Bass desires

Darren Hill switches to label owner; Rumble report; Division St.

by Brett Milano

For all the hand-wringing lately about the music industry's being in trouble, the times are arguably better for indie labels than they've ever been. Because an indie needs to sell only a few thousand copies to turn a profit, and because there's so much good music out there that the majors don't care about, the time seems right for anyone with some savings, some savvy, and some contacts to move in.

The latest of those folks is Darren Hill, the Providence-based journeyman bass player who's lately made the jump from musician to entrepreneur. His Soundproof label was launched this year, and it's off to a flying start. The first CD, by the punkabilly band Amazing Royal Crowns, has already passed the break-even point of 2000 copies. The next release, by Grandpa Boy, will do far better, since the artist is really a major alterna-rock figure in disguise.

Hill moved to this area from New Orleans 10 years ago, when his band Red Rockers were scoring commercially with the hit single "China." And he's seen his share of industry pitfalls since then, having played in no fewer than four major-label bands: the Red Rockers on Columbia, the Raindogs on Atco, Paul Westerberg on Sire, and Klover on Mercury. (He was also in Stardarts, the unsigned band led by ex-Neighborhood David Minehan.)

"I was in the belly of the beast enough times to see how the labels would take tremendous talent and flush it down the toilet," Hill recalls. "One time our label took the Red Rockers to dinner after we'd made the Good As Gold album, and I swear that the tab came to more than we'd spent making the album. I saw a lot of my friends' bands get sucked up into that kind of thing."

Hill's final straw came after Klover released an album at the tail end of the punk-revival trend, then got dumped afterward. "I'd been through four labels as a musician and didn't want to start again, so what could I do? Music is all I know, so I could either go into management or start a label. I did both." At the moment he specializes in the A&R side of the label while Monolyth Entertainment's Jeff Marshall handles some of the business side. The only catch is that Hill also manages the Royal Crowns, which might seem fishy to anyone who's read the music-industry exposé The Mansion on the Hill (which took David Geffen to task for managing his label's first signing, the Eagles).

"Right, and that was a great book. But the Crowns will be the only band I do that with, and I put all the stipulations into the contract . . . that I won't commission any of the album sales. For the next album we'll try to get them on a bigger label; I still see us as more of a farm system."

But Soundproof's status will get a substantial boost from its link-up with Paul Westerberg . . . oops, we mean with Grandpa Boy, whose identity is being kept a badly guarded secret (his name won't appear on the CDs, but nobody minds if his fanbase finds out). Currently between major-label deals, Westerberg was knocking out demos in his basement; he and Hill had kept up a friendship and the deal proceeded from there. "You'll be surprised when you hear it; it sounds like something he would have done 10 years ago. It's totally out of character with what he's doing now."

In other words, it's the rock-and-roll album a lot of us were hoping he'd finally make?

"Exactly."

The Grandpa Boy material is being released in stages. A single, "I Want My Money Back"/"Undone," comes out next week; two more singles will follow, and an album-length disc (with the singles and six more songs) is coming in the fall. By then Westerberg will probably be making more adult rock for another major, but Hill gets to keep the material he's got. "Paul's been totally into it, tipping off people in interviews -- telling people things like, `Don't even ask me about Grandpa Boy.' "

That album will likely give Hill access to the kind of artists he's looking for: those who've outgrown flavor-of-the-month status but still have good albums in them. To that end, he's looking to release the Velvet Crush CD (Heavy Changes) that Sony/Epic rejected. He's pulled vet producer Don Dixon in to produce North Carolina band the Pinetops. And he's hoping to entice ex-bandmate David Minehan back into the studio. Also forthcoming is a reissue of the Red Rockers' long-unavailable debut, Condition Red, along with recently unearthed tapes of that band in their pre-MTV, political-punk period.

"There's great bands being discarded right and left, and just as many that can't get signed," Hill says. "Just because an artist may be a little bit older, it doesn't mean that what they're doing isn't vital. A lot of people might argue that there are already too many indie labels out there. I say that there's only too many indies with bad records."

