impress the most exacting of technocrats. Equal parts Billy Zoom (from X), Slash (from Guns N' Roses) and Neil Young, Taylor plays in a sort of blues-punk style that overpowers every song with shotgun blasts of guitar. It's almost enough to make you break a sweat just listening to him rip through "Pull the Plug," "The Habit" and "Sweet Pearl."

I do have a complaint, however, with the song "Motorolla Blues," whose mutant "Voodoo Chile" riff is always a highlight of Motocaster's live sets. Maybe I've just been hearing it wrong all this time, but here it sounds a half-step slow. The recorded version is still good, but not the show-stopping earthquake it is live.

Perhaps they did that to temper the adrenalin rushes. Nine of 11 tracks on "Stay Loaded" are up-tempo, and most of the lyrics get lost in the band's blastfurnace roar. That makes it a bit one-dimensional -- especially since the two slower songs are actually the most intricate, interesting ones on the album.

The countrified "Farah" sounds like XTC covering Gram Parsons. It's got a hook straight out of the Andy Partridge songbook and also sounds a bit like the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses." And the cover of the blackgirls' "Truth" saunters along, chasing its tail like an evocative dream you can't quite focus on after waking up: "I lie, I live a lie, I am a lie, I tell the truth. I speak the truth, I am the truth and so I lie ... down."

As much fun as the bash-away stuff is for now, this way greatness lies.

Taylor also plays guitar in the band Dish, who might actually have more of a long-term future than Motocaster because they seem built for a longer haul. If Motocaster sounds shiny and metallic, like a '71 Ford Mustang, Dish sounds more like wooden music. As in "Wooden Ships" (a song I'd love to hear them cover sometime).

Where Motocaster drummer Heames plays with bone-breaking power, Dish's Jerry Kee displays a lighter touch. And where Taylor's guitar is the focus of Motocaster, in Dish his primary role is to be a vocal and instrumental foil for Dana Kletter's skittery keyboards and pristine vocals.

It's a potent combination on "Mabel Sagittarius" (Engine Records) -- like Motocaster's "Acid Rock," a mini-album teaser for Dish's forthcoming Interscope debut album -- because each one provides just what the other needs. Dish picks up the more accessible side of Kletter's old group, the hyper-arty blackgirls, with the valuable addition of pop sense.

The mix works to perfection on "Eyes Peeled," rescued from Eight or Nine Feet's 1989 album "Resolution." Where the Eight or Nine Feet version was a pleasantly inconsequential jangle-rocker, Dish has completely transformed it into a mysterious, atmospheric reverie that sounds fully realized.

Can't wait to hear the album, which Dish will begin recording Monday at Ardent Studios in Memphis with producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Screaming Trees). Mitch Easter produced "Mabel Sagittarius" and had been tentatively set to do the full-length album as well, but Dish decided to try someone more out of character.

"We talked to a lot of producers, and they all had these weird concepts," says Kletter. "Like, 'Let's detune every third string on the piano, and make you sing from the bottom of an isolation tank.' I wanted to make more of a straightforward record, while everybody seemed to want to do 'quirky production.' John was the only one who really got it."

In the meantime, Dish plays its final local show for the next couple of months tonight at the Brewery with Chew Toy and Pollo Rojo. Show time is about 10 p.m. at the Brewery, 3009 Hillsborough St., and tickets are $5 at the door. 834-7018.

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