No sure bet

Jack Drag go for broke on Dopebox

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

To paraphrase an oft-quoted X line, would the last Boston pop band on a major label please raise the flag? By now the streets of Allston and Cambridge are littered with bands who arrived at major labels with great songs and high ideals, only to get lost in the bigtime shuffle. This week sees Jack Drag enter the fray with the release of Dopebox (A&M), an inventive disc that combines solid writing and sonic adventures. Now it's anybody's guess whether this will be the overdue hometown breakthrough or the latest indie band to hit the chopping block.

"We're a wild-card band," admits guitarist/singer John Dragonetti when he and bandmates Jason Sutter (drums) and Joe Klompus (bass) sit down with me at Central Square's Gandhi Restaurant. "I wouldn't mind if we turned out to be the resident freaks on the label, like Luna or Stereolab on Elektra. If you look at A&M, they have a pretty conservative roster, and they must have gotten the pop undertones in what we were doing. They heard what we were up to and could have asked us to hold back, but they loved it. What they told us was, 'Keep going, this is a great opening record.' "

"So remember that when you talk to us next year after we've been dropped," Sutter concludes.

One thing's for sure: Dopebox is nobody's idea of a safe major-label sellout. The eclecticism that's always driven this band reaches new heights here, with Dragonetti and company using the major-label budget as a license to go even wilder than they did on four-track. The first four songs jump into trip-hop production, with the rhythms and melodies on roughly equal footing; the rhythm section is played on every song, but the live parts are put through some elaborate manipulations. Once you're used to that groove, they swing into pop, with the catchy "Tall Buildings" -- the kind of song most bands would flesh out as the big single -- kept to two minutes and stuck at the album's midpoint (and given a nasty coda that undercuts its romanticism). And on the final third they get sonically out-there, even ending the disc with a six-minute dub -- which, they point out, is the CD's only live-in-studio performance.

Dragonetti has always been equally infatuated with pop songwriting and studio craft; even in his four-track days he never went for the Guided by Voices, spur-of-the-moment approach. The current single, "Seem So Tired," shows the lengths to which he'll go to get a sound. Sutter used five different drum kits on the various sections of the song; Dragonetti sang into 15 different mikes. They had planned to use two samples -- a Public Image Ltd. drum track and a bit by the '60s cult band United States of America -- but couldn't get permission, so they re-created the pieces themselves. They then handed the finished track over to three DJs for remixing and stitched the final version together from the three mixes (which also appear individually on the CD single).

Major labels usually prefer to have new bands settle on a single, easily definable sound. "Yeah, and they really blew it with us," Sutter deadpans. Dragonetti admits that one of his ideas -- servicing different songs from the album to different-formatted radio stations -- was vetoed by A&M. But he also figures he can't be the only music fan out there who's equally into the Beach Boys and the Beastie Boys. "I think we're giving everyone a chance to pick up on what they personally like. You listen to what the kids do nowadays, and it's moving away from straight pop and into a more sample-oriented approach -- I like to think that we can be the bridge between the two. I have this dream of making records that other people will sample."

So perhaps Jack Drag aren't the commercial longshot they might seem. On the other hand, can it really be a good sign that their first Boston CD-release show, at Bill's Bar next Saturday (the 29th), is an opening slot for the wretched Dishwalla? Credit that to the band's pragmatism. "I'm not going to dis that band, but we're not in a position to sit back and be picky," Dragonetti points out. "We're starting the tour with Dishwalla and ending it with Mike Watt, and I think that Mike's audience is going to be a lot harder to please. In terms of doing opening slots, we're better off playing to a club packed with teenagers than doing our own show and having nobody there." Besides, Sutter points out, the band had a fine time opening for Our Lady Peace last year. "Like taking candy from a baby. Really, those were some of our best shows -- we sold a ton of CDs and got to sign autographs. It was like being a rock star."

MS. PIGEON

On the subject of pop, what's the last time you heard somebody argue that Boston isn't the home of many good pop groups? Oliver Clarke, singer of the polished pop outfit Ms. Pigeon, figures his band don't have a lot of local competition. "I can't think of one strong pop group that stands out," he said from a tour stop last week. "When I think of Boston, the only bands that stand out are hardcore bands and groove bands. This may be a little bold, but I think that the space is kind of open for us."