RUMBLE REPORT

Tune in next week for a full report on this year's WBCN Rumble. Meanwhile, here are a few random impressions from the first five nights. Weirdest segue: Laurie Geltman/Chevy Heston, which will be topped only by Laurie Geltman/Scissorfight in the semis. Best display: Scissorfight leading a conga line through the Middle East after their set, then breaking into a chant of "Seven hundred fifty dollars!" after winning (yes, that's the prize). Biggest upset: Verago-go winning Wednesday over advance favorite Cherry 2000. The latter weren't bad, but their set suffered from erratic pacing (if you're going to play a 15-second hardcore song, don't take a tuning break afterward) and didn't really catch fire until the tail end. In contrast, Verago-go's set was creative and fun, shifting styles and flashing a sly wink at every turn. Most promising: Bright, doing drony guitar jams with Burma/Wire overtones. Not quite there yet, but they'll be unstoppable once they get a better sense of dynamics. Best surprise: the Sterlings, the most heartfelt power-pop band I'd seen in a long while. Imagine Velvet Crush with a harder, metallic edge. Biggest turnoff: Red Time, who proved only that the G. Love/Soul Coughing hippie-funk trend has been milked dry.

DIVISION ST.

For the last two years I've received a fancy Christmas card from the band Division St., with a handwritten note personally thanking me for my support. Which would be nice, except that I've never supported the band in any way whatsoever. Until recently I'd never even heard them. (I'd heard of them for the same reason everybody else had: they'd gotten themselves photographed with Elton John a couple of times, and a savvy publicist made sure that the photos got into both the local dailies.) The card-sending campaign suggested that the bandmembers are either unusually nice guys or aggressively career-minded. Both theories are supported by Division St.'s second album, Harbour in the Static (Plaid Cat; their first, Standing on Ceremony, came out in '95).

The sound here is ultra-earnest nice-guy rock, completely untouched by the alternative movement -- not a bad thing per se, but the band's more obvious influences (Sting, Counting Crows, maybe Elton in easy-listening mode) don't rate as much of an improvement. And the mix of slick production with underwhelming songwriting makes it difficult to appreciate their good intentions. The opening "Carry the Blame" at least shows that they can pull an occasional hook, but it's the only song out of 10 that rises above mid-tempo. And it's the only instance where any personality comes through. During most of this album they're trying so hard to be universal (read: salable) that it sounds untouched by human hands.

The same applies to the lyrics, which are largely written in therapy-speak and come out cliché'd at best, unintentionally funny at worst ("You can't call it living without the heart of a fearless child inside"; "My soul's been given these wings but I'm still learning to fly"). During "Confession of Truth" they ask the burning question "How can you honestly ever give/When the one you want isn't the one that you're with?" Heck, Stephen Stills answered that one 25 years ago.

COMING UP

Jack Drag and Chevy Heston are at Bill's Bar tonight (Thursday), harmonica ace Jerry Portnoy hits the House of Blues, guitar slayers STAR are at T.T. the Bear's Place, and Built To Spill are at the Middle East . . . WBCN Rumble semifinals begin tomorrow (Friday) at the Middle East, the Big Bad Bollocks are at the Phoenix Landing, Bim Skala Bim are at Mama Kin, and the Radio Kings are at the House of Blues . . . the Doom Buggies and Pooka Stew are at T.T.'s on Saturday, Debbie Harry is back with the Jazz Passengers at Scullers, Roadsaw and 3 1/2 Girls trash up the Linwood, and Hummer and Underball are at the Rat. Meanwhile the London Suede will be a hot ticket beginning two nights at the Paradise.

Supporting a strong solo album, former Golden Palominos singer Lori Carson is at the Middle East Sunday. And the gifted songwriter Elisabeth Cutler, once of Boston but now Nashville-based, is back in town; she plays Club Passim Sunday afternoon and Johnny D's Tuesday evening . . . The Phoenix/WFNX Best Music Poll Festival is all over Lansdowne Street Monday night with Guided by Voices, Weezer, Nerf Herder, G. Love, and more (see "8 Days a Week" for a complete list) . . . Her Vanished Grace continue their Monday-night residency at the Kendall Café . . . And in the deviant bill of the week, Psychotica and the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black play Axis Wednesday.