New alliances

Curve of the Earth's fall harvest

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

It's likely that every record label that's formed since the dawn of time has had the same three goals: to have fun, put out good music, and get rich. In Curve of the Earth's case, two out of three ain't bad.

First launched five years ago, Curve of the Earth has always favored bands with an irreverent streak -- whether that's The Elevator Drops, whose first two singles made fun of John Lennon and River Phoenix, or its current release with conceptual popsters Verago-go. And the label's seldom missed a chance to pull a good promotional stunt -- like wrapping cigarettes into the Allston Rock City compilation -- or to pull the music industry's leg. A few years ago Curve officially signed Roadsaw to a million-dollar contract -- that's a buck a year for a million years. And the latest press release announces that the members of Half Cocked were assembled solely for their looks.

It's only the getting rich part that's proved a snag. The label hasn't had a national breakout with any of its releases so far, not even excellent ones like Chelsea on Fire's Once Is Never or the two Girl compilations. So far the bestseller remains Powerman 5000's first EP, but even that moved a relatively slim 5000 copies. So how has the label managed to stay afloat this long? Well, Jason Priestley helped. Seems that he happened to be dating fellow 90210 star Christine Elise, who is Curve founder Alvan Long's stepdaughter, and he had a few bucks to throw around. "Yeah, he bankrolled us for a while," Long admits. So it didn't help the label when the couple split up. "The money ran out five minutes ago. Stuff doesn't sell anymore. It's fuckin' nuts out there. But my theory is that it's too late to stop now. We're not stopping till we get a gold record. And we won't need to stop after we get one."

At heart Long's a bit of an old-fashioned Svengali type. He likes bands who can grab the spotlight, and not just for musical reasons. "If I'm seeing a country band, I hope they've got a cow and bales of hay on stage. I like bands with visual appeal, and I like bands with women in them. It's a better mirror of society -- two guys and two girls is more interesting than four guys. We figure our competition is Madonna and Rage Against the Machine, people with million-dollar videos. If they're playing some little club with one lightbulb over them, they have to do something to enhance the show. Guys in blue jeans playing guitars -- that's 30 years old at this point."

Long's seen his share of music-biz pitfalls, having been on two major labels as the drummer for November Group (dropped from A&M after one EP) and Down Avenue (dropped from RCA before releasing anything). In fact he and partner Conrad Warre started Curve to release their own bands -- Long then had the Long Goodbye, and Warre was in Tornado Room -- but both bands broke up during that time. "That's right, the label put us out of business. What I learned from being on other labels is that you shouldn't mess with the bands too much. Like, one of my old interns works at Columbia now, he just sent me 15 CDs and they're all a ripoff of something else -- this one sounds like G. Love, this one's like Pearl Jam. We try to get bands that don't sound like anyone else. Of course we allow Roadsaw to rip Foghat off, but nobody else does that."

Curve of the Earth continues a month of promotional gigs this Saturday (October 24) with a multi-band show at the Linwood to support its 10 Years After compilation. Along with many of the current bands on the comp (Honeyglazed, Caged Heat, Shiva Speedway, Count Zero), the gig will feature a Slaughter Shack reunion.

Verago-go's new Curve release, Hollywood Hits, still reflects that group's blurred sense of musical formats. Somewhere between their first two albums, Verago-go turned from a band with a lot of good ideas (and a heck of a wardrobe) into a really good band. They've settled on guitar pop as a homebase but still throw in a few left curves into the new set. This one doesn't have a seven-minute drum solo, like the first one, but it does have a dub-style instrumental ("Concert Report") that recalls early Public Image Ltd., plus a 15-minute dance mix of the entire album as a bonus track. And they've picked up some new pop tricks: "Touch of Evil" is a fine Fleetwood Mac homage, and the title track gets a big Phil Spector treatment with its wall of chiming keyboards and multiple layers of charming harmonies from Isabel Riley and Jen Diamond.

As the title indicates, this is a loose concept album about love and squalor in the country's glitter capital -- call it their Celebrity Skin, but theirs is more about loving Hollywood mythology than living it. And the series of songs about lost and wasted souls provides a set-up for the album's surprise highlight, a beautifully sung cover of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home." Along with Roadsaw's debut and Chelsea on Fire's Once Is Never, this ranks in the top three of Curve's single-artist releases.

