Hellos and goodbyes

Cherry 2000 arrive, Malcolm Travis takes off

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

If you've seen Cherry 2000 over the past couple of years, you've likely figured out that this is one offbeat rock band -- but just how offbeat they are doesn't really come clear until you hear their debut album, Taint (out this week on Catapult). Although it's not strictly a concept album, it features lyrics riddled with dead clowns, dead cowgirls, drugged-out smugglers, and sleazy rodeos. The result is a compelling though severely twisted version of Americana -- the sort of thing that's usually the provenance of avant filmmakers and country depressives rather than rock bands.

"That's the way I look at America -- I write with an overwhelming sense of dread, but it's laced with boundless optimism," explains singer/guitarist Dave Steele when he and co-singer/guitarist Leah Blesoff and I sit down at Cambridge's 1369 Coffeehouse. "A lot of it's subliminal, but certain images get used a lot. Beneath all the images is the sense we have of a country where everything's a little tense and crazy.

"I can't write, say, a song about a relationship because I'm too self-conscious," adds Blesoff. "So I have to veil things in some way. I usually take lines and paste them together, instead of just saying 'This is about some awful guy on the T.' But I always seem to write about flying away, swimming, escape . . . "

" . . . and I write about being tied up," adds Steele. "I'm a big fan of surrealist painters, and I write a lot by just turning the tape on and letting the subconscious go, where you don't have time to censor yourself."

Even in conversation, it's clear that both Steele and Blesoff have the personality to be a rock frontperson. He's quietly intense, she's chatty and outgoing. Which it's why it's surprising to find them in the same band, where they have to compete a bit for the spotlight. "There is some ego-headbutting involved," Steele admits. "Leah's always been the frontperson in her bands, and I sang lead in most of my bands before Orangutang [where Chris Dyas, now of Trona, was the singer]. We want to get to the point where we both sing all the time."

If Cherry 2000 have had a problem in the past, it came from having too damn many ideas. Everyone in the group had been with a relatively established band: Steele was with Orangutang, Blesoff with Speed Queen, and the rhythm section of Steve Venable and Mike Savage had made two albums with the Philadelphia band Fudge. None of those groups ever played straight-ahead rock, but Cherry 2000 have taken eclecticism to extremes. On previous demo tapes and early live gigs, they shifted gears at will -- pop, hardcore, psychedelic drones, avant-punk -- and the mix could as easily be thrilling or just confusing.

On Taint, Americana provides a thematic context, and the sequencing is smart enough to accommodate the different styles. The outright pop material (including "Rodeo Clown," which sounds oddly like Trona) is placed up front, but there's still a melodic element in darker tracks like "Sullen Man" (whose unsympathetic hero could be John Salvi) and "Small Still Hands" (a much-rearranged Speed Queen song). The experimental tendencies don't overwhelm until the end, where the pretty Blesoff-sung "Lungfish" dissolves into an eerie 15-minute drone.

"That's my favorite part of the record, because I like extremes," Steele says. Blesoff adds that the ghostly voice on that track is a recording of her mother reading from the Book of Revelation in Spanish. "She can be a little strange. I played it for her and she said, 'Ooh, this is scary -- but think of how much scarier it's going to be when I'm dead.' Thanks, Mom."

TRAVIS TO NASHVILLE

There are two good reasons to see the Cornet Premiers at Charlie's Tap this Sunday night. The gig reunites the mighty instrumental core of the Zulus and the Concussion Ensemble. And, it may be the last time we see those folks play together, since Malcolm Travis -- also a former Sugar member, and easily one of the best rock drummers in Boston -- is moving to Nashville a few days later.

"It's going to be weird, because I've been here since 1978, I've been playing with [guitarist] Rich Gilbert for 20 years, and we've had the same rehearsal space all this time," says Travis. "I'm really leaving with mixed emotions because so much of my history is here. So yeah, I'll probably cry. But I want to go somewhere people don't really know me and see if I can challenge myself. And my brother lives there, so I have a safety net. I have a son now, and the fact is that I can't afford to buy a house in Boston. The cost of living is so much lower down there."

Nashville has already attracted a bunch of veteran rockers, both local (Angelo Petraglia from Face to Face, now Kim Richey's co-writer and producer) and national (Adrian Belew, Steve Winwood, even Peter Frampton). And Travis has played some country music in town, though with the very un-Nashville Wheelers & Dealers. But he checked out Nashville on a recent trip and found the musical climate to his liking.

