Sweet release

Talking to Animals finally get one

by Brett Milano

It's five days before the scheduled release date of Talking to Animals' Manhole (Velvel), and the band members are still wondering what will go wrong. Maybe their label will fall into a black hole; maybe nuclear war will be declared. At this point anything seems more likely than the prospect of this long-suffering local band's finally getting an album out.

"I don't know what to feel anymore," notes singer Juliana Nash when I sit down with her and her bandmates at the 1369 Coffeehouse in Cambridge. Drummer Mike Levesque: "I'm more excited than I thought I would be. Last night at the Kendall Café, everyone was telling me how happy they were about it." Bassist Greg Porter: "We're still getting used to this, because we don't know the feeling of having a record out. We just know the feeling of having it fall apart three months before the release date." And from guitarist Thomas Juliano: "I still expect that on the date of release, a meteor will crash into the earth."

Indeed, this week's release of Manhole -- which the band will celebrate this Saturday by headlining T.T. the Bear's Place -- has ended Talking to Animals' tenure as Boston's poster band for bad record deals, which means the album can now be judged as music. In which department it comes up sparkling. Although it's the first they've released, it's the second album they've recorded (the first, produced by Kevin Salem in 1992, was sold only on cassette at gigs), and it sounds like the deeper, experimental sophomore effort after the straight-ahead debut. The band always had a melodic side and a dramatic side, but Manhole focuses on the latter. The torchiness in Nash's singing, the brooding and simmering arrangements, and the darker, psycho/sexual themes in the lyrics -- all of which are suggested on stage -- come into focus here. Although the near-whispered vocal, distant-sounding drum loop, and menacing, one-note guitar riff that introduce the first tune, "So Blind," don't exactly scream "hit single," the tune is a gutsy way to open an album. The off-kilter instrumentation pulls you into the song's tension, which increases as the song goes on. By the last chorus Juliano is slicing out the same riff at three times the volume, and Nash's vocal is about to turn into desperate wails before she pulls back and hits the whisper again.

The band's pop instincts aren't buried altogether: "Turning into Beautiful," which has been in their live sets since 1992, is a straight-up love song with jangly guitars and a boppy chorus. But it's placed toward the end of the album, after heavier numbers like "Mouth Tattoo" and "Playground," both of which reveal Nash's eye for lyric detail. In the first, the singer's doubts about a relationship congeal during the course of a kiss. The second is one of the few songs about child abuse that doesn't settle for righteous anger. Nash's images are creepier than that ("There are things that stink, like a man's crotch in spring"), and the band's funk riff is just as venomous. Mike Denneen's production is creative throughout, moving away from his old live-in-studio sound and toward the atmospheric approach he took on Jen Trynin's Gun Shy Trigger Happy.

Another trademark of Manhole is the band's tendency to build and brood during the verse of a song, then go for the big unleashing in the chorus. "Yeah, that's us, but at least we were doing it before Nirvana," Porter notes.

The catchiest song here is the newest. "Everlasting Ache" was added to the 10 tracks recorded for release by Columbia two years ago, and it's the only one to feature Levesque instead of original drummer Jay Bellerose (now touring with Paula Cole). But it doesn't necessarily show where the band is going.

"That wasn't a real cathartic one," Nash explains. More like me saying, `Oh God, I just wrote a pop song.' " Now that her lyrics are printed for all to see, fans will likely wonder whether her personal life is really that traumatic. "People hear 'Playground' and say, 'God, was she abused by her father?' I wasn't, but growing up in New York influenced me a lot. I'd always write down parts of people's conversation, see things happen and think, `Someone should write a book about this.'

"I used to write about my love life and simpler subjects, but now I prefer to write in the third person and tell stories. I come from a vibrant, eccentric East Side family with a lot of character in it. Some people are shy about being on stage, but that's the only thing I want. I definitely get off on singing; to me it's an incredibly sexual, cathartic experience." Indeed, Nash's theatrical flair on stage can be surprising, since she's always seemed down-to-earth otherwise. "Ask these guys," she says, indicating her bandmates. "Off stage I can still be the most dramatic asshole you ever met."

Of course, a lot of the drama in Talking to Animals' life stems from this album. The band were already in tough straits when Manhole was made; a prospective deal with Sire had fallen through, and Denneen offered to record them on spec. They were signed to Columbia soon after, but the album's release date was bounced back a few times -- promo CDs hit the press back in September 1996. Finally, in February of last year, the disc was set to hit the stores, interviews and a tour were all lined up. Then the band were abruptly cut loose -- because, it was reported, label president Don Ienner decided he didn't like the album.