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When it comes to female-fronted heavy-metal bands -- hell, when it comes to any kind of heavy-metal bands -- Boston still lives in the long shadow cast by Malachite, a lovably vicious outfit who abruptly called it quits a few years back. Half Cocked, whose new Curve album is Sell Out, are the closest thing to a Malachite successor to turn up in a long while, not least because a couple of ex-Malachiters are involved: Jhen Kobran, who played in that band's second line-up, is here on bass, and guitarist Janet Egan plays a couple of guest solos. What's more, drummer Charlee Johnson hails from 3-1/2 Girls, who had their own "next Malachite" buzz going before they broke up last year.

But the real news about Half Cocked is that singer Sarah Reitkopp -- whose previous bands, Plush and Planet Jumper, never quite reached potential -- finally has a proper vehicle. She's more a singer than a screamer or a shouter. And though Reitkopp goes for sex appeal on stage, on CD she exudes more of a pissed-off intelligence. She also has a hooky approach to songwriting that offsets the band's metallic racket -- combine volume with tuneage and you get good old-fashioned hard rock. Even with the muscular playing and production (by Tim Catz) this is a relentlessly catchy disc. That doesn't keep a few good snarls from coming through, however; and when Reitkopp and Josey Packard (guesting from Chelsea on Fire) scream in tandem on "Not Dead Yet," it's a new definition of girl-group harmonies.

Quick, now: how many songs about cannibalism have the word "daddy-o" in the chorus? Eight Ball Shifter fill that gaping void with "Chew on That Cat's Bones," not only the standout on their new Curve CD, Flesh Eating Frenzy, but one of the most depraved damn songs to come along in months. Yep, Eight Ball Shifter are pretty much a psychobilly band, but one with a real groove and a bloodthirsty sensibility. At 48 minutes their CD could use a little trimming -- the best moments come when they steer away from the Cramps/Blues Explosion primal grind and throw in some garage-rock hooks or Sun Studio overtones. Especially recommended to everyone who regrets that the Cheater Slicks left town.

Rounding out the new crop of Curve of the Earth releases is a mixed-bag compilation of 23 tracks that commemorate the Back Bay studio New Alliance. Although the line-up on Ten Years After is impressive, too many of the tracks sound like outtakes or leftovers. Half Cocked, Count Zero, Honkeyball, and Vic Firecracker have all released better material on their own albums or on other compilations (Vic's acoustic track sounds way out of place on a disc dedicated mainly to louder electric material). Powerman's "File Under Action" is good but already released. Rookie's "Betta Dayz" is one of those unwanted G. Love copies. Scissorfight's contribution, the heartwarming "They Saved Hitler's Cock," is just a cover of an Angry Samoans tune (though they elevate it somewhat by throwing in the "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" riff). And the disparaging Juliana Hatfield reference in the liner notes, by Spider of Powerman 5000, just plain isn't nice.

Better tracks come from Shiva Speedway and Planet Queen, but both would fit more comfortably into the rough-pop setting of the Girl comps. Still, local collectors will want this for two notable tracks: "Dumpus All Encompass," officially by Rockschool, is the first soundtrack song for Crispin Wood's comic strip of that name. At once celebrating and ridiculing the excesses of arena metal, it sounds more like Wood's old band the Bags -- and that's who's playing it, reunited for the occasion. And the late Seka's "Let's Get High," recorded in '92, is an anthem on a par with Gang Green's "Alcohol." Lord knows why it sat on the shelf so long, since it's better than a lot of what they did release.

COMING UP

The only man alive who's been a member of both the Tubes and the Grateful Dead, Vince Welnick, brings his new band to Harpers Ferry tonight (Thursday). Also tonight, there's a songwriters' roundtable headed by Graham Parker at Mama Kin, R.L. Burnside is at the House of Blues, Papas Fritas headline the Middle East, and Scarlet Haven play T.T.'s with West Coast songwriter Susan James . . . Tomorrow (Friday), it's Betwixt and Señor Happy at Bill's Bar, Barbara Manning and Buttercup at T.T.'s, Dennis Brennan at the Lizard Lounge, the Swingin' Neckbreakers, Prissteens, and Tuffskins upstairs at the Middle East, and the Racketeers, Strangemen, Ray Corvair, and Raging Teens downstairs . . . Saturday brings Juliana Hatfield to the Middle East, the Pills and Boy Wonder to Bill's, J. Geils and the Gerry Beaudoin Trio to Cool Blue's, New York blues pummeler Popa Chubby to Johnny D's, and John Taylor (playing some old Duran Duran and Power Station stuff) to Mama Kin . . . Western Massachusetts skasters Thumper play their last show at the Middle East on Sunday . . . Scottish folk legend Dick Gaughan makes a rare appearance at Johnny D's on Tuesday . . . And Garbage are at Avalon Wednesday.