oO

   
 
  

| _by Jason K

y girlfriend lives
in the states—
Washington, to be
exact—so I tend to hear
about more than my fair
share of indie bands from
e Seattle area. Most are
tired retreads of the success-
ful Nirvana/Pearl Jam
formula, and some are
comatose retreads of the
geriatric Heart forrhula.
Here are two very
unformulaic acts that’ve
caught my ear in the last
while, and their indie
albums that should be
bought before you spend
another dime on (ugh) The
Spice Girls.

Mary Lydia Ryan had the
gall to put out a great debut
release without making
radio-friendly pop. Unlike
neophytes Fiona Apple and
Jewel, Ryan doesn’t pander

The Smugglers: Nick Thomas talks

 

Shew:

ick Thomas,
guitarist for the
legendary Vancou-

ver pop-punk-surf-ska band,
The Smugglers, is trying to
get out of his band practice
for later tonight. But it’s
futile. His thin, lanky frame
is clad in his trademark
sharp suit and he’s hunched
over the phone.

Thomas is at the end of a
busy weekend—three shows
in Vancouver and interviews
with MuchMusic and CBC,
all while packing for a
European tour to promote
The Smugglers’ latest
release, Selling the Sizzle. He

amm

 

    
   
 
   
 
 
   
 
 
  
  

A&E

 

ew indie groups

to the ol’ LCD with breast-
heavy sighs or tunes you can
sing along to the first time
you hear them. Rather, she
gives us intensely personal
songs that are
hard to reach in

  
 
 

opening track, ‘Farewell
Ophelia.’ The credits for this
seven-minute arrangement
read “Lyrics by William
Shakespeare, with adapta-
tion by Mary Lydia Ryan.”
And you thought

some cases, and bands that dropped
take many names like David
listens to Foster were
properly confident? The
corner, woo, score suits the
and finally monologue very
caress.: "= well, and just
Gorgeous like the Bard, it
piano-laden takes several
chassis are times through
graced by the material to
vocals I, for catch all the
some reason, é subtle nuances
want to within.
compare to g Ryanwill
Jennifer Jason . undoubtedly have
Leigh in Dorothy ?* many Sarah
Parker and the McLachlan and Tori
Vicious Circle. Amos comparisons
A perfect Mary Lydia Ryan in tossed around in
example isthe Vancouver reviews, and her piano

is tired, and suffering the
after-effects from a very late
night yesterday at the
Starfish Room, but ~
as soon as he has a
drink in his
hand, he’s
tapping his
foot to a Beck
song on the
radio.

“Beck is one of
the few main-
stream artists I &
respect,” says Thomas. —
This says a lot about a
musician who for the last ten
years has been in a band that
has worked hard not to
become mainstream. “Times
have changed from when.

 

 

     
 
 
  

The Smugglers first started

out ten years ago. I’ve seen

bands I like and

respect move

from
independ-
ent to
main-
stream
and still
have

Beck.”

For
Thomas, the
key to success is having
control of his music. He has
considered changing The
Smugglers for all the
benefits a big label can bring,

because of bands like Beck.

UBC opera head at Douglas

integrity..like

style is slightly reminiscent
of Ms. Amos. However, I’ve
heard people compare Bjork
to Sarah for lack of a defin-
able sound. If you give this
one a whirl, give it two or
three or four. I gave it three
before I started to warm up
to it, and now it’s got heavy
rotation at my house.

Call (206) 559-2200 for
info, or mail PO Box 9765,
Seattle, WA, USA, 98109, or
email MLRmanager-
@AOL.com (don’t hold the

_ AOL thing against them;

they’re good people).

Dana Lyons gets attention
with the title track to Cows
With Guns, then backs off the
comedy to deliver a fabulous
set of cause-related folk
tunes. The lyrics for said title
track are hilarious, recount-
ing a bovine uprising on the
way to your gut. And just
when the bulls looked to be
beat to the ground (so to

But in Thomas’ opinion, The
Smugglers are already
successful. “This year I am
feeling satisfied because The
Smugglers are giving me
back what I give,” he says.
The Smugglers are not rich
or selling millions of albums
a year, but they have kept
their independence and
gained things like world
tours that other local bands
can only hope for in the
small Canadian music scene.
Thomas feels the most
alive while touring. “In
countries like
Japan and Spain I
meet people who
love rock and roll
and who sing

speak), The order was given to
turn cows to whoppers |
Enforced by the might of ten
thousand coppers / But on the
horizon surrounding the
shoppers | Came the deafening
roar of chickens in choppers.

