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Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy
By David Chiu


“I guess if you went out into the wilderness, fell in love, got lost, got your heart broken and emerged to tell the tale, this album could be your own personal soundtrack.”

So said 22-year-old singer/pianist/songwriter Alison Sudol, the driving force behind the collective A Fine Frenzy, about the music on their Virgin Records debut One Cell In the Sea.Her description about her music is fitting because it covers a wide range of emotions—from melancholy to hope to yearning—complemented by distinctive piano playing and Sudol’s airy, soulful voice. It has drew enough strong notices for this newcomer to land a record deal; to have her songs played on television; and to perform on stages all over the country.

“It's pretty spectacular,” Sudol said in an e-mail interview. “Getting to play for people that have never heard us before and getting a raw reaction. We've been getting such incredible responses from the shows... it's a wonderful feeling.”

The songs on One Cell In the Sea, which was released this past July, have a very dreamy quality to them. “I try to collect words, images, stories, etc. on a daily basis,” she said of her songwriting, “and when my head starts feeling full I sit down at the piano and try to make sense of things. Writing is my greatest joy, it's a constant friend and sometimes the only thing that will make me feel like I have a place in the world.”

Some of Sudol’s moments of introspection can be found on the album’s single, “Almost Lover,” which sounds almost like a torch ballad. Its aching lyrics goes: “So long my luckless romance/My back is turned on you /Should have known you'd bring me heartache/Almost lovers always do.” “I had a glimpse of love, lost it and wrote a song to try to understand what had happened,” explained Sudol of its origins.

Yet in spite of the melancholy from the above mentioned track and some others comes “Hope for the Hopeless,” a comforting and uplifting song. “A friend of mine was going through a very difficult time,” Sudol said. “I couldn't offer much comfort with words so I wrote a song instead...”

Originally from Seattle, Sudol grew up in Los Angeles an only child. She said that music had always been a part of her life and listened to rock and pop (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and the Temptations) as well as classical and the avant garde (Philip Glass). “I basically listened to whatever my parents played,” she said, “and I'm so glad that I did. I learned about song structure and singable melody from some of the greatest writers ever.”

Sudol said that she didn’t have a formal musical education—it was at the age of 19 when she started playing the piano mostly on her own. As for singing she said: “The first time I sang loudly (as opposed to the whispering that I had been doing before, I was quite shy) was the time when I knew I had found the thing I was meant to do. I didn't realize exactly what that meant until years later, but that's when the fire started and nothing has dampened it since.”

Readers of William Shakespeare may recognize the band’s moniker from a line in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (“The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven…”). “I thought it was a beautiful description of the writing process and a lovely name,” Sudol explained, “so I borrowed it.”

Sudol’s musical approach—the dominant piano sound and the personal lyrics— is likely to draw some references to previous female singer/piano players such as Tori Amos. “I haven't heard a single upsetting comparison though I have heard some odd ones,” Sudol said. “I think it's flattering. It means people care enough to want to bring you into the fold of things familiar and known. I don't mind it at all.”

The story of how A Fine Frenzy got a label deal with Virgin Records is somewhat of a fairy tale in itself since only only a few people knew the group’s music at the time. “One of those people was Jason Flom,” she said, “at the time the CEO of Virgin Records. He heard the music and a few days later was in my living room, watching us play. The rest is history.”

After a summer of touring, Sudol is not exactly taking a break from further promoting A Fine Frenzy. First she and her band are scheduled to appear as a special guest of Brandi Carlile on VH1’s You Oughta Know Tour. (Both acts are slated to appear at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City on October 3 and 4). In addition to having her music performed on the television shows One Tree Hill and House, Sudol is appearing as herself on the season premiere of CSI:NY, with an airdate of September 26.

Asked what it was like to finally have her music released, she said: “Knowing the album is out there in the world is a strange and wonderful feeling. Being able to walk into a music store pretty much anywhere and find copies of the record on the shelves is pretty thrilling.