Okay, so they've been a little isolated. But then, Ms. Pigeon's definition of pop is different from that of most locals: they like it polished and produced, with no disguising their modern-day British influences. Their new CD, Getting Started in Film (on Amerikarma), opens with "Never There Before Tomorrow," whose drum-machine groove is a close cousin to Oasis's "D'Ya Know What I Mean." All of the above might seem reason to slag the band, but Ms. Pigeon are actually quite good at this style. The songs are hooky and solidly crafted, and their use of production tricks -- like the metallic pulse and distorted vocal on "Sick" -- adds some intrigue to the mix.

"We do have a cross-Atlantic influence, something I probably picked up inadvertently," says Clarke, his Boston-accented voice a major contrast to his recorded vocals. He's calling from Chicago, where the band are in the middle of a tour; they played the Viper Room in Los Angeles and did some recording with Keith Cleversley (who's mixed Spiritualized and the Flaming Lips). "That was just to lay the groundwork for where we go next. I'm sure everybody says this, but we really try to sound different on every song. The songs on the CD have been worked on a lot, so we're excited to get on with new stuff." The group have their CD-release party at T.T. the Bear's Place this Saturday (August 22), supported by ex-Poundcaker Clayton Scoble's new band Francine -- also, it should be noted, a pop group who stand out.

MORE MARLENE

It's usually not a good club night when a half-dozen police officers show up -- but in this case the officers were wearing kilts and playing bagpipes. This was the highlight of last Wednesday's "Marlene Loses It" night at the Lizard Lounge, where the Boston Police Gaelic Column was followed by Alex McDougal, who did the most accurate Frank Sinatra impersonation (vocally, not visually) I've heard since the big guy left this world. Capping the night was the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, by far the best band I've seen to include a transsexual drummer and a singer in pajamas (the old Incredible Casuals frontman's music is a bit up the They Might Be Giants alley these days). Founded last month by veteran performer Rick Berlin, the Marlene nights are getting more popular and more circus-like as they go along. Next Wednesday Melissa Ferrick appears for the second straight week, and there'll be the usual appearances by Women of Sodom member Pamela Tapia -- who not only does a great Dietrich but manages to work the crowd all night without dropping the German accent. As for those bagpipers: before they performed last week, they ducked into the Lizard parking lot for an impromptu rehearsal. And wouldn't you know it, somebody called the cops.

WELLFLEET FEST

For those of us who build our year around the late-April trip to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, strange things happen at this time of year: we start going through withdrawal and need a Jazz Fest-inspired event to give the fix. It could be the Big Easy Bash that takes place every Labor Day in Escoheag, Rhode Island (this year that's become the Rhythm & Roots fest, September 4 through 6). Or it could be the steady influx of New Orleans bands who play the House of Blues and Johnny D's. But this month brought new hope for Jazz Fest addicts in the Cape Cod Summer Music Festival, which was put together by club booker and Fest enthusiast Trey Helliwell (who handles both the Wellfleet Beachcomber and the now-defunct Loud Fest). It didn't have the big crowds or the crawfish monica, but it was the most Jazz Fest-like event I've yet seen in New England.

That was partly due to the line-up, which on Sunday included three New Orleans icons: zydeco king Boozoo Chavis, bluesman John Mooney, and perennial Jazz Fest headliners the Radiators. Opening were the Ray Corvair Trio, who had no Cajun connections but sure were fun. The main bands all had about two hours on stage, so they could expand beyond their usual club repertoire -- the Radiators' set included some of the same swampy jams that turned up in their Fest set last April. The relatively sparse turnout also made for a friendly, fans-only atmosphere -- you can never see these acts up this close in clubs -- but made one worry whether the festival will be a keeper. Fear not: Helliwell took a break from dancing to the Radiators long enough to assure me that this Cape event will be back next year.

COMING UP

Avant guitar hero Marc Ribot plays Harpers Ferry tonight (Thursday), Zoar headline a WMBR "Bats in the Belfry" show at the Middle East, Tidal Wave are at the Plough & Stars, and blues vet Koko Taylor is at the House of Blues . . . The Murmurs headline T.T.'s tomorrow (Friday) with Ramona Silver opening; the Lyres and Nines are at the Linwood, and VAST are at the Middle East . . . Rockin' popsters the Figgs headline Mama Kin Saturday with Nana opening; rockabilly's Kim Lenz is at Johnny D's, Six Finger Satellite hit the Middle East, Kodachrome, Caged Heat, and Slide are at the Linwood, and a pair of Hoboken critical faves, the Shramms and Kate Jacobs, are at the Lizard with our own Wooden Leg . . . Money Mark mixes up the Middle East on Sunday with Mix Master Mike . . . the Pernice Bros. are at Charlie's Tap on Monday . . . And Purple Ivy Shadows and the Willard Grant Conspiracy hit T.T.'s on Tuesday.