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ROCK/POP
Evan Dando Wilkie House, Edinburgh, Sat 17 Feb; King Tut's, Glasgow, Sun 18 Feb.
For a brief period in the early 905, Evan Dando really did seem to have it all. Blessed with angelic good looks, irresistible charm and near faultless song writing skills, he was indie-rock’s golden boy tipped for the top.
With his band, The Lemonheads, he released two perfect albums in succession — It’s A Shame About Ray and C’mon Feel The Lemonheads — that sealed his reputation and garnered widespread critical and popular acclaim. Here were records bristling with three-minute pop gems, wry, bittersweet lyrics and melodic magic. While Kurt Cobain was the grunge generation’s king of angst rock, their very own Ian Curtis, Dando came on like a cross between his hero, Gram Parsons and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, a beautifully dumb sunkissed surfer dude who could seemingly knock out peerless mini-masterpieces without breaking sweat, yet looked like he'd have trouble actually getting it together to cross the road.
The bubble soon burst, however, and in Dando's case, it burst pretty spectacularly. Just as mega success looked a certainty, he embarked on a prolonged lost weekend of sorts, apparently hell-bent on shattering his image as the amiable ’alterna-hunk'. Dando had always and quite openly exhibited an appetite for narcotic excess but his public deterioration saw him transformed into an object of outright ridicule — turning up for an NME interview unable to speak, thanks to a crack and smack binge, heckled and bottled at an acoustic Glastonbury set and (oh, the indignity of it all) reduced to the status of Oasis' travelling clown-come-roadie, during their ’94 UK tour. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Despite this (plus an LSD-triggered breakdown), Dando
The new masters of rock eclectica
Exposure
You’re bored with your record collection. You’ve got a few spare quid. What’re you gonna spend it on? Thank Christ on his little cross we’re here to guide your weak and quivering hand. This issue: Sunna You've come up with the goods before, but there can't be more new music out there, can there? Yup, there’s Sunna, a bright eyed and bushy tailed bunch of seething rock misanthropes from Bristol
feisty indeed.
Ah, the rock revival continues unabated, I see. And With good reason, but Sunna are not Just another hoary old rock band. With genre- busting rock outfits appearing all over the place, Sunna are at the head of the pack, miXing up full on metal, acoustic melancholy, trip hop, techno and goth elements to create something pretty
Did you just say goth? Careful Not goth as in 'erth form, pasty-faced, fishnet-wearing laughing stock', I mean goth as in ’angry, dark, eVil,
Can Dando return to the head of the class?
managed to produce 96's Car Button Cloth, an under- rated and decidedly more downbeat record than the fizz bomb pizzazz of previous work; but since then, nothing. Nada. Zilch. He seemed to have vanished altogether, surfacing occasionally for low key acoustic gigs in the States and Australia, very much pop’s forgotten boy. Until now. He‘s back to play his first UK gigs for four years and new material has apparently been written with long time collaborator Tom Morgan. Whether Dando returns to the bigtime, however, remains doubtful.
Whatever. February is a dark, despondent month, so here's your chance to let a little sunshine into your lives. Forget the ridicule of the past and the self confessed 'idiot dope fiend' image, buy a ticket and enjoy the chance to re-acquaint yourselves with one of the music biz's genuine good guys, a true star and one of the finest American singer songwriters in recent memory. (Neil Ferguson)
powerfully movmg and emotionally intense' There is a difference
Fair enough. So they're quite good then? Yeah, their debut album, One Minute SCience, is an eclectic mix of razorback riffs, bleeps and squelches, horns, strings and a big old bunch of angry singing, and it shows an asSurance and confidence rarely seen in a band’s first release Oh, and it’s out on Melanlcolic, Massive Attacks label Massive Attack? That’s a bit odd innit? Well probably, but lead singer Jon Harris did play guitar on their Mezzanine album, so they're obviously not afraid of experimenting
Any other info? They’re Sl‘iO\'.'?.'ig promising signs of rock‘n’roi' behaViOur, wrth the whole band recently spending the night in t'ne cells after a scrap With some raCists Sadly there have been no reports yet of teleVisions flying through Windows Give 'em time. (Doug lohnstone'
A single ’/’m Not Trading’ is released on 72 Mar, the album One Minute SCience is out now The band play King Tut’s, Glasgow, 24 Feb, and The Attic, Edinburgh, 25 Feb
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Surface Noise
All the announcements, denouncements and annulments in the wonderful world of music OCEA‘.C13.C.,FI‘sLE:‘.E ".m- ci'l"(,c."’ct'{1.tl':ci"7‘t"t"llci:t‘ :r‘s : "‘t' tl‘et or,” in "ar‘ue, lo "l).;'()" a" “ Agri
GARY NUMAN WILL now be appearing at the Garage instead of the Glasgow Barrowland on Monday 19 February. All original tickets are still valid and door times remain the same: 7pm.
'l BREAK, l I!) the Park's uiisiriiied band stage is looking tor picispec li\.'t‘ bands to play lhe deadline for entrants Wishing to play ll‘. the lust student only heat is 20 let) ltliere are non’student heats later in the Vt'ill‘ Demos should be sent to t Break, Po Box l6‘s590, Glasgow, Oil lYl) ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING is a campaign established to improve disabled people's access to live music. The object is to get a number of venues around the country signed up to a charter where they agree to improve the facilities they provide for allowing disabled people access to their gigs. Anyone interested in getting involved can contact Suzanne Bull on 0207 388 9009 or artsline@dircon.co.uk.
LOOK OUT FOR (Us coi‘itau‘axg llercheeua's ".(_’\.‘. s rigie “.i'y‘orld loo‘iiiir; li", \‘.’lll(ll they “age ot‘ered up to he reriiixec: by all comers Tlte best rerriir ‘.'.’lll be pressed up and distributed to lJJs around the couii‘iry lhc‘ discs are available from l,(li".l)t.."(l", G asgo; and Stirling Ur‘iyers-ty student anions, or call Wild P'oriaot orts on 020 896-12939 APOLOGIES GO OUT to Metrovavan whose album Retrofitting we reviewed in last issue. The album was wrongly titled as Gear Hound and the band's name was spelt incorrectly. We apologise for any confusion caused.
Just announced
Dryine Corrtedy QlilU, Gzasgosi, 18 Mar, Cathedral Cathouse, Glasgow, 21 l‘yldl, Stereo lvle K rig Tut's, Glasgow, 3 Apr, l'lt? luring End Garage, G.ciSQO‘.‘J, 7 Apr, Feeder Barrowano, G asc on, 9 Apr, Ocean Colour Scene Corn Eixcl‘iarige, Edinburgh, 13 Apr, l‘lapairri Death Ligiiid Roorn, Edinburgh, 29 Apr, li/lotorhead/Psycho SQaaO Bdf'O‘Ulni’itl, Glasgow, 18 May, Alice Cooper Playhouse, EOlPlDQ'gl‘, 2l May, Lirrip Bizkst SECC, 9 Jun, Suzanne Vega liquid Rooms, Eczihuu'g" 27 King Tut's, Giasgow, 28 Jun
Morcheeba
TS FED—'1 .'.'ar 200‘. THE llST 49