“It's also a little bit scary, releasing something that took over a year of work (several months of writing and several more of recording) but a lifetime of experience to create into the world... It opens the doors to all sorts of things, good and bad. This is definitely the most exciting time of my life.”

Photo: Peter Berberian


Check out this YouTube video clip featuring an interview with A Fine Frenzy’s Alison Sudol. For more information, visit www. afinefrenzy.com

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The Police
The Police
A&M/UME
by David Chiu

Interest in the Police remains strong 30 years after their debut indie single “Fallout,” first with their reunion tour and now with this 28-song retrospective. Starting out as art and jazz rockers, Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers were the most accomplished musicians of the punk era but they quickly embraced the genre’s DIY attitude, particularly on the early reggae-inflected material (“Roxanne,” “Can’t Stand Losing You,” “Walking on the Moon”). It wasn’t until 1980’s Zenyatta Mondatta album that the group started to emerge from the pack and Sting’s lyrics grew darker and complex (“Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” “De Doo Doo Doo, De Da Da Da”). The band reached mass acceptance through 1983’s Synchronicity album—eight of that album’s songs are on this compilation—and its biggest single “Every Breath You Take” was the most popular song of that summer. Fans will quibble over the exclusion of certain songs—“When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around,” “It’s Alright For You,” and a few others—that can be remedied if you have all five studio albums or even better the Message in a Box set. Still for those who checked out the recent shows, The Police compilation makes a neat souvenir of that experience.
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Miles Davis
Evolution of the Groove
Columbia/Legacy
By David Chiu

The jazz legend Miles Davis was certainly influential on rock and soul--it is no wonder that artists from those communities would want to pay tribute to him. This nearly 15-minute EP, which features updated remixes of four Miles Davis recordings between 1959 and 1972 shows how much his music has crossed over into hip-hop and rock. Purists may balk at these reworkings, but similar to the Beatles’ Love album these remixes offer a fresh and new way of looking at Davis’s eclectic music. Carlos Santana, a famous fan of Davis's music, adds some fiery guitar riffs to “It’s About That Time,” originally from In a Silent Way. Rapper Nas pays tribute to the trumpet master and names checks members of his mid'60s Quintet on the stomping “Freedom Jazz Dance.” Fans of Davis and the landmark album Kind of Blue will also relish over the inclusion of a previously unreleased “Freddie Freeloader” outtake from those sessions. The remixes with their beats and rhythms sound fresh but they don't take away from Davis's distinct trumpet playing.
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Ronnie McCoury and the Del McCoury Band
Little Mo’ McCoury
McCoury Music
By David Chiu

Little Mo’ McCoury is a bluegrass children’s album that, with the exception of a few songs featuring kids singing, sounds like a record for anyone. In the expert hands of mandolin player/singer Ronnie McCoury and the Del McCoury Band, the music is rendered with traditional instrumentation, so there’s none of the sweetness one would expect from a children’s record. In addition to typical children’s fare (“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “This Old Man”), Little Mo’ McCoury also features standards (“This Land Is Your Land,” “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”) and contemporary material (Randy Newman’s “You Got a Friend In Me,” originally from Toy Story). It is a bluegrass primer that kids and their parents can appreciate.
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Rat Salad:
Black Sabbath: The Classic Years 1969-1975
By Paul Wilkinson
Published by Thomas Dunne Books
Review by David Chiu

Part rock biography, part history lesson, first-time author/Sabbath fan Paul Wilkinson’s takes a different approach than others in his career survey of the heavy metal founders. Rather than rehashing the typical that would befit a band of this stature—sex, drugs and rock and roll-- although Wilkinson does touches more on the latter. Instead he chooses to focus in talking about the band’s first six albums from its self-titled 1970 debut to 1975’s Sabotage (He doesn’t discuss the last two albums with original singer Ozzy Osbourne, Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, for he considers them sub par). He delves headlong into describing and telling the story behind each song from the albums, including the classics “Paranoid,” “War Pigs,” “Snowblind,” and “Iron Man.”

