w qw qw 7 I MUSIC The Gun Club ends four year hiatus with a bang The Gun Club Mother Juno Red Rhino/Fundamental Music It's been almost four years since the last LP by California's loudest outlaws, but you'd never guess the band's been away so long. Then again, the Gun Club of today is pretty different from the Gun Club of The Las Vegas Story. For one thing, there's two new players on Mother Juno to accompany the hysteric shriek of head honcho Jeffrey Lee Pierce and guitarist Kid Congo Powers. This one has also been produced by yet another outsider: Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. What's happening here? Surprisingly enough, the Cocteau's ethereal swirl doesn't interfere with the Gun Club's trademark - raw, grinding R&B action. In fact, it pretty much keeps to the sidelines, with the exception of maybe "Breaking Hands" and "Yellow Eyes" (which includes a guest appearance by guitarist Blixa Bargeld of Einsturzende Neubauten), on which the band slows down long enough to let the cuts draw blood. But when Pierce and company pull their punches, as on the raging attack of "Hearts," or the furious "Thunderhead" ("she's got a simple case of what you'd call some kind of mental illness") there's n o denying that the rhythm section is tougher than ever. It's a good thing this group took some time off; Mother Juno needed the extra breather. -Beth Fertig psychedelia of American groups such as The Byrds and Love, as well as that movement's early '80s offspring, the English postpunk of Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure. Unabashedly engaging all the excesses of the genre, The Shamen take you on an exhilarating ride, veering dangerously close to kaleido-cliche at every turn. But by drawing together the best ideas of both periods of psychedelia with experienced, skilled playing and keen songwriting, they instead manage to master a timeless spaced- out groove all their own, Thankfully, with all the jangly, near-Eastern themes, placid acoustic strumming and rich vocal har- monies of the '60s weaving unpre- dictably through postpunk's eerie keyboards, jagged, crunching gui- tars and stutter-step drums, The Shamen vary their elements enough to avoid falling into a rut. A healthy dose of production effects can't hurt: wide-screen stereo pans, exotic percussion, soaring airplane sounds. Still, the band's garage- style approach gives a jolting, live feeling to it all. Unfortunately, singer Colin Angus tells us that in Aberdeen (pretty well out in the sticks as far as Scotland's concerned), the local pub-going toughs, intent on hear- ing old Lynyrd Skynyrd and Zep- pelin covers, would surely beat the hell out of any psychedelic band who get on stage. Hopefully, enough American kids will tune in to The Shamen's crackerjack brand of multi-colour rock to welcome their show to more traditionally hospitable shores. -Michael Fischer The Creepers Rock 'N' Roll Liquorice Flavour Red Rhino/Fundamental Music "Oh Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey.." The last time you heard those words they were shouted out on MTV by an overgrown cheerleader with a terrible nose job. But while choreographer Toni Basil w as turning on the teens and gracing our screens with backflips, she unknow- ingly provided perfect material for Fall guitarist Marc Riley to cop with his other band, the Creepers. Riley might not look so hot in a miniskirt, but he's done Basil's song justice by throwing it on top of the swirling, hell-bent title track of the Creeper's new LP, and in the next breath declaring, "all my records are liquorice flavour..." "Tearjerker." With the Creepers, Ri- ley's absurd humor can really shine, sort of like Robyn Hitchcock's best mutterings, although it's still got the darker side he shows with the Fall. Rock 'N' Roll Liquorice Flavour is a step above most of the stuff the Fall's put out lately, and it should also garner Marc Riley and the Creepers more fans of their own right. -Beth Fertig SHEA Continued from Page 8 "Do you know anyone who can?" I accepted that. Karen probably didn't care that I didn't know what a best boy was, and Orion probably didn't care either. So I called Touchstone Pictures. Both their New York and their Los Angeles offices. Nothing. Then I thought, why not ask my knowledgable collegues what a best boy is? Somebody on the staff must know. Right? Nope. Blank looks all the way around. I was about to give up, and then I thought, "You moron. You go to one of the most prestigious universities in the country. The communications department is full of folks who would be more than happy to help you." And I was right. Peter Bauland has been a professor at the University for 23 years. He grew up in Philadelphia, spending his Saturdays watching movies from noon to 6:30. I went to him. He knew what a best boy was, "It's the assistant to the head electrician," he told me. "That's all." Great. So I called Ken Droz, the Director of Publicity and Promotions at Robert Soloman and Associates in Bloomfield Hills. I told him I wanted to get in, touch with a best boy. Now, I don't want to say Ken is a publicity god, but not only did he know what I was talking about when I said "best boy," he made some calls and found me one. Phil Jacobson is a best boy. Despite the title, Phil is neither the best nor a boy. He is 37 years old and has been working in Hollywood for ten years. He talked to me from the set of Bill Murray's new movie, tenatively titled Scrooge. "When did you decide to become a best