"I fucking hate the music business," Nash told the Phoenix at the time. Last week the band had new dirt on Ienner. "His whole plan was to break a female artist on rock radio, because he was concerned he hadn't done that yet," Juliano says. "They told us he heard our record and said, 'I don't hear "Born To Run" on this.' And we thought, 'You want to hear that, you can hear it on the album Born To Run, by Bruce Springsteen.' "

Some important things did go Talking to Animals' way: Columbia let them have the album instead of locking it away, and Velvel signed them soon after. "I didn't really feel bad for us, but I felt like we let everybody else down," Juliano says. "We'd talk to people at shows and see disappointment in their faces." "Personally I was getting real mopy," Nash admits. "But our manager [former 'Til Tuesday drummer Michael Hausman] is a musician himself, and he knew how to kick my ass; he said, 'Look, nobody gives a shit about Talking to Animals except Talking to Animals, so get in there and write another record.' That took the edge off for me."

The follow-up to Manhole was written during the year's lag, and Velvel is committed to another album, so the plan is to concentrate on a low-key, East Coast tour, then head back to the studio.

Talking to Animals also feel that after the last two years, staying together from now on will be a cinch. "Everybody talks about how impressive it is that the Rolling Stones are still together, but they're making millions of dollars," Juliano offers. "The hard part is to stay together in a band without being successful."

MORE CD RELEASES

Three CD-release gigs of note are scheduled for this weekend. Binge have one tonight (Thursday), as do Pistola. And Mark Cutler has his tomorrow night.

Binge, who are playing at Mama Kin, is an apt name for a band who do old-school punk with an added shot of urgency, thanks mainly to singer/bassist K.T. Gelwick. The heroes in her songs are all drunk, self-destructive, in screwed-up relationships and getting nowhere, but at least they're getting there fast. She sounds perpetually hopped-up on their Binge CD (on Fan Attic). "Rather Not Know" (originally the leadoff track on a tape that won our "Demo Derby" nearly two years ago) is the sort of snarly, catchy tune that everybody was hoping to find on the last L7 album. As an unlisted bonus, there's a cover of one of Aerosmith's greatest non-hits, "My Fist Your Face."

In contrast, Pistola's self-released debut EP, Only Babblin, has a quintessential alterna-rock sound -- distorted guitars, dry and nerdy vocals, huge heapings of self-doubt -- but the disc's five songs all convince, pulling the classic pop trick of setting dour words against uplifting music. The group have two capable singers, and a sharp producer in former Letters to Cleo member Tom Polce. The opening track, "Pavel," sets out the band's conceptual territory: "Hate myself, hate myself, so does everyone else -- oh, is it all for nothing?" The lyrics don't offer any reassurance, but the insistent chorus and harmonies do. Pistola play the Middle East tonight (Thursday), with Boy Wonder headlining.

Ex-Raindogs frontman Mark Cutler has always known how to turn a crafty tune and a smart lyric, but in the past he's often been too self-consciously rootsy for my taste. Not the case on his solo album Skylolo (Potters Field), where he loosens up and rocks. The title track is an uncharacteristically brief, raunchy tune built around a "Honky Tonk Women" cowbell beat; "Kinda Girl" has a nasty pop sound recalling the Gigolo Aunts song of the same name. Elsewhere Cutler returns to his familiar Petty-esque style, but the rough and appealing vocals, the stripped-down production (David Minehan strikes again), and the high hook count all make this one of his best efforts. He plays Mama Kin tomorrow (Friday).

COMING UP

Tonight (Thursday), Mekons/Waco Brothers member Jon Langford brings his solo band to T.T.'s, certified legend Bo Diddley hits Harpers Ferry, a pair of blues bad-asses, R.L. Burnside and T-Model Ford, hit the House of Blues, and live dub/trance invades the Lizard Lounge under the banner of "Club d'Elf" . . . Tomorrow it's Karate at the Middle East, the Love Dogs at Johnny D's, the Allstonians at T.T.'s with Montreal's Planet Smashers, and new-wavers Bleu at Mama Kin . . . Two notable CD-release parties on Saturday: the Flying Nuns introduce their new EP at the Middle East, and Susan Tedeschi celebrates her debut at Harpers Ferry (see page 22). Also on Saturday, the newly signed (to Capitol) Push Stars are at Bill's Bar with the should-be-signed Buttercup; and Bottleneck Drag and Caged Heat are at a new rock venue, the Lincoln Café in Brighton (see "State of the Art," on page 5) . . . On Sunday, Steve Westfield brings his Slow Band to Charlie's Tap, and New York alterna-country band the Hangdogs are at T.T.'s . . . The busy Mark Sandman does a rare solo set at the Middle East on Tuesday . . . And on Wednesday, Reggae's Sister Carol is at the House of Blues and literate songwriter James McMurtry is at Johnny D's.