Rat Salad is also somewhat of a cultural history of the early to mid ‘70s, during when the author was an adolescent in Britain, as if to provide some context to the times the band lived in. For example, the song "War Pigs" reflects antiwar sentiment as the Vietnam conflict raged on. Wilkinson also draws from poignant moments in his childhood, including a kiss with a sweetheart in school.

The absence of any further discussion on Sabbath and what happened to the group after Osbourne’s departure may make this book somewhat incomplete. However, the author would himself point out that stuff can be found in other books previously written about Sabbath. On the other hand, Rat Salad simply emphasizes the music and the process behind it. His writing style is conversational and lively—even some of the footnotes carry a sense of humor. Overall Rat Salad is strictly for the fans of the original Sabbath, but it is accessible enough for those who aren’t.
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The Jukebox Musical
by David Chiu
Originally written March 19, 2007 with additional edits

Even on a very cold Sunday afternoon, there was some buzz in the air as people walked the streets of New York’s busy theater district. Particularly at the August Wilson Theater on West 52nd Street, theatergoers of all ages with tickets in their hands were crowding around just to see a musical whose songs were popular over 40 years ago. Between 2:30 and 3 p.m. there was a long line of people trying get into the theater doors from almost the end of the block.

This crowd was here to catch a matinee performance of “Jersey Boys,” the musical based on the ‘60s pop group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Its popularity was confirmed not only by the crowds but also the reviews that were prominently displayed on the marquee: “Unstoppable!” said the Associated Press; “A winner!” proclaimed The New Yorker; and “Fabulous!” cried the London Daily Mail. Having received the Tony Award for Best Musical, it is one of longest-running shows on Broadway, grossing over $90 million as of June 12, 2007, according to Playbill.com.

The show’s main selling point is naturally the hit songs— “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Rag Doll,” and “December 1963 (Oh What a Night),” and others— that most of the older audience members remember from their youth. It is an example of a production that uses preexisting hits songs to create and tell a story around them--most commonly referred to as the 'jukebox musical.'

Earlier shows such as “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Crazy for You” that used the songs of Fats Waller and George and Ira Gershwin respectively were some of the earlier examples of the concept. The jukebox musical, however, really took off after the smash success of “Mamma Mia!” which featured the songs of Swedish pop group ABBA, upon its debut in London in 1999. “Mamma Mia!” continues to play all over the world, including on Broadway where it recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

Then next seven years brought more song hits-oriented musicals to Broadway and London’s West End than ever before: “Movin’ Out” (featuring the songs of Billy Joel), “We Will Rock You” (Queen), “All Shook Up” (Elvis Presley), “Good Vibrations” (The Beach Boys), “Ring of Fire” (Johnny Cash), “Tonight’s The Night,” (Rod Stewart), “Lennon” (John Lennon), and “Hot Feet” (Earth Wind and Fire). But with the exception of “Movin’ Out,” “Mamma Mia!”, and “We Will Rock You,” a majority of those shows had mainly negative reviews and limited runs. “Lennon” closed after 49 performances in 2005; in contrast, “Movin’ Out” ended its Broadway run that same year with 1,303 performances and two Tony awards.

Last year came “The Times They Are A-Changin,” a collaboration between Bob Dylan and famed choreographer/director Twyla Tharp, who previously directed “Movin’ Out.” After much hype, the musical closed after 28 performances—another casualty in the ever-growing list of unsuccessful pop music-based shows.

“The reason so many of them are not very good is that several shows haven’t made an attempt to integrate the songs sufficiently with the [story],” said Eric Grode, theater critic for The New York Sun. “The focus is on getting as many Beach Boys hits, for example, into the show [“Good Vibrations”] instead of finding lyrics that fit the mood of the story.”

Another reason for the mixed success, said Time Out New York theater writer Adam Feldman, is that the songs from the rock era weren’t intended to be written for the theater. Rather, Tin Pan Alley pop standards and jazz from the early 20th century penned by the likes of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and George Gershwin were more suited for Broadway. “The problem with doing a lot more modern music,” he said, “is that it was never intended as dramatic music to express character or situations—it was intended to have a beat that you can listen to in the car.”

Still, the reason why people go to these shows in the first place is their immediate recognition of the pop songs they grew up listening to. It’s most likely a 25 year-old seeing “Movin’ Out” would know a Billy Joel song like “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” than “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!”

“Back when “West Side Story” and “My Fair Lady” would go to the top of the Billboard charts, tourists would already know those songs, too,” said Grode. “Now that traditional theater music rarely makes the charts, it’s the jukebox stuff that jumps out in terms of recognition.”

But recognition can also have the opposite effect when fans have a very personal attachment with the artists and their songs the grew up with since adolescence. “People have very strong associations with this music,” said Rolling Stone editor Anthony DeCurtis. “You don’t have to live and breathe personally a Noel Coward song, you relate to it a different way. Lennon and McCartney or Bob Dylan—that’s a whole other story.”

For “The Times They are A-Changin,’” director Tharp used over 20 songs written by Dylan, including “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Lay Lady Lay,” to tell a story about a father and son relationship. “Dylan seems to be like a very difficult subject to do,” said DeCurtis, “because he wrote so many different kinds of songs. Even though some Dylan songs are driven by a narrative, many of them are not. My sense was that there was a desire to make literal a lot of what was in those songs.”

Rather than creating a story based on different songs like what the other productions have done, writer Rick Elice did the reverse for “Jersey Boys.” He and collaborator Marshall Brickman wrote a biographical story based on their interviews with the group’s surviving members, including singer Frankie Valli and keyboardist/songwriter Bob Gaudio. “That circumvents the awkwardness of having characters sing rock songs that we associate with very particular performers,” said Elice.

Aside from smarts and luck, Elice said that the show’s success was due to the fact that the Four Seasons never had the high visibility of acts such as the Beatles even though they sold millions of records. With the obvious hit tunes, the musical described the original Four Seasons’ rise from their working class Jersey roots to playing on the Ed Sullivan Show. “Jersey Boys” also revealed the pitfalls and tragedy the members experienced.

“You have “Jersey Boys” and you think, ‘Oh we’re going to hear [songs like] “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” or “Oh What a Night,’” said Elice. “And then you get there and you go, ‘Wow, that was a surprise. I didn’t know that happened to them. That’s great. ‘I want to bring somebody because I love this story.’’’

Aesthetics aside, there is also a huge financial investment at stake. According to the Associated Press, “Lennon” only made around $230,000 in its short run; “The Times They Are A-Changin’” lost $8.5 million as reported by The New York Times. “In the commercial theater,” Elice said, “where you have a responsibility to your investors, it’s like having responsibility to shareholders.”

“They’ve lost millions of dollars and that’s not a lesson that any producer can afford to ignore,” said Feldman of the shows that closed early.

Yet in a glut of failed jukebox shows comes “Spring Awakening,” a Broadway show adapted from an 1891 play about the sexual angst of adolescents. Its original rock music was composed by singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik, best known for his 1996 hit “Barely Breathing” (Sheik described it as the “anti-musical” in a Rolling Stone article). “Spring Awakening” opened this past December to rave reviews and recently won the Best Musical Tony. Some are encouraged that “Spring Awakening” might revive interest in creating more new original pop and rock musicals.

“In a lot of ways, what Duncan Sheik has done is really create a new set of possibilities,” said DeCurtis. “Musical theater should be looking for new writers and a new way to approach these things."

Despite the spotty track record, jukebox musical productions will continue to soldier on. For example, scheduled to come is Pink Floyd’s rock masterpiece “The Wall.” “You can bet there’s a lot of people shopping their catalogs around,” Feldman said. “There’s a lot of money involved for the artists.”

Sources:
Fricke, David. “Broadway’s Rock ‘Awakening.’” Rolling Stone, Feb. 8, 2007. (retrieved online)

Hernandez, Ernio. “Peace: New Lennon Musical to Close on Broadway Sept. 24.” Playbill, Sept. 15, 2005. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/94819.html
(retrieved online).