boy?" I asked him. "Well," he said, "it's not really a decision you make. It's a progression in the job, just like a promotion. The most common situation is that you work for a lighting director or chief lighting technican long enough, so that you're working for him as a lamp operator. Then eventually...under the right circumstances he'll hire you as his 'best boy."' The job of the best boy, Phil told me, was to "try to keep ahead of the production." This means that while the director is busy shooting one scene, the best boy is preparing things for the next one. This means, among other things, determining how much equipment and people are needed for the production. "Do people make fun of the name 'best boy'?" "It's a strange name," he said. "A lot of people get a chuckle out of it." But Phil warns that people who want to get into the best boy business better not do it for glam said. 12 to stabh mont wond work doing begir Phil luck. TI frien( until story want boy v "V Dokken Back for the Attack Elektra Records Fields of Nephilim: Cool look, cool sound Fields of the Nephilim Dawnrazor, Beggar's Banquet The scorching midday sun beats1 down on the dusty, deserted streets of a small Western town. A locomotive1 is heard chugging into the train sta- tion. With a hoot from the whistle and a great sighing of released steam, the engine grinds to a halt. Spurs jangle and leather creaks as men in worn, dusty riding gear step down from the cars. It's.... it's... it's the Fields of the Nephilim! Yes, in these days of market re- search and carefully conceived and executed images, this band does have a definite image. But the Nephilim picked the coolest possible thing for Substituting six-strings for six- shooters, they dish out music remi- niscent of early (pre-Electric) Cult (as if Cult lead singer Ian Astbury had had a Western rather than Native American fixation). Lots of guitars, lots of drums, lots of effects, and all of it good. The music is heavily in- fluenced by the Morricone sound- tracks, and if you close your eyes Pick of the Week Back for the Attack, Dokken's fourth album, is a showcase for the conflicts within this group. Band leader and vocalist Don Dokken wants his band to be huge, with multiplatinum albums and sold-out tours. Admittedly, the rest of the guys probably wouldn't mind, and with the recent success of Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Poison, Cinderella, and others, the time seems perfect for Dokken to explode into megas- tardom. But while Don Dokken's plan of attack runs toward becom- ing a pop-metal band, resident gui- tar genius George Lynch refuses musical compromise. This musical conflict of interest is reportedly one of the reasons this album was over a year late. Listen- ing to the album makes the musical differences obvious. Cuts written primarily by Lynch rock harder and showcase his singular guitar play- ing, while Don Dokken's songs feature multiple layers of vocal harmonies and pop-style arrange- ments, with the guitar mixed down and the solos shortened. A word about the guitar playing: it's brilliant! Rather than relying on tricky scalar passages, arpeggiated runs, two-handed licks, or any one technique, Lynch mixes it all up into a smooth, fluid style very dis- tinctly his own. This style is best displayed on the instrumental "Mr. Scary," and "Kiss Of Death," the album's first song. Hopefully Don Dokken will realize the error of his ways and just let this man play! With the single "Burning Like a Flame" receiving airplay, and Dokken now on the road opening Aerosmith's, tour, perhaps Don Dokken and George Lynch can both be satisfied. Remember, Whites- nake started off last year opening 'for Motley Crue before their album caught on. If "Back For The At- tack" takes off, Dokken could be huge, without compromising their music. Wouldn't that be special? -Chuck Skarsaune See MUSIC, Page 12 INTERVIEW Continued from Page 8 D: Do you think one of your roles is to serve as a role model? O.D.: Unfortunately, yes. I say unfortunately because in the Ameri- can context, a role model has to represent success. And success can be negative as well as positive. In a depressed community, sometimes the most successful man you see is the pimp and the kids emulate him because he is successful. So, along comes someone who ain't success- ful, who should be a role model. It won't cut it. So, yes, I'm con- sciously a role model. But I realize the dynamics of role modelism and I wish the:whole scene could be dif- ferent. I'm a success, I'm a half- assed celebrity, and I use it ruth- lessly to get whatever point I can across to these young people. D: Your first New York production, The Big Deal., was about the dual pull of being a Black and an Ameri- can? O. D .: Well, the duality in the character was his determination and desire to succeed, to be a success, but in order to be a success, there were certain things he had to es- chew. He had to prove that he was not radical, in this instance that he was not red, he had to prove that he was not a friend of Paul Robeson's, and all that sort of crap. In the be- ginning, this is what he thought he wanted to do but with the help of his wife, if I remember correctly, he was able, I hope, to see the light.... But the price of inclusion that America exacts from all of its race writers, not just blacks, is that they give up a piece of their ass. Some- where down the line; "give it up!" Raise a fight with them..."give it up, give it up." D: It's an attempt to