This marketing strategy, first reported in the guide to the third annual Westword Music Awards Showcase in our September 18, 1997, issue, is a tacit acknowledgment by A&M Records, the band's label, that 16 Horsepower's notably intense variation on Americana is thus far being accepted most readily by listeners outside America. Edwards experienced this for himself during a year-end jaunt through the Old Country. "We toured there for seven weeks, which was our longest trip yet," he says. "We played six nights a week, pretty much in a different place each night. We did nine shows in France, seven shows in Holland, ten shows in Germany, a couple shows in Austria, a couple shows in Denmark, and shows in Sweden, Switzerland and England."
The groundwork for such mass acceptance was laid by 16 Horsepower's well-reviewed A&M debut, Sackcloth 'n' Ashes, which did extremely modest business in the U.S. but found a sizable audience overseas. Edwards isn't sure why Europeans have embraced the group, but he's got some theories. "Most of those countries, the people there really like country music, Western music," he comments. "They love Western movies, too. It's a romantic type of thing for them. And I think the religious aspect of our music has a really big appeal, even though most of the countries that we've gone to are not really all that religious, or the religions that they have are kind of bleak and oppressive--the Catholic Church or whatever. A lot of the people who've come to hear us, their view of Christianity or religion in general is either really negative, or they don't think about it at all. But for some reason, they're interested in the way I bring it to them."
Thus far, the critical reception to Low Estate, produced by PJ Harvey associate John Parish, has been equally strong, as well it should be. The current lineup--which finds longtimer Jean-yves Tola supplemented by relative newcomer Pascal Humbert and former Denver Gentlemen leader Jeffrey-Paul--provides Edwards with a richer palette, and he takes full advantage of it. The music is more varied than that on Sackcloth, but without sacrificing the berserk drive and passion that's Edwards's stock-in-trade. "That's just the way it is for me, especially live," he explains. "In the first place, I don't feel that comfortable on stage, so to sing and play the way that I do is difficult, and it takes a lot of energy and a lot of concentration. There's just no way to go into it lightly.
"Everybody's been positive about the new record," he continues. "People have told me that they think it's a good second record, and most of them have said they think it's better than the first one. And some people have thought it was even gloomier than the first one." After a chuckle, he adds, "If that's possible."
True enough, Low Estate won't inspire any Hanson comparisons. The music is extremely dark--and since this descriptive is viewed in some music-industry quarters as synonymous with "inaccessible," Edwards knows that he and his fellows have some preconceptions to overcome. "We gave the record to the radio department at A&M, and they were like, 'We have nothing to work with,'" he reports. "The first single is 'For Heaven's Sake,' and they want us to remix it to make it more radio-ready--which we have no problem with, just as long as they let us do it. I'm not going to do anything that would make us look stupid, but I'd give remixing a try. Even though I don't think it's going to work anyhow."
Doubters are most apt to become converts to the 16 Horsepower cause if they catch the quartet in person--and folks from sea to shining sea will get plenty of opportunity to do so over the next several months. Edwards and company begin their tour with a February 15 stop at the Boulder Theater for an E-Town broadcast. Then there'll be a headlining tour of the East, the Midwest and the West Coast (with a possible stop-off in Denver in late March), followed by a pairing with Morphine that will keep the musicians motoring through the hinterlands for several more weeks. After that, it's back to Europe, where the going, strangely, is easier. As Edwards notes, "We love America, and we love to tour America, but it's also a bit like starting over here in a way. It's funny, but it's not so much of a struggle over there as it is here."
The moves and counter-moves involving Universal Entertainment, Bill Graham Presents and veteran promoter and manager Chuck Morris have caused yours truly to spill plenty of ink in this space of late (see the January 8 and 22 Feedbacks for details). But there's another major player in the Denver concert-promotions business who's also in transition: Bill Bass, whose streak of more than seventeen consecutive years of putting on shows in the area makes him (with the semi-retirement of Barry Fey) the scene's reigning veteran. Bass recently announced that he was closing down Small Axe, his promotions firm of several years, in favor of opening Bill Bass Concerts, prompting rumors that Small Axe had gone bankrupt. He denies this but concedes that finances played a large part in the switchover.
"We're just downscaling a little," Bass says. "It's the fucking Nineties." In the last two and a half years we did shows in eighteen to twenty different cities in thirteen different states, which was just too much. So we're cutting back." When asked if last year's 311 tour, which didn't live up to blockbuster predictions, forced the move, he replies, "It's not specific to any one band at all. Put it this way--the lows weren't that low, but the ups weren't where they should have been. And if you don't change with the tide, you're going to fucking drown."
Don't expect the alterations to mellow Bass, however. To the contrary, he seems feistier than ever. He dismisses predictions of a promotions war via a profane reference to the late-Eighties/ early-Nineties battle between Fey Concerts and MCA-Universal: "In all that time, I only lost one act to MCA: Alannah Myles, whose whole bit was to suck fucking Robert Plant's dick. I wouldn't pay what they were asking for her, and MCA did--and she's gone now, so fuck her." As for his personal style, he says, "People have noticed a change in me the last three years, saying that I've become an exorbitantly nice guy. Well, that shit's gone. I've got my edge back--and I'll still be sober. The drug/party guy is gone forever, but the psychotic guy is back. He's back."
After a delay of the sort typical in the publishing game, State of the Union, a local hip-hop publication whose staffers were profiled in Westword last year ("United They Stand," November 6), is finally in stores. Pick one up. Also of interest is a profile of the Denver club scene in the February edition of Gig, a music-industry mag out of New York. Author Chris Bray's overview is generally positive, although he does complain that liquor stores aren't open on Sundays.
Don't we all. On Thursday, January 29, the Ernies wear striped shirts at Quixote's True Blue, and the Bent Scepters rule at the Bluebird Theater. On Friday, January 30, Dogs in the Yard celebrate the release of a new CD, Sunday Afternoon, at Herman's Hideaway, and the Throttlemen rev up at Seven South. On Saturday, January 31, Super Diamond, billed as "the ultimate Neil Diamond tribute," sings songs blue at the Fox Theatre, and Negative Man subtracts at the 15th Street Tavern, with the Blast-Off Heads. On Sunday, February 1, the Flood Plain Gang headlines a homeless benefit at the Fox. On Monday, February 2, Lollipop Factory looks for suckers at the Lion's Lair. And on Wednesday, February 4, Tom Tilton kicks off a weekly series at Vartan Jazz Club, and the Bluebird is the place to watch the Jesus Lizard rise again. In fulfillment of the Scriptures.
--Michael Roberts
Backbeat's e-mail address is: [email protected]. While you're online, visit Michael Roberts's Jukebox at www.westword.com
