CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'? NOT FOR THESE GUYS; CHICAGO BAND DOESN'T FIND MUCH TO WRITE HOME ABOUT.Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer When the members of Stabbing Westward Stabbing Westward was an American industrial rock and alternative rock band. They formed in 1985 in Chicago, Illinois and began recording in the 1990s. History The Early Years, 1985-1992 left Chicago to work on their latest album in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. last year, they worried the sunshine might soften their dispositions. Not to worry. The band quickly discovered L.A. could be just as depressing as any Chicago winter. ``I thought our sound might change,'' admits singer Chris Hall Chris Hall may refer to:
``But we didn't know a soul here, so all we did was hang out with each other. L.A. is a very lonely place. It's hard to meet anyone. You can hang out all day in a coffee shop and not have one conversation. It turned out to be more depressing than winter in Chicago.'' Stabbing Westward's third album, ``Darkest Days'' (Columbia), released this week, has its morose mo·rose adj. Sullenly melancholy; gloomy. [Latin m  r moments to be sure. But it ends with some kind of hope. ``Everyone feels hopeless sometimes and our record tries to capture those moments while showing there's someplace some·place adv. & n. Somewhere: "I didn't care where I was from so long as it was someplace else" Garrison Keillor. See Usage Note at everyplace. positive to go from there,'' Hall said. ``Rather than wallowing in darkness Adv. 1. in darkness - without light; "the river was sliding darkly under the mist" darkly and self-pity for the sake of it, we're saying be strong. It's easy to blame others or wait for someone to come along and save you. But you have to take a good look at what's gone wrong, and try and fix it.'' To capture the intensity of the edgy five-member band's live shows, Stabbing Westward hired producer Dave Jerden Dave Jerden is a prolific American record producer. Most of his work is done with punk rock and metal bands. Production Discography
1. (character) twiddle - The tilde character. 2. (jargon) twiddle - (To make) a small or insignificant change. E.g. twiddling a program often fixes one bug and generates several new ones (see also shotgun debugging). the knobs. Recorded last summer at El Dorado El Dorado, legendary country of South America El Dorado (ĕl`dərä`dō, –rā`–) [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. in Burbank, ``Darkest Days'' reflects the industrial-strength keyboards and computer programming at the heart of the group's wall of sound. ``It definitely came out how we wanted,'' Hall said from his home in West Hollywood. ``It took a long time but we got the sound we imagined. We left a lot of room for surprises. We'd always wondered what producers do. Jerden got our vibe and energy on tape.'' Hall said the first four songs on the album are ``about the various ways in which you mess up; the next group are obvious relationship-type songs. Then, there are songs about when you've hit the bottom of the barrel.'' The disc's final quarter deals with ``emerging from the dark and sticking to what you believe in,'' Hall explained. Helping out with ``Darkest Days'' was new guitarist Mark Eliopulos, who joined Stabbing Westward in 1996 after the making of ``Wither, Blister, Burn + Peel,'' the group's sophomore album that sold more than 500,000 copies. ``We've learned we're really tight-fisted when it comes to our keyboard sounds,'' Hall said. ``The keyboards don't change from the demo to the album.'' Album track ``Save Yourself'' was named the No. 1 most-added song at alternative and rock radio stations across the country last week. Hall, who penned the lyrics, said the song is something of a departure for him. ``I tend to write about ex-girlfriends and this time I tried to expand into other areas,'' he said. ``This was one of my first attempts at that. It sounds like a negative song, but actually it's very much about finding the key to life. Whenever you find yourself in a bad place, look inside and you'll find you have the key right in your hand. It's a very optimistic notion, but anyone can improve their lives if they have the courage to do so.'' The band - Walter Flakus (keyboards, programming), Jim Sellers (bass), Andy Kubiszewski (drums, programming), Eliopulos and Hall - recently shot a video for ``Save Yourself'' co-directed by Sam Bayer (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins). A tour will be announced next month. Hall, who likes to hit the clubs when he's off the road, said he still isn't familiar with the live music scene in his adopted hometown. ``Underground clubs move all the time,'' he said. ``They're impossible to find. If you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. anyone here, it can really be tough to find anything.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: ``I imagined we were going to come up with a Beach Boys-type album about girls and the beach. But we didn't know a soul here, so all we did was hang out with each other. L.A. is a very lonely place,'' says Chris Hall, foreground, with his Stabbing Westward bandmates. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion