The AMERICAN GIRLS
You could say Eugene's The American Girls are ``Daddy's little girls.''
How many bands can say The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are behind their newest
album? The American Girls can. Their latest, ``In The Whiskey Ya-Ya's,''
was co-released by Eugene-based labels Elemental Records and the Daddies'
own Space Age Bachelor Pad. The Daddies' Steve Perry is even listed as Executive
Producer.
The album has been moving the band to new heights, even with sometimes mixed
reviews from regional media. But a snippet from one of their songs was recently
featured on national TV, the album snagged the Number One local release
of 1998 from one of Oregon's major daily papers, and they acquired some
large-scale exposure opening for The Daddies and Floater at Eugene's Autzen
Stadium this past summer - playing to about 4,000 people.
Trumpeter Gus Baum's noggin is still in a bit of a tizzy over it all, especially
over the Autzen experience.
``I was kind of nervous we'd go on when there were only about 700 people
there or something,'' Baum said. ``But it was packed all day. It was incredible.''
These girls are definitely in some sort of extended afterglow. (The band
is deceptively named, however: It's comprised of all guys.) They keep some
rather high-profile company - Daddies aside. In addition to all their escalating
accolades, Lael Alderman, an up-and-comer from the Eugene area who's about
to national, is a good friend of the band and a constant companion at gigs
around the Northwest. And of course, Eugene musician Ezra Holbrook - who's
career brought him to some amount of flirting with national labels this
past year - produced the album.
Holbrook's input resulted in some unexpected golden moments on the album,
said Baum. The colorful use of a Vancouver, B.C.-based DJ on the record
added some intriguing spice and was done at Holbrook's urging.
Baum said it was the band's more vulnerable side, however, which emerged
more clearly because of Holbrook. Flowing, silky and passionate tunes like
``Elizabeth'' lace this upbeat, bouncy album. Normally lingering in funky,
almost jazzy territory, the American Girls excel in fast-paced, cool, breezy
pop that's reminiscent of Haircut 100 or Spandau Ballet, with plenty of
comparisons to the smooth, trumpet-driven hummability of Cake being very
likely. But thanks to Holbrook, the softer stuff was made a priority for
inclusion on the record. He felt it was time to show another side to these
primarily peppy performers.
``We just went into the studio and recorded about 44 songs live in one day,''
Baum said. ``We could've had a two-CD compilation of the best of the American
Girls. From that we picked a bunch, and we were thrilled because each one
was hit-hit-hit-hit. But Ezra came in with a list that was pretty similar
to what wound up on the album. He said, `You guys are a great band, but
anybody can have a batch of hits. You've matured a lot. You have this more
serious side and people need to see that.' ''
``Elizabeth'' shows vocalist Eric Larson going from a soft, jazzy and laid-back
coo throughout most of the song to a sudden burst of heart-wrenching passion
as he bellows the name of the aforementioned girl, holding the note for
an unbelievably long time without taking a breath.
Audiences, music critics and band members themselves all seem to agree it's
a magical moment on the CD.
``When he sang that in the studio we thought he was going pass out,'' Baum
said of Larson's super-extended musical wail. ``Live, I usually play on
that too. But we just left it alone on the CD because his voice said so
much more than anything else could have.''
Back To Oregon Offbeat(s) Network
all contents copyright Andre' Hagestedt
Contact: andrehage@navicom.com