|
by Tom Lounges
REUNITING IS THERAPEUTIC FOR CONCRETE BLONDE
L.A.’s brilliant, albeit dysfunctional band
Concrete
Blonde are
back together with their all original line-up for the first time since
disbanding in 1994. Just one listen to their new album is proof positive
that the years apart served them well on both a personal and creative level. The band has returned to us a little older and much, much wiser. And
musically... well, they've never been in better form.
The dozen songs on their recently released reunion album,
“Group
Therapy,” are among the best they have ever written.
Lyrics are still brooding and the tones rather somber, but
the message of
the music is soul-deep. While dark and haunting as always, the words come
across more hopeful than desolate. As suggested by the collection’s
title,
these songs find the original trio have come to grips with the personal
problems that plagued them and eventually drove them apart.
As the words from husky-voiced Johnette Napolitano spill out
of the
stereo speakers, it’s evident that a lot of personal demons are being purged
here and that issues, if not completely resolved, are at least being
confronted.
“It’s like standing naked in the window,” suggested
Napolitano of songs
like “Take Me Home” and “When I Was A Fool.” Those songs flashback to
wilder days when alcohol and other vices played havoc in their lives.
While
they may reflect on bleaker times, the lyrics show resolve and promise.
Lyrics like –– “I’m free to a
fault/45/Playing guitar/Living my
life/I fly down the highway/Sun on my face/I belong to nobody/I belong to no
place/I cry over poetry/And I laugh at myself/Still, I’d rather be me than
anyone else” –– show that these middle-aged rockers in their fourth decade
of life, have taken stock in themselves and remain happy with the paths
they’ve chosen.
The idea to regroup actually began in spring of last year
when a highly
distraught Napolitano was in need of a strong shoulder to lean upon. “I
felt
I was kind of cracking up,” she recalled, “so I went to see Jim (Mankey),
who has been one of her dearest friends since they formed the duo Dream 6 in
1981, which eventually morphed into Concrete Blonde.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” she continued. “I
was having these
horrible reoccurring nightmares that something very bad was going to happen.
I had a real sense of doom and foreboding and I was so freaked that I
couldn’t sleep. So I went to see Jim and stayed with him for a while.”
While working out Napolitano’s issues, the two drove up to
see original
Concrete Blonde drummer Harry Rushakoff, who was likewise straightening out
his life in a rehab facility. It had been years since either had
seen Rushakoff, who was fired from the band for “being out of control,” according
to Napolitano.
The three old friends started writing songs for the sake of
writing songs
and the therapeutic effect it had. At the time, there were no thoughts of
an
album or tour; only of how being together and creating together was making
them all feel good. In a matter of weeks, ten brand new songs had
been
created.
Charting hits had never been a
priority for the band, but Napolitano
admits that they are now grateful for having had a Top 20 hit in 1990 with
the song “Joey,” a disturbing tale about a relationship destroyed by
alcoholism.
Royalties from that surprise hit, she explained, is what
allowed them to
make “Group Therapy.” “That song paid for our studio time
making this
album,” she said. “So our past has allowed us to have a present.”
And a
future? “That’s hard to say. We’re not looking at things like
that. There
are no plans or expectations.”
The singer explained how they do not want to be rats on
a wheel in a
cage called the music business.
“We’re keeping our sanity a little more this time around.
We go out (on
the road) for two weeks at a time,” said Napolitano. “Then we take two
off.
Then go back out again. We are keeping a better balance between the band
and
our personal lives. This keeps things healthy and fresh for us. We
get to
go home and recharge a bit. We aren’t in each others faces day in and
day
out for months at a time like before. We should have done it like this
before.”
Because they are on the road in such short installments, they
will be
performing throughout 2002 across America and with short jaunts to Australia
and maybe Europe. But plans do not extend past that. “I
can’t tell you if
there’s going to be another album or another tour,” she said. “If it
feels
right to keep going, we will. If it doesn’t, we won’t. We’re
taking things
sort of day to day.”
The grind of –– album, tour, album, tour –– is not
something Concrete
Blonde wants to contend with again. Being contracted to produce a certain
amount of albums in a certain period of time contributed in making the group
disband in 1994, after releasing “Mexican Moon,” an album heavy with Latin
flavor that marked a musical departure from their trademark sound.
“It really sucks when you have to write songs and make a
record when you
really have nothing to say,” said Napolitano. “Art is about
expressing
yourself and if you have nothing to express than how can you make art? You
can’t force things like that. Art should not be dictated by a
deadline or
somebody behind a desk calling the shots.”
“Group Therapy” comes via the indie Manifesto label.
“There’s no
multi-album deal. No pressure. No anything,” sighed Napolitano of
the very
open relationship they have with the imprint. “We’re doing things on
our
terms. It feels pretty damn good to be able to do things this way,
especially at this point in our lives.” |
