Cover Story: Hope You Like Jammin´ Too

As predictable as it is each year for the

As predictable as it is each year for the Pepsi Jammin’ on Main street festival to conjure up some bad memory from Rock & Roll’s past in the form of a token, big-draw “oldies” act (Styx’s Dennis DeYoung “wowed” audiences last year … in all the wrong ways), at least organizers keep an eye on the future as well. For every “Hey, I thought he was dead” artist to pull through (this year’s “Classic Rock” casualty: R.E.O. Speedwagon), there are usually one or two up-and-coming artists who end up on magazine covers by the time the next Jammin’ rolls around.

If you’re the kind of person who kicks himself or herself for not seeing current chart-toppers like John Mayer or Jason Mraz at past Jammin’ on Mains, this year’s event again features a lot of potential winners in the great big music biz lottery. And, as usual, there are also a few quality established acts and some of the best the local music scene has to offer (see Spill It, page 45).

Along with all of those local bands and this week’s cover story stars, Los Lonely Boys, here are some of our picks for the best of the fest.

MRNORTH
Friday 8:10 p.m. · Walnut St. Stage

Being from Ireland and featuring a singer prone to high/low vocal dramatics, it’s unsurprising that mrnorth has drawn comparisons to U2 in every single review and article written about them so far (um, including this one). It’s far from an off-base comparison, but the band’s debut CD, Lifesize, owes more to artists from the ever-growing Jeff Buckley School of Rock (not to say that each student in that school doesn’t owe some tuition to Bono, however indirectly).

The Dublin-spawned band has the brash, majestic bombast and grand balladic tendencies of groups like Muse, but they temper it with a more linear approach that makes them tailor-made for Rock radio success.

Singer/guitarist Colin Smith could be fronting a U2 cover band, but he does his best to avoid nicking Bono’s style too directly (he might, in fact, be a technically better singer than the U2 frontman). Lifesize is a promising first offering, fueled by strong-armed riffs, a powerful rhythmic thrust and a direct songwriting style that uses a traditional Pop song blueprint interjected with the occasional twist which keeps them from being too rote. Like anything with Buckley’s legacy splattered throughout it, the music’s emotional pull is its biggest asset.

Buckleyisms are quickly becoming somewhat of a cliché but, while mrnorth might not be the best of the late singer’s post-mortem cult, they do sell it well. If the music’s sweeping flamboyance is any indication, they should also put on a really good live show. (MB)

JAMIE CULLUM
8:15 p.m. Friday · Main St. Stage

Like the Blues, Jazz music hasn’t had a solid mainstream presence in years. At least that was the case until Norah Jones broke through big time, her sleepy, folksy Jazz/Pop compositions propelling her past couple of albums to the top of the charts and making her a bona fide superstar. While Jones’ music is the aural equivalent of wallpaper, British singer/songwriter Jamie Cullum channels that old Jazz spirit in a much more energetic way. Esteemed Jazz label Verve Records is hoping for a little Norah magic with Cullum’s charming U.S. debut, Twentysomething, already a platinum seller in the U.K.

Cullum’s vivacious personality seeps into his lively set of original songs and surprising cover selections, suggesting a Punk in crooner’s clothing or a musical theater major with more Elvis Costello albums in his collection than Broadway soundtracks. An ace pianist with a raw voice, Cullum’s music — like Jones’ — isn’t really “Jazz,” per se. Twentysomething is essentially a Rock & Roll record with jazzy tones.

While his original songs suggest an amped-up cross between Harry Connick Jr. and Rufus Wainwright, Cullum’s cover versions are especially tasty — his electric-piano take on “Singin’ in the Rain” is more akin to Malcolm McDowell’s version in A Clockwork Orange than Gene Kelly’s. And his contemporary selections are superb — brave, moderately faithful versions of Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” and Radiohead’s “High and Dry” would make the originators nod along approvingly, while his cocktail spin on Pharrell Williams’ hit “Frontin’ ” is as sly and seductive as the original version … in an entirely different way, of course. Even while rolling through more laid-back songs, Cullum brings a certain vigor to his music that commands your attention. This ain’t background music. (MB)