homogenize. O.D.: Right! So, this guy is told, 'you can cross over buddy but you've got to leave behind your commitments or otherwise..." He wanted to do it but his wife didn't. D: In Purlie Victorious, you utilize a lot of-stereotypes of Blacks to get your point across. Would that work have been acceptable from a white writer? O.D.: That would depend on how he did it and what his intentions were. You know I got a lot of skin off my ass from a lot of Blacks over Purlie. Some of them never did ac-. cept it.,But I had a deliberate inten- tion. Instead of fighting the stereo- types that are out there, I embraced them. I i'nflated them and made them ridiculous as I knew them to be. Stereotypes they were but they were stereotypes whose purpose was to serve the needs of the group rather than the needs of someone who wanted to oppress the group. It's a subtle but very important difference. That was what Purlie was about. D: Do you think a big problem in the racist struggle is that the ques- tion "what is racism?" remains. Of did give a certain ease to discussing what racism was and what segrega- tion was. But the truth of the matter is that when the context changes, the meaning of everything within the context changes. We need a new definition of racism and prejudice and bigotry because the context in which they occur has changed. The definition I'm trying to work for would be this way: on the one hand, you've got bigotry, which is personal, which is hatred, which is sometimes psychotic, which is neu- rotic. It means, in a personal sense, one is ready to destroy, to do all sorts of things. That's one thing. On the other hand, you've got racism, which does not definitely have to have a personal or human likes you, could very well be a racist because the system puts him into a different category because it's prof- itable to do so. D: That's a lot more difficult to combat. O.D.: It is but unless you can un- derstand it, and define it, and ask the question properly, you'll always be crippled. So that's why I'm trying to define racism. I haven't worked it out yet but in order to fight it, we've got to define it in a new way. D: A lot of people say that any- thing that's offensive to anyone should be subverted. I mean books or song with the wcrd nigger or 'We need a new definition of racism and prejudice and bigotry because the context in which they occur has changed.' Ossie Davis some O.D: think even some to ret we ar we s thing deletf persp an ac ous s freed cums may the 1 right: RTS NE-W DC 1~~L1 m} 126 Ouellette Ave. (519) January 22 FRI FAS 23 SAT FA The Shamen Drop Fundamental Music course it's still there but you can't always put your finger on it. Is this a big problem? O.D.: No, because the problem existed before that. The simplicity afforded by the fact that segregation was visible, and could be defined, and you could put your finger on it, connotation at all. Racism is an ex- tension of power, which uses differ- ences of one type or another for it's own gain or its own extension of power. It is organizational, it is in- stitutional, it is measured in terms of dollars and cents. And so the guy sitting next to you, who even truly ,- The past few years have seen Scotland, long having languished in the shadow of countless English bands, surprise the rock world with a remarkable number of acclaimed artists: Glasgow's Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Aztec Camera, Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Blue Nile, not to mention Annie Lennox of Eurythmics. Yet upon listening to The Shamen's debut album, Drop , you'd never guess that this Aberdeen quartet - probably Scotland's finest new band of the year - are of the same country that inspired the spacious, Celtic mysticism of The Water- boys, Simple Minds, and Big Country. The Shamen look instead to, foreign lands; the '60s rock their image/inspiration: the spaghetti you can almost see Clint squinting Western movie genre as exemplified into the sun as he holsters his Colt by Sergio Leone's series of movies .45. Dark, echo-laden vocals mum- (A Fistful Of Dollars, The Good, ble doom and gloom lyrics while The Bad, And The Ugly, etc.). bizarre tape effects (chainsaws, The Fields of the Nephilim use trains, random screaming) invade the an intro by Ennio Morricone (he did music. all the soundtracks for the Leone Wonderful stuff for fans of good films) as a launching pad for their music and Western movies. album, and they never look back. -Chuck Skarsaune mRIn [mOTORS Big Foreign Film ALL FiL EVERY MON. & VCR Renta only Riley's dead-pan vocals appropri- ately counter the band's squirrely, angsty playing. Their colliding gui- tars crash and burn throughout "Fillet Face," but also pull to a halt and sneak through the surrealistic "Bastard Hat," where Riley ponders whether he wants to be a nice guy today "or do I want to wear my Bas- tard hat?" Riley and the Creepers use irony spartanly and instead focus more on stringing apparent non sequiturs to- gether, along with anything else that crosses their path ("you can lead a horticulture but you can't make him think"). It makes sense to borrow from Toni Basil, just like lyrics from the Stones' "Street Fighting Man" fit with the rest of his own Quality Care ForYour FineImported Automobile WE OFFER Ph One635544 -SENIOR s . MON.-FRI. 9AM-6PM. a MAIN STREET MOTORS 906 North Main Street Ann Arbor, MI 48104 I t I a I 1 a. i PAGE 4 WEEKEND/JANUARY 22, ~988 PAGE 4 WEEKENDIJANUARY 22, 198$ r WEEKEND/JANUARY 22, 14f81 o..