Idle at full throttle

Veteran Asa Brebner makes his solo debut

by Brett Milano

Doggone it, sometimes this rock-and-roll business just isn't fair.

Say that you're a grown-up rocker who's been playing around town for a couple of decades now. You've come close to stardom, or at least to a major-label deal, more times than you can count. You had hit singles and cult-hero status back when you played in other people's bands. Nowadays you've got critics and other musicians telling you how good you are, but you still have to play wedding bands and paint houses to pay the rent. Odds are you'd wind up cynical enough to give your overdue solo album a title like Prayers of a Snowball in Hell.

If you're Asa Brebner, all of the above is true. Brebner's rock-and-roll résumé is as good as anyone's in town: Jonathan Richman tapped him to join the Modern Lovers in 1977, just in time to tour Europe and inspire a generation of punk rockers. This was when the Sex Pistols learned to cover "Roadrunner." (He remains tight with Richman, who appears on his album and for whom he recently opened at the Paradise.) Later he played lead guitar in Robin Lane's Chartbusters, who came close to national stardom and should've gotten there. He launched the solo band Idle Hands a few years later; the track "Last Bad Habit" got some local airplay and appeared on a Musician-magazine-sponsored compilation. After that, things stopped happening. Major labels sniffed around Idle Hands but never bit, and Brebner's recent gigs have mostly been in low-key places like Toad and the Middle East bakery.

But he swears he's not cynical, even when thinking back on the wedding-band days. "There was a time when I was pretty bitter," notes the singer/writer/guitarist. "Now I realize how misguided that was. If I'd really wanted to be a rock star and be successful, I would have focused on it more. But I'm generally pretty happy; I mean, I have moments of severe depression like everyone else. Having been born in an epoch which has produced not only the Holocaust but also Dostoyevsky, Barney, and Chucky Cheese, I find it silly to be frustrated about my own dubious aspirations for rock stardom. Besides, most of the people who do make it these days just want to kiss their own asses on MTV."

As for the wedding band, "It was pretty Spinal Tappish; you can write a novel about the number of aspiring rockers who end up in wedding bands. It's a true-life experience: how the most important day of their life is the least important day of yours."

And the worst song he ever had to play?

"Probably `Wonderful Tonight' by Eric Clapton. But at least we did a version called `You Look Fuckin' Excellent Tonight.' "

You won't hear that little tune on Prayers (on Ocean Music), but you will hear a bunch of rootsy gems that bring out both of Brebner's personalities. One minute he's getting all sensitive and heartbroken, the next he's a consummate wise-ass. ("Trapped Inside a Teardrop" is the best example of the former; "Babes in the Bars" -- a suburban slice-of-life that includes a priceless and unbroadcastable spoken cameo by Robin Lane -- highlights the latter.) The music likewise ranges from near-rockabilly to mainstream rock balladry, but Brebner's at his best when he stays somewhere in the middle. The disc's standouts, "I Don't Want You Anymore" and "Time in My Way," are hard-edged, melodic rockers whose post-break-up bitterness is leavened by some neat guitar licks and wry turns of phrase.

"I did go through a relationship upheaval in the last couple of years, which set up all sorts of dark and uncontrollable forces," he explains. "I think that everyone has a million different personalities, and I'm the same way. I've been influenced by everyone from Hank Williams to R. Crumb to Johnny Rotten. All I can say is that my best songs are the ones that come out in five minutes, and a lot of times those are the sad ones. I had a burst of energy recently and a lot of songs came out of it, but I'm getting over that now. Guess I'd better get my heart broken again so I can write some more songs."

Brebner will be joined by a handful of notables -- Chartbusters bassist Scott Baerenwald, Swinging Steaks drummer Joe Donnelly, and former Xanna Don't guitarist Pat Wallace -- for his CD-release show at the Lizard Lounge on the 21st. After that he'll gear up for another brace of club gigs.

"Every now and then I'll venture a gig at one of the clubs, but it's tough when you're trying to solicit a club booked by some kid who's never heard of you. And you want to say, `I was playing here when you were in diapers, you little brat!' "

What did he do instead?

"Well, I basically did that. But I don't anymore."

HITCHCOCK CALLING

For a guy who claims he's settled comfortably into middle age, Robyn Hitchcock still has his share of fun. When he talked to us by phone from San Francisco last week, he said he was recovering from "a bit of a wild time" in Seattle the previous night, where he hung out after hours with old friend Peter Buck and part-time R.E.M.-er Scott McCaughey.

"I wound up climbing onto a table, singing `Kung Fu Fighting,' " he notes with an audible cringe.

Who says Hitchcock doesn't know a great song when he hears one?

Hitchcock's tour, a split headliner with Billy Bragg, wraps up this Saturday at Avalon; but four weeks later he'll be in New York to shoot a concert film (working title: Goodnight Oslo) that Jonathan Demme is directing -- potentially big news, since Demme's other music film was Talking Heads' mighty Stop Making Sense. And Hitchcock's on-stage world -- though it revolves around his own imagination rather than a large band or staging -- is equally ripe for capturing. He'll be performing in "a storefront we haven't picked out yet," accompanied only by violinist Deni Bonet (who'll also be at Avalon).

Will this be different from any other gig?

"Oh yeah, for one thing my mother will be there. There are some old songs that will be dug up -- not necessarily my 17 best songs, but the 17 that would work the best. There should be one number with me singing and dancing, because folks in the know say that my dancing is so appalling that it should be documented."

The current acoustic tour, and the lusher melodic sound of the current album, Moss Elixir (Warner Bros.), are the sort of thing Hitchcock's likely to stick with now that the Egyptians have broken up.

"I can't take the idea of middle-aged rock and roll seriously," he says. "When you're 21, you like to strap on an electric guitar and feel its molecules rubbing up against you. But I find it depressing when guys in their 40s do that."

Is he dealing with live audiences differently now?

"I'm probably more respectful of the audience than I was, look them in the eye a bit more. I always assume people aren't going to understand what I say, as you'd understand if you've ever asked me for directions."

COMING UP

Pop junkies oughta seek out Brendan Benson's recent Virgin debut; meanwhile he plays the Middle East tonight (Thursday). There's also a fine triple bill with Tuscadero, Swizzle, and Boy Wonder at Mama Kin. Meanwhile Varnaline and Chevy Heston are at T.T. the Bear's Place and Carol Noonan plays Johnny D's . . . Tomorrow (Friday) finds the Allstonians playing the Phoenix Landing, Gravel Pit headlining the Middle East, club faves Slide and Rattle Heater at Club Bohemia, John Svetkey at the Hard Rock, and the Love Dogs at the Tam. Meanwhile Scissor Fight, who gave you the tasteful "Planet of Ass" on Wonderdrug's recent comp, have an album-release party at Mama Kin with Honkyball, Quintaine Americana, and 6L6.

Pop hero Freedy Johnston plays T.T.'s on Saturday, Bim Skala Bim are at Mama Kin, Slughog are at the Middle East, and the Robyn Hitchcock/Billy Bragg double bill is at Avalon . . . My Favorite will likely do their Bowie cover from the new '80s cover compilation Double Agent 1980 (Double Agent) when they play the Middle East Sunday. Meanwhile, the Rat has two bands who are probably kindred spirits: Pissdrunk and Vince Vega & the Beer Sluts . . . Bassist Victor Wooten of Flecktones fame plays the House of Blues Wednesday, and ex-Replacement Slim Dunlap is at Johnny D's.