SWITCHFOOT
9:10 p.m. Friday · Central Pkwy. Stage

Switchfoot formed in San Diego in 1996 after singer/guitarist/main songwriter Jon Foreman and his younger brother, bassist Tim Foreman, met drummer Chad Butler through their other major passion — surfing. It didn’t take long for music to become top priority. After just 20 gigs, the trio (which became a quartet in 2000 when keyboardist/guitarist Jerome Fontamillas joined the Switchfoot lineup) landed a contract with re:Think Records, a Christian label. Switchfoot made a significant mark on the Christian Rock scene, as their first three CDs sold a combined 400,000 copies. The group also netted a Grammy nomination in 2001 for Best Rock Gospel album.

But Foreman, noting that Switchfoot wanted to reach a broader audience, decided to sign with Columbia for their latest CD, The Beautiful Letdown. The album is beginning to find that larger audience, as “Meant to Live,” the lead single, recently had a run of more than 30 weeks on Billboard magazine’s Modern Rock chart. In talking with Foreman, it’s clear he won’t be satisfied writing songs that merely entertain or make their mark on the charts. His goals run deeper — something readily apparent from the lyrics, which center around the tension between who a person is and what someone can be and the desire to connect more deeply on a spiritual and emotional level.

“If this (CD) could be an alarm clock for the soul, that would be great,” Foreman says. “I know for me, many records have been that, (U2’s) The Joshua Tree, for example … something that strikes a chord much deeper than within your ears. Those records, for me, Bob Dylan, you know, Johnny Cash, all these people who have inspired me to live, that’s what we’re hoping for this record to be. Really, those are the songs that have inspired me the most and those are the songs that we’re aspiring to make.” (Alan Sculley)

THE START
8:05 p.m. Saturday · Walnut St. Stage

Though their tour with The Offspring is bringing them to Jammin’ on Main, it’s pretty fitting that The Start would be on a bill with O.P.F.F. (Original Punk Femme Fatale) Deborah Harry and Blondie. While most New Wave revivalists seem too cool to fully indulge their skinny-tie fantasies, there’s little doubt when listening to the music of The Start that they’re aching for the days when the sunglasses were just as angular as the quirky riffs and synthesizers were the new guitars. Singer Aimee Echo has clearly studied the greats of the genre, from Debbie to Siouxsie and all points in between, and the band is appropriately tight for a group that extols the listener to stop standing around at shows and start dancing again.

Other artists doing this type of thing seem unable to commit to the full-range of New Waveness — The Faint sell the gimmick but fail to write good songs or nail the fashion sense, for example. The Start is the full package: They understand the need for bright, shiny Pop songs and they’ve got the right make-up/wardrobe combo going (the only concessions they make to the modern era appears to be the insistence on meaty Radio Rock guitars). If you’re going to repackage the ’80s for me, at least don’t be sneaky about it and try to sell it off as “Post Punk” or whatever. The Start’s straightforwardness is refreshing. And Nic Cage’s character in Valley Girl would, like, sooo totally love The Start. (MB)

G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE
8:45 p.m. Saturday · Central Pkwy. Stage

G. Love’s next CD, in one sense, will represent a new start for the Philadelphia-based artist. After five releases on Epic/Okeh Records, he says his next CD with his group, Special Sauce, will likely be on a new imprint being developed through Universal Records by singer/songwriter Jack Johnson. But in other ways, Love expects his next disc to represent a return to his beginnings. After several albums that saw G. Love (whose real name is Garrett Dutton III) move away from the live-in-the-studio feel of his 1994 debut, he plans to get back to basics.

“I think this new record is going to be a lot more stripped down and back to that live approach,” he says. “I think this new record is going to be based back again to more Hip Hop and even more just straight acoustic Blues. I’m kind of taking it back to where I started, which is kind of that vibe of (Rap groups) like Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul and also the (Blues) vibe of like John Lee Hooker and John Hammond … with a real live aspect to it and a lot of just summertime jams and beats.”

If the new CD goes as planned, it will showcase a mix of rootsy Blues, Hip Hop, Folk and Funk that has given G. Love & Special Sauce one of the most unique sounds in Rock. It’s a sound, in fact, that’s never really been imitated by other bands. That individuality, G. Love says, has served the group well and is one reason why they’ve built a strong following and been able to reach a diverse audience.

