o - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, June 7, 1995 Elastica stretch their popularity 3y Heather Phares )aily Arts Editor Elastica isn't your typical British band. Not that there's that many "typical" British sands appearing on American shores towadays; the jazzy, hip-hop strains of ?ortishead, the mod revivalism of Blur and he grandiose decadence of the London ;uede have as much to do with each other s Abba and Swedish death-metal do. Still, Elastica stand out amongst its tntemporaries, not only because they're tree-quarters female, but because they >ck uncompromisingly - and because hey have a surprisingly down-to-earth attitude for a band with such a huge buzz ground them. Donna Matthews, Elastica's lead guitarist, offered a typi- 2ally optimistic opinion about the band's first tour of the US this summer:" There was snow all around and we all had the 1u. But we had a good time." Indeed, Matthews feels that the band's :urrent tour is an equally good time. Ac- ording to her, the audiences have been brilliant. We've sold out every night so tr. It's been quite different every night; ometimes people are going mad,jumping p and down, and other nights they just tand there and look. It really depends on vhat people are like in the town. In some of he 'cooler' towns the crowd just sort of tands back and watches. It's the same in 3ritain. I think the American audiences are nore up for jumping around. British audi- ences are more reserved. We like playing he things that people go mad to," she added. Touring America has given the band !1UDHONEY ontinued from page 9 aid no fucking way. It's too scientifi- ally designed to strip kids of their noney. It sells the kids this line that hey're hip if they're there, while they're ;helling out the cash. To borrow a line from Eddie Vedder - the.kids of today should defend themselves against the the chance to see the country during on their days off. "We've seen bits and, bobs. When we were in Canada we went to see Niagara falls. New York was good because some friends of ours from Lon- don came to see us, and we went to go see the Statue of Liberty, that was good fun. New York's brilliant," Matthews said. But her expectations of America were far from pleasant."I was actually quite frightened of America before we came over here because youhear all kindsof sto- ries about bands from England who come over here and are never heard from again," Matthews said with a shudder. "It's quite frightening because alotofpeoplehaven't heard you and it's such a big place. I think we've had it really easy; we haven't had a bad reaction yet over here. It'sbeen a really good time." One of the things Matthews has en- joyed about her experiences in America is the differences in the American and the British music press, where coverage in the weekly music rags can make or break an upcoming band. "I think the American press is more honest about the bands, instead of being opinionated, it tends to give the bands' views of them- selves. In Britain, you get a lot of sensa- tionalism and a lot of journalists trying to improve their careers. They push or dis- like a band depending on who's cool or not. They're not reporting journalisti- cally on bands. It's different when there's a weekly press; it tends to be more sensa- tional, where over here there's much less competition between music papers," she said. Matthews alsohad an interesting out- look on why so many British bands are garnering press and popularity nowa- days. "I think it's because not everyone is in one scene, there's lots of different scenes. Pulp and Blur are worlds apart, and Suede and Oasis are worlds apart. There's lots of different music right now, and lots of bands doing what they believe in." Surprisingly, though, for somebody with such insights on the music scene, Matthews seemed unsure of the acclaim her band has gotten. "I can't really gauge what success is we've had, really," she mused. "There's people saying 'Oh, you're doing really well over here,' but for us it feels exactly the same. We haven't had it bad, people are coming to our gigs every night, but I don't know about 'successful.' We're just having a good time." FortElastica, having a good time takes preference over pondering the politics of the music business. Matthews was un- aware that the band's video for their infec- tious single "Connection" is a "Buzz Clip" on MTV. And about the band's recent ap- pearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman," she had this to say: "It went really quick because we werejust standing and waiting around, and suddenly you're on, and you play, and it's over with." Likewise, Matthews is more inter- ested in playing music than she is con- cerned about success. "There was a gui- tar lying around my house when I was younger," she explained about how she 0 started playing music. "I played in bands when I was a teenager. I played lots of different instruments. But the guitar is portable, something I could play with my friends; if I played piano, I'd have to pack it up in a box to move it. I played the flute also, but you can't really jam with your friends on the flute, you know?" she added with a laugh. As for how she and the band write songs, Matthews said "I write lotssof differ- ent ways. I write with an acoustic guitar, songs like "Smile" were written that way. Songs like "2:1" we wrote with a drum machine and keyboards, and some of it we wrote on four-track. On the European tour I was writing all the time. I've been taking a four-track with me everywhere I go in a R EC ORDS e 1t Dye Tibute to a Bus Matador Along with the trendy band Blumfeld, 18th Dye are some of the finest German indie-rock to be had presently. Their stripped-down, fuzzed-out soundscapes are both dreamy and energetic at the same time, as can be heard on their three albums "Crayon," "Done" and "Tribute to a Bus." "Bus," the band's latest, was recorded by noisemonger Steve Albini, yet it bears little of his trademark sound; while songs like "Glass House Fail- suitcase. It's really handy; there's-nothing more frustrating than having a song in your head and not being able to get itdown. But when you're creating a song and watching it come together, it's sort of like a Christ- mas present," she said with a smile. Elastica's plans for after their tour i elude the release of a new single ("prob- ably 'Stutter," according to Matthews) and a new video. They'll also start recording their next album again after theirtour dates are finished. "It's still going to be very Elastica-y, with lots of spiky guitars, but we have a few tricks up our sleeve. It might be a bit dancey, but it'll definitely be very up- beat," Matthews said about the new mate- rial. "Everyone's happy and it's going well. We're still excited about it." ure" and "Poolhouse Blue" aren't afraid to turn up the volume, the Dye's approach to rock remains ulti- mately fresh and poppy. - Heather Phares Die Cheerleader Son of Filth w Human Pitbull/London - Garbage in, garbage out. Picture Ethel Merman singing over really bo grind-core. On second thought, don't. It'll hurt your brain too much. - Heather Phares SEE. REcoRDs, PAGE 12 '90s; fuck the '70s, the '70s were fine." Of course, being friends with Vedder and the rest of modemrock's superheroes in Pearl Jam (Turner and Arm were in the seminal Seattle band Green River with Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard)has its industry perks-like field trips to the White House for instance. "They got tomeet the president, which is scary in itself," Turner said."Why is the president wasting 15 or 20 minutes of his day to meet Pearl Jam?It was the day after Kurtoffedhimself, butthathadnothing to do with why we were there. "There were little old ladies, and we were getting a different tour than they were so they figured we were famous and wanted our autograph. Kids kept saying we were Pearl Jam, and we kept saying, 'No, we're not Pearl Jam. Right now Pearl Jam's in the War Room with President Clinton."' Yep, Pearl Jam's discussing the fate of the free world with President Clinton in the War Room. And Mudhoney's working in their yards and riding their bikes. great scores.. I Kaplan helps you focus your test prep study where you need it most. We'll show you the proven skills and test- taking techniques that help you get a higher score. great skills... Kaplan has the most complete arsenal of test prep tools available. 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