"'Lennon,' a Broadway musical about John Lennon, to fold after a short run." The Associated Press, Sept. 15, 2005. (retrieved online)

McKinley, Jesse. “’Lennon’ To Close.” The New York Times, Sept. 16, 2005. (retrieved online)

“Pink Floyd’s Wall Broadway Bound.” BBC News, Aug. 8, 2004 news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3539908.stm. (retrieved online)

"Playbill News: Cumulative Broadway Grosses Through June 10, 2007." Playbill. www.playbill.com/news/article/108734.html. (retrieved online).

“Proclaimers musical set to shine.” BBC News, Dec. 20, 2006. news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/Scotland/tayside_and_central/6194433.stm. (retrieved online)

Robertson, Campbell. “Tharp’s Dylan Musical to Close.” The New York Times, Nov. 9, 2006. (retrieved online).

Windman, Matt. "Billy Joel Surprises Audience with Performance at Movin’ Out’s Final Curtain." Playbill, Dec. 12, 2005.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/96781.html
(retrieved online)
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Moby Grape
Listen My Friends! The Best of Moby Grape
Columbia/Legacy
By David Chiu

Moby Grape may have never reached the heights of national popularity in contrast to their fellow ‘60s San Francisco peers the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. But that shouldn’t diminish their musical legacy, which has achieved some cult-like notoriety. Listen My Friends! offers an appreciation for the group’s efforts and is a neat introduction for those unfamiliar with this quintet. The sound is definitely rock and roll with some roots, bluesy and power pop influences like on ”Omaha,” “Sweet Ride,” and “Murder in My Heart for the Judge.” While it is definitely AOR, the tuneful songs are compact and relatively short for mainstream consumption—no endless jamming. The music on Listen My Friends! shows that this band can easily match up against any of the bigger name bands of their era.
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The Remains
The Remains
Epic/Legacy
By David Chiu

You can make the argument that this mid-Sixties Boston band was one of the earliest pioneers of punk music. The Remains’ music fell somewhere between the melodic instincts of the Beatles and the aggression of the Kinks (The group opened for the Beatles on their '66 tour) with songs such as “Heart” and the swagger of “Don’t Look Back.” Singer Barry Tashian sings with the blunt charisma of Mick Jagger, and drummer Chip Damiani swings hard with his propulsive beats. This reissue of The Remains (1966) tacks on 11 additional tracks of B-sides and outtakes.
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The Beach Boys
The Warmth of the Sun
Capitol
By David Chiu

While the tracks on this latest Beach Boys compilation don’t feature the recognizable signature songs of the band (they can be found on the previous Sounds of Summer collection), most of them are as good and at times even eclipses some of the bigger hits. They all showcase the Boys’ penchant for surf, cars and girls with the usual excellent production values and vocal harmonies, exhibited through wonderful tracks like the lovely “Disney Girls (1957),” “It’s OK,” and the romantic “Sail On, Sailor.” There are even a couple of decent covers including “Then I Kissed Her” (a remake of the Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me”) and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ “Why Do Fools Fall In Love.” And showing a willingness to experiment is the magnificent “Feel Flows,” which was featured in the movie Almost Famous. The Warmth of the Sun is a perfect companion to Sounds of Summer—they all add up to a truly ultimate Beach Boys experience.
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Nick Lowe
At My Age
Yep Roc
By David Chiu

Nick Lowe returns with his latest studio album in six years, a solid effort that bridges together elegant pop and country-laced roots rock. While its music certainly sounds a long way from his New Wave and power pop past (his biggest and famous hit was “Cruel to Be Kind”), At My Age still reveals Lowe’s trademark sense of wit in his lyrics dealing with the complicated affairs of the heart. On the standout “I Trained Her to Love Me,” he sings rather deadpan: “I trained her to love me so I can go ahead and break her heart.” At My Age is Lowe’s finest to date.
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Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation-Deluxe Edition
Geffen/UME
By David Chiu

In 1988 during when acts such as U2, Whitney Houston and George Michael were the rage, Sonic Youth blasted the doors wide open with Daydream Nation, a masterpiece of post-punk rock. The music is rooted in the avant garde and recalls the glories of the Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat; yet despite the experimentations and the angular guitar noise, it sounds focused. The opening tracks “Teenage Riot” launched the album through over an hour’s worth of rip-roaring songs including "Eric’s Trip," “Silver Rocket,” and “Hey Joni.” If you need any evidence of the kind of live band Sonic Youth was back in 1988-1989 look to the bonus disc on this reissue, which contains live versions of Daydream Nation’s songs recorded around the time of the album’s release; it also contains four cover tracks including the Beatles’ “Within You, Without You,” and Neil Young’s “Computer Age.” Even nearly 20 years on, Daydream Nation still sounds fresh and electrifying today.
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Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons
Jersey Beat: The Music of Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons
Rhino
By David Chiu

The continued audience turnout for the smash Broadway musical Jersey Boys is a testament to the popularity of the Four Seasons's music for 45 years since “Sherry.” Yes the group is best known for Valli’s distinctive falsetto voice and the Bob Crewe-Bob Gaudio-penned hits such as “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man” and “Rag Doll.” And while those are certainly hallmarks of their history, this 3-CD/1 DVD box also covers the stylistic breadth of their career including forays into the psychedelic era (the very Beatlesque “Genuine Imitation Life Gazette” and “Where the Flowers Grow”) to disco-era funk (the massively popular “Who Loves You” and “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)”). In between are some decent to underappreciated gems of the group’s latter incarnations including the soulful “Rhapsody,” “Fallen Angel,” and the more recent Hope and Glory. The primary draw to Jersey Beat however remains the early hits, which occupy nearly all of disc one—it makes one appreciates the songwriting and production talents of Gaudio and Crewe respectively, and the group dynamic between the original members—Frankie Valli is definitely one of the greatest singers in pop music. Jersey Beat is a lovingly assembled and lavishly packaged document of a great American pop act and a golden musical age. (Read more about "Jersey Boys" the musical)
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Fiction Plane performing at the Bowery Ballroom, Aug. 2, 2007. Photos by David Chiu. Read the interview here.






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Australian singer/songwriter Greta Gertler and her band will perform at the Mercury Lounge, NYC, on Aug. 13 at 8 p.m. Highly recommended for an evening of gorgeous, witty pop music. Gertler also has a new album, Edible Restaurant, which is now available on iTunes and will also be released later this year.

For information, visit www.gretagertler.net. Below is a YouTube video of Gertler performing “If Bob Was God.”


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Fiction Plane
By David Chiu

Joe Sumner, singer and bassist for the band Fiction Plane, might be one of those rare young musicians who wrote a rock song about, of all things, nepotism, as he does on “Running the Country.” You can say he has some first-hand knowledge of the subject since he is the son of the Police’s legendary vocalist Sting.

“I just wanted to get straight into it and figuring my own position out,” said the 30-year-old about that song from his band’s latest album Left Side of the Brain. “[“Running the Country”] is just about having a look at it.”

The attention on Sumner as the son of a famous rock star is something he’ll continue to deal with now that Fiction Plane is currently on tour opening for the reunited Police. Both bands are scheduled to perform at Madison Square Garden on August 1 and 3, and Giants Stadium on August 5. Around that same time, Fiction Plane will also headline a concert at the Bowery Ballroom on Aug. 2.

Initially Sumner had some reservations about being invited to open for the Police. “We didn’t have an album out—we didn’t have anything out [at the time],” he explained. “It was going to be really embarrassing. But then we said yes…because you just can’t say no. It was impossible.”

Sumner needn’t worry about having lack of songs to play live since he, drummer Pete Wilhoit and guitarist Seton Daunt did release Left Side of the Brain this past spring. Upon hearing Fiction Plane’s music, it is impossible not to draw some similarities between them and the Police: Both trio bands incorporate elements of reggae, funk and pop in their music; and Sumner’s singing at times sounds uncannily like Sting’s. But Fiction Plane’s music is heavier and more aggressive.