“We never followed a trend, really, we just did our own thing,” he says. “Our music wasn’t trendy. We were just three lonesome musicians, street musicians in Boston, doing our thing. It just happened that the people loved it.” (AS)

MELISSA AUF DER MAUR
9:05 p.m. Saturday · Walnut St. Stage

Canadian bassist-turned-frontwoman Melissa Auf Der Maur should get a war-medal for gracefully enduring tenure in two of the ’90s cornerstone AltRock bands (Hole and Smashing Pumpkins). Working with two of the more “extreme” (as she politely calls them) band leaders in modern Rock & Roll history likely thickened her porcelain skin, and her debut solo CD, Auf Der Maur, indeed has a brassy toughness that’s nicely blended with slightly slanted arrangements and a trippy and sweetly melodic sensibility.

When you think bass players, maybe “charisma” isn’t the first word that pops into your mind, but Auf Der Maur is an exception; as a singer she’s just as charming as Auf Der Maur the swaying, brazen bassist. When you saw her with the Pumpkins or Hole, she was always the second place your eyes and ears would wander (hey, you try overshadowing Billy and Courtney). There was a certain mystique in her stage presence, and it transfers well to her solo persona.

She has a somewhat progressive approach to songwriting but doesn’t forsake her Pop instincts, which could be a Billy Corgan byproduct, and her melodies have the winding, serpentine quality of some of Courtney Love’s songs (as well as some of Babes in Toyland’s best offerings). But Auf Der Maur’s abilities speak for themselves, and she scatters well away from the shadows of her past. Auf Der Maur elegantly mixes harder AltRock tendencies with an artistic, progressive edge and a uniquely textured wall-of-sound, recalling the ’90s Modern Rock boom without harping on it. (MB)

BLONDIE
10:30 p.m. Saturday · Central Pkwy. Stage

Recently released in the U.S., The Curse of Blondie might be Deborah Harry and Co.’s most diverse effort yet. That’s no small statement for a band whose music in the 1970s and early ’80s came to encompass everything from taut and catchy Rock (“One Way or Another” and “Hanging on the Telephone”) to melodic and dreamy Pop (“Pretty Baby”) to Disco Rock (“Heart of Glass”) to the first hit Rap song (“Rapture”) and lively Reggae (“The Tide Is High”).

Blondie began building their legacy in 1974 when Harry (now 58), a former Playboy bunny waitress at the New York City club, and guitarist/future boyfriend Chris Stein decided to form their own group. Drummer Clem Burke and guitarist Jimmy Destri, who remain in the reunited lineup, came on board within the next year as the group became mainstays on the burgeoning NYC Punk scene.

Harry remembers the city’s scene, which was based around clubs like CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City, as vibrant and exciting.

“If you look closely at the New York scene at that period, you’ll see that the bands that were playing were extremely different in style,” she observes. “There was no one thing that defined Punk. It was diverse. It was Television, it was the Ramones, it was Blondie, it was Suicide, it was Handsome Dick Manitoba and the Dictators. So the styles and sounds were very different, really diverse.”

Blondie parlayed local popularity into a deal with Chrysalis Records. The group enjoyed immediate success in Europe and Australia, but it was with the stellar 1978 release, Parallel Lines, with its monster hit “Heart of Glass,” that propelled Blondie to worldwide stardom. Another hit album, Eat to the Beat, followed in 1979 before Autoamerican in 1980 produced two more major hit singles in “The Tide Is High” and “Rapture.” But by the 1982 release of The Hunter, internal tensions and business problems were tearing the band apart. By the mid 1990s, Stein was lobbying for a Blondie reunion, but it took several years before the others agreed to rejoin forces.

“I was thoroughly convinced by Chris,” Harry says. “I guess I’m a pushover, you know. He just really stated his case, and I’ve always trusted him. Our relationship has always been built on that sort of understanding and trust. He was very clear about doing it, and he said he felt it was really the right time, and if we didn’t do it now maybe we’d never get the chance. We might regret it.” (AS)

This article appears in May 12-18, 2004.