MUSIC} preview
ROCK Alabama 3
Glasgow: King Tut's, 6 Jun.
The phone rings and is picked up. 'Hello, is that the er, Reverend D. Wayne Love by any chance?‘ 'No it's not. But he's making his holy way up the stairs
now.
'Hello. Mr Love or Reverend Love or Very Reverend Love. What is the correct form of address?’
’It's the Very Reverend Dr D. Wayne Love,’ says a very broad Glasgow accent. ’Whit magazine is it you‘re
phoning from?’ ‘The List.‘ ‘Oh aye, Ah know The List.’
'Are you from Glasgow by any chance?‘
‘Aye Possil.’
'I thought you were going to be American.‘
‘Well hell, now boy, the Reverend,’ says a Kentucky fried voice, ’he from America but we ain't started talking to him yet, have we now boy?‘
Welcome to Wayne's world and the Alabama 3 whose ’ole fashioned acid country blues music‘ has been packing out multimedia parties at Brixton Academy for the last ten months. They also gave us the wonderfully satirical single, 'Ain’t Going to Goa' which sensibly informed us that wearing Spandex, day-glo pants on a beach in Goa isn’t going to lift anyone‘s consciousness.
Alabama 3: mad as a barrel of snakes
Leaving sanity behind, the Very Reverend Dr Wayne D. Love's philosophy can be summarised thus: first recognise that you are powerless beneath him, acknowledge the humungous manliness of his manhood
and hand over all your worldly wealth to him. Enlightenment made simple. So how did the disparate characters (The Mountain Of
Love, Congaman and The Book Of Love, described as
together?
the ‘third most tattooed man in Europe', and assorted other misfit acolytes) who form the Alabama 3 get
‘Met one at Buckingham Palace,‘ drawls the
preacherman obtusely. ’I go over there every now and then. Take the corgis for a walk. Me and Liz are big pals. She thinking about giving ol’ Phil the kibosh just to
have ol' D. Wayne Love there, a hur hur. She’s like "D.
Wayne, I wan‘t you to be Duke of Edinboro."
everything.‘
happy family?
Uh huh, so how did the Reverend D. Wayne Love get from Possil to . . .
'Oh no, he ain‘t from Possil, that‘s some other cat. The Reverend he ain‘t from Scatland or some other damn fool place. Scatland one of my favourite parts, I love all them li’l hills and them cats in the plaid skirts an’
Let‘s get this straight, the Reverend is on a mission to spread his gospel of love and his flock is just one big
"Yessir it is and swelling all the time.‘ (Jonathan Trew)
r.
ROCK
. Tarnation
: Edinburgh: La Belle Angele, Sat 7.
Think of human draiiias unfolding
before a
sun-scorched desert landscape -- because that’s what Tarnation do ’l'rri real inspired by landscape,’ admits Frisco-based singer and creative force Paula Frazer, before 'fessing up to the band's fondness for Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancrni and
46 THE llST 30 May-12 Jun 1997
Tarnation: dust devils
soundtracks in general. Their sound is steeped in all these, and more besides.
Tarnation's eclectICism c0rnes from the many different styles of music Frazer has turned to in her life. Two- and-a-half years in a Bulgarian-styled Frisco choir gave her mice a quality that has been misinterpreted, because she’s from Arkansas, as backwoods yodemng.
'l'm not really into country musrc,’ she says. 'I like the old SOs rockabilly
and stuff like that, and I like old Carter Farnily stuff, but l think of that as more folk than what people think of as (Ountry nowadays. I love Patsy Cline's more Jazz songs than the ones she did that were more country'
So are Tarnation making a modern- day folk music? 'lt has its moments I think it's pretty old-fashioned, kinda ballads and stuff, but it’s also pretty dynamic and electric. I think that's the difference. A lot of those sOngs could really SOund folky if we were playing aCOustic, but we don’t have any acOustic instrurrients I would like to get a Spanish guitar at some point, but it's been really hard to organise"
Signed to 4A0, the singer even i
Detour
An occasional column of musical chat with Stephen Pastel and guests.
The thing with Belle and Sebastian is a sense of convention. This being for The List, they request a picture of Fiona Shepherd (our Glasgow music editor) should accompany the text. Absurdist, gauche and in vogue, Glasgow has not seen their like since the heyday of Orange Jurce. Their first two albums, Tigermi/k and If You’re Feeling Sinister won them many friends, as did their live shows. It’s my privilege to start Detour with Stuart Murdoch (songs/vocals) and Isobel Campbell (cello).
What's your mood?
Stuart: Quite calm.
Isobel (finishing off a large pizza): Quite full up.
Are you still feeling euphoric about the election?
Stuart: Well, we’re quite looking forward to working a three-day week and getting back to striking. Power cuts and the solidarity they bring. Isobel: Power cuts?
Stuart: Actually, we’re jUSI wondering whether to take the Bank Holiday off, now that we’re in the awkward situation of self-employment.
So, what have you been up to? Stuart: We never really do anything. Thirty per cent band things, seventy per cent fretting.
Isobel: I had my 21st birthday. We’ve been mixing new songs and voting for singles. Now, was I a floating voter?
Stuart; You sp0ilt your paper.
What are you looking forward to? lsobel: Summertime. We're going to New York.
Stuart (who is also the caretaker of a church hall): l’rn JUSI looking forward to putting some weedkiller down, and hopefully avording the toddlers.
Who would they put on a mixer tape?
Stuart: The Kinks — 'Victoria’.
Isobel: The Raincoats — ’Lola' and Young Marble Giants -~ ’Final Day’. Stuart: New Order — 'Age Of Consent', and , something to dance to . , . Isobel (deCisively): Kraftwerk — ’The fi/lOdel’.
Belle and Sebastian, I think, have more plans. Not only are a slew of stylish singles on the way, but they hope to stage a Midsummer Night extravaganza at the Kelvingrove bandstand. This Will feature themselves, Teenage Fanclub, V-Twin and other democratically chosen bands. See you there,
admits to a dodgy goth past, not too i
surprising when you consider the atmospherits of her music 'l definitely went through a gothii phase Played in a band called Trial, whit h was a Crass kind of band. And, of course, loy DiVision was a big influence too. I was never really super-goth, that kind of goth like Sisters Of Mercy or The Cult AlthOugh I really like those kind of bands, I was more into a peace- punk kind of thrng.’
(Alastair Mabbott)
Not Fiona Shepherd