Audio By Carbonatix
Rock musicians who are sensitive to criticism would do well to take a lesson or two from Archers of Loaf’s Eric Bachmann. After half a decade in the music business, the guitarist/vocalist not only has learned to cope with the negative feedback that goes along with being in a band; he’s actually developed a peculiar fondness for it.
“When we were in Australia last month, I read a review that said I was the worst vocalist in modern rock,” he says, laughing. “I actually thought it was pretty cool. If you ask me, the superlative of anything is great. I mean, I’m the worst. That can never be referred to anyone again. Because that’s me!”
While a great many folks would disagree with this assessment, the Aussie critic in question is hardly alone in his opinion. Listeners to the Loaf tend to either really, really love the group’s music or really, really hate it. Using oddly tuned guitars, rough-and-tumble time structures and witty, absurdist lyrics, the Archers create a craggy aural landscape that is sometimes abrasive, sometimes blissful, but never, ever boring. In a world overpopulated by mediocre rock bands, Archers of Loaf is a welcome, if challenging, anomaly.
That’s not to say that Bachmann and his bandmates (guitarist Eric Johnson, bassist Matt Gentling and drummer Mark Price) don’t know how to write accessible tunes. On the contrary: The combo’s first long-player, 1993’s Icky Mettle, bursts with the sort of catchy, unpretentious guitar pop that would please even the least adventurous alt-rock buff. Bearing the influence of seminal modern rockers such as the Pixies, the Replacements and Dinosaur Jr, the album won deserved acclaim: It spent 22 weeks on the College Music Journal new-music chart and inspired a reviewer at New Musical Express to describe it as “a sturdy debut stacked with misfit fury and restless demons.” The powers that were at Interview went NME one better, naming Mettle the best indie-rock album of the year.
Press like this promptly attracted the attention of major labels, whose A&R reps began feverishly courting the players, despite the fact that they were already signed to Alias, a well-respected independent based on the West Coast. The result was a bidding war that spooked Bachmann. “At the time, all that stuff was so intimidating to us,” he concedes. “We didn’t know what to do or say. So we just did what any normal human being would do–we just sort of retracted. We were like, ‘Whoa–wait a minute. What the hell is going on here?’ We really didn’t feel like the band had been around long enough to make those kinds of decisions.”
The Archers’ reticence eventually caused most of the music-industry sycophants who’d been groveling before them to back off, thereby giving the act an opportunity to return to the studio. The time they spent there resulted in two Alias-released recordings–an EP, The Archers of Loaf Vs. The Greatest of All Time, and a full-length, Vee Vee–that were considerably coarser and more experimental than Mettle. Although cuts like “Harnessed in Slums,” “Revenge” and “Greatest of All Time” (which, strangely enough, appeared on Vee Vee, not the similarly titled EP) captured the classic bump and grind of the songs on the first platter, they also seethed with a raw crankiness that was entirely new. The singing was surlier than ever, and the guitar interplay between Bachmann and Johnson was more abstract and complex; it crackled and squeaked like a beached whale. Sounds like these don’t usually wind up in MTV’s Buzz Bin, but the Archers clearly didn’t mind. Their primary goal was to have fun making bright and stimulating music–and they gave not a fuck about those who didn’t want to come along for the ride.
The band’s latest recording, All the Nations’ Airports, seems almost tame by comparison–and since it’s the first Archers effort to appear under the auspices of a major label (thanks to an agreement between Alias and Elektra), many will assume that commercial compromises were made. However, a careful listen reveals that there’s still a lot of weirdness to go around. “Rental Sting,” “Vocal Shrapnel” and “Assassination on X-Mas Eve” are priceless Loaf stompers that stand out more prominently than ever because of their juxtaposition with mellower, more reflective works (notably, the solo piano numbers “Chumming the Ocean” and “Bombs Away”) and changes of pace like “Bumpo,” a twisted surf instrumental.
Unsurprisingly, Bachmann doesn’t mind that some observers aren’t sold on these new directions. In his view, the alterations on Airports constitute yet another growth spurt for an act that has undergone plenty of them in the past. “It seemed like a gradual, natural progression,” he explains. “If you’re going to be in a band for five years or whatever, and you keep recording and recording, you just get bored if you do the same thing year in and year out.”
After a pause, Bachmann adds, “I mean, the only reason we started this band in the first place is because we were bored. So what would be the point in letting it get boring now?”
Archers of Loaf. 9 p.m. Thursday, November 10, Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street, $8, 830-2525 or 1-800-444-