"My brother lives across the street from a songwriter down there. I went to a jam session in his house, and I didn't play too shabbily, so I probably made a few friends. One of the first things I did was to join the musicians' union, and they do a lot of referrals, so I'm hoping I can play sessions for a while. I'm not that up on the country Top 40. My tastes run to the more classic stuff -- George Jones, Johnny Cash. And you know that I can play a backbeat all day long. I'm going to get some business cards printed up and start going out a lot more."

If that doesn't work, I suggest, he can always tell people he's related to Randy Travis. "Right, and I've considered that," he laughs.

Meanwhile the Cornet Premiers look like an exciting prospect. Along with the Zulus nucleus of Travis, Gilbert, and bassist Rich Cortese, the all-instrumental line-up includes guitarist Mike Brown (also ex-Concussion Ensemble) and keyboardist Suzi Lee, on loan from Slide. "It's basically the Concussion Ensemble with three less drummers and a keyboard player. It's that kind of sound, with a lot of driving guitars and a thick bottom."

Although they haven't yet picked a replacement drummer, the band have already cut an album and will resume gigging once Gilbert finishes a tour in Frank Black's band.

T.T.'S ANNIVERSARY

Two nights into the six-night anniversary splurge at T.T. the Bear's Place, more than a dozen bands had already played, and a lot more were due to appear over the weekend (the O Positive reunion was the first to sell out). The surprise star of the show, however, was the back wall of the club, which the T.T.'s folks have covered with memorabilia from the past couple of decades. Browse the walls and you'll get a glimpse of bands you haven't thought about for a decade (good Lord, it's Beat Rodeo and Ball & Pivot), along with blackmail-ready photos of groups in their very early days (like a fresh-faced lot that were still known just as the Bosstones). Also interesting to see is an award to T.T.'s for the best burger in town, since the only food offered there now is found in the pistachio machine. My favorite was a gig flyer from a "Save the Bear" event in 1985, when a bunch of bands including the Bristols and Dogmatics came to the club's rescue. Although I can vaguely recall attending one of those shows, I can't recall what they were trying to save it from. But it's good to know that they succeeded.

The Bristols were on hand for the anniversary show a week ago Wednesday, where guitarist Michelle Haber sported the night's best T-shirt -- a vintage Inn-Square Men's Bar number that must have been two decades old. I missed Charlie Chesterman's early set, but the Bristols and Eric Martin's Illyrians were apt choices to represent the old school -- you didn't need warm memories of the old days to know how good they sounded, and it would be a damn shame if either outfit were to break up without managing a CD (the Bristols deserve some kind of an award for surviving 16-odd years and still not releasing a single tune).

Shocker of the night was a high-powered set by Last Stand, a Clash-inspired band who reunited after nine years for the occasion. And you can't ask for a better follow-up than the Shods -- one of the few bands who can cover the most anthemic Clash and Jam songs (in this case, the latter's "In the City") and get it right. Capping the night were the Allstonians, still my favorite local ska band (thanks largely to the songwriting, though the snappy horns don't hurt) despite their continued habit of changing half their personnel every year.

COMING UP

Tonight (Thursday) it's former Sun Ra bandmember Michael Ray and his Cosmic Krewe at the Middle East downstairs, Pee Wee Fist, Kipper Tin, and the Syrup USA spinoff Dewey Vegetable System upstairs, British blues godfather John Mayall at the House of Blues, Jim's Big Ego celebrating a CD release at T.T. the Bear's Place with guest Laurie Geltman, and Bob Mould's final electric-band tour, which has been moved from Avalon to the Berklee Performance Center . . . Tomorrow, Señor Happy celebrate a CD-release at T.T.'s with the Figgs and Sterlings guesting, Chicago blues legend Otis Rush plays the House of Blues, the Love Dogs hit Harpers Ferry, and Pistola are at the Lizard Lounge.

Saturday brings ska-billy to the Middle East with King Bravo and the Allstonians, Dragstrip Courage and Bleu hit T.T.'s, Brad Delp and Beatle Juice are at Johnny D's, and Random Road Mother are at the Linwood . . . On Sunday it's avant hero John Lurie and his Lounge Lizards at the Paradise, and the blues duo Mr. Airplane Man at Toad . . . For those of you who couldn't afford to set up four stereos at home, the Flaming Lips' quadraphonic "Boom Box Experiment" will be presented at the Middle East Monday . . . And on Wednesday, Son Volt go acoustic at the Somerville Theatre, and the Skillet Liquors continue a residency at Bill's Bar with Slide.