“Someone the other day described it as Sublime meets Mars Volta, which I’m happy with,” Sumner said about his band’s sound. “We kind of just go wherever we want. That’s what defines us for me—we got freedom to do whatever we want.”

And just like his father, who was the chief songwriter in the Police, Sumner is in charge of writing Fiction Plane’s introspective lyrics. They range from relationships on the catchy “Two Sisters,” to the anti-war sentiment of “Death Machine.” Sumner draws inspiration for his songs from his personal experiences and literature: “I kind of like to look at my personal situations and then look at things, like world politics and stuff like that, and make connections.”

The son of the aforementioned Sting and his first wife Frances Tomelty, Joe was listening to bands as diverse as Madness and Nirvana. He wanted to become a musician around the age of 15 as he got tired of school. Sting offered his son a piece of advice. “He basically told me to learn at least some theory,” said Sumner, “and not be a total grunge hack, which is useful in the end actually.”

Sumner and original bassist Dan Brown formed Fiction Plane in London with guitarist Daunt and drummer Wilhoit joining in later. The band had released the debut album, Everything Will Never Be OK in 2003 on a major label, but subsequent record company problems left a follow-up recording in limbo. Then Brown departed, and Sumner took his place by switching from guitar to bass. “We didn’t kind of falter at all, we just kept going,” he said of that period.

Finally Fiction Plane’s Left Side of the Brain was released this May on Bieler Bros. Records. Sumner said that the band is proud of this new album, which represents a new start for them. “On this record, we had no such [record company guy] interference,” he said, “and we just came into our own. That’s why I prefer it personally and I think it will translate a lot better. It’s just really from us.”

Sumner doesn’t seem intimidated by the idea of playing on a big stage especially for this blockbuster Police tour. “Most of the pressure I feel is from bass player fanatics who know all kinds of technical stuff,” he explained. “I definitely feel that pressure a little bit, but I kind of don’t care. The live performances don’t really faze me at all. It doesn’t matter if we are playing in a pub or in a stadium—it’s kind of the same to me.”


Fiction Plane is playing on Aug. 2 at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC. For information, visit www.fictionplane.com
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Crowded House
Masonic Lodge, NYC
July 19, 2007
By David Chiu

Rock and roll reunions are usually a mixed bag with disappointing results. Fortunately in the case of Crowded House, who split up in 1996, it’s a welcomed and pleasant return.

Founding members, singer/guitarist Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour, are in this incarnation of the band, and joined by longtime multinstrumentalist Mark Hart and new drummer Matt Sherrod (Original drummer Paul Hester died in 2005). The band had just released a new album, Time on Earth, their first since 1993, and are embarking on a world tour that includes two dates in New York City this month.

In July, Crowded House gave a preview to a New York audience of what to expect of their forthcoming tour with a performance at the Masonic Lodge. Finn, the main songwriter and voice, showed he had lost none of his melodic gifts. That was the case with the some of the new songs from Time on Earth such as the buoyant “Don’t Stop Now.” They meshed well with the older and familiar Crowded House tunes such as “Pineapple Head,” the rocking “Locked Out” and “Fall at Your Feet.” The encore included the wonderful “Something So Strong,” “Better Be Home Soon,” and of course, their biggest hit, a semi-acoustic rendition of "Don’t Dream It’s Over.”

The low-key intimacy and setting of the Masonic Lodge suited the music well. Finn and Nick Seymour appeared to be enjoying playing together again as demonstrated by their musicianship. Mark Hart showed his musical versatility as he alternated between guitar and keyboards. While the absence of the late Paul Hester was sadly noticeable, the superb, muscular drumming of Matt Sherrod offset it.

In this country the band will be forever associated with their 1987 smash hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over.” But overall they also had a consistent body of work, and the concert was a reminder of that.

Crowded House will be playing on Aug. 8 and 9 at the Beacon Theater. For information, visit www.crowdedhouse.com.
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