The remainder of the
album is sincere, lyrical and
more than listenable. It’s not
background music, for sure,
but folk never has been.
(Ever try not listening to
Alice’s Restaurant or early
Dylan when it’s on?) If you
don’t like musicomedy, but
appreciate a guy with
something to say and a
guitar in his hand, give this
one a listen. I caught it at
A&B Sound last week, or
you can contact Reigning
Records at PO Box 2627,
Bellingham, Washington,
98227, USA. Or call 1-888-
878-COWS.

along to our songs and the
world just seems a whole lot
smaller.” This from a guy
who hates to talk in inter-
views, is known as a cynic,
and had to be forced to play
on stage in a high school
airband competition when
he first started out.

“The Smugglers are a
machine that perpetuates
itself,” says Thomas, “but we
get to see the world even if
we do get burned out.”

 

Veiled
Leah Andreone
RCA/BMG

She can sing; I’ll give her
that, and her band’s not
bad either. This “newrock”
band has a distinctive
flavour; something like
Sarah McLachlan hitting
the grunge scene. It’s clear
that Leah Andreone is not
the only band member
with talent. Leah co-writes
all songs with recorder and
producer Rick Neigher.
Neigher plays bass, electric
and acoustic guitar,
keyboard, organ, and
harmonica for this release.
This dynamic duo has
combined to make a CD
that’s easy to listen to the
whole way through. The
following songs are or will
be on the radio soon: ‘It’s
alright, it’s OK,’ ‘Mother’s
tongue,’ ‘You make me
remember’ and ‘Hell to
pay.’ That’s the CD with
the eyes picked out of it.

So, listen up, and sing
along with ‘It’s alright, It’s
OK.’ That's the song I can’t
seem to get out of my head.
Maybe it’s the rhythm.

by John Morash

 

 

 

Are you a
starving

by Cynthia Ashton Styles

or music students, and
voice students in

particular, it was a real treat

  
  
   
 
 
 
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
 

recently in the Noon at New West
oncert series.

opera houses throughout Europe
and North America, both as a fine
lyric coloratura singer and as a
director. She is also Head of the
loice and Opera Departments at
the UBC School of Music. The
oordinator of the Piano Depart-
ent at Douglas College, Ellen
Silverman, acted as accompanist,
and the two made a fine duo.

as just right, with plenty of

ots of opportunities to show off
er silvery voice. Her ringing top
otes were striking in Frau Flute’s
aria from The Merry Wives of
indsor by Carl Otto Nicolai. Her
acting ability—vital in an opera
pinger—was also evident in her
rrafty gestures and sly eye move-
ents as Frau Flute planned to
rick a seducer!

o have Nancy Hermiston on stage

Ms. Hermiston is well-known in

Hermiston’s choice of repertoire

umour, a few “risqué” pieces, and

In Josephine’s aria by Sir Arthur _ fine accompaniment throughout
Sullivan from the Gilbert and and sparkled along with
Sullivan hit, HMS Pinafore, Hermiston in Adele’s aria from Die
Hermiston became the shy and Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
innocent “ingenue”—but her which, with all its opportunities for
diction was superb and we could __ vocal display, rounded off the
hear every word. Then there wasa_ program.

complete change of mood and
personality in the selection of
songs by Kurt Weill, sung in
German.

For the ‘Berlin in Lights’ song,
Hermiston became blasé—and not
a little evil, then she was hilarious
in ‘The Saga of Jenny’ (she got
herself a husband—but he wasn’t
hers!). ‘Nanna’s Lied’—the song of
a girl pushed into prostitution on
the streets of Berlin at the age of
seventeen—was Kurt Weill at his
most cutting, and Hermiston made
us feel sympathy for this character
lamenting her lost youth and
putting on a brave face for her
“customers.”

Also sung with great feeling was
George Gershwin’s ‘The Man I
Love,’ a song which can bring a
tear to the eye when delivered with
the kind of sincerity Hermison put
into it.

Ellen Silverman, as always, gave

This was a chance for both voice
and piano students in the Douglas
College Music Program to see
“how it’s done”—and we all went
away determined to practice!
practice! practice!!!

Next in the Noon at New
Westminster concert series will be
a Baroque Duo—Nan Mackie on
viol and Valerie Weeks on harpsi-
chord. These two are both well-
known early music performance
specialists and this concert is a
must for anyone who likes the full
rich tones of the cello-like viol and
the tinkling notes of the harpsi-
chord—forerunner of today’s
piano.

Nan Mackie and Valerie Weeks
will be on stage with their program
of Baroque favourites in the
Performing Arts Theatre this
Thursday, February 27 at 12:30 pm,
and all are invited.

 

student?

initiative.
Interested? Call 5

 

 

 

 

The Other Press February 241997 7