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The Posies
Finally See the Light
By David Chiu
Ken Stringfellow remembers his
last days as the singer/guitarist of the power pop band the Posies
that culminated in their final show in San Francisco in 1998.
"The situation for the last two years of our lives was very
negative," he says. "It was almost like going to a
job, and music should never be that. Or it's like to going
to a dinner with a dysfunctional family. A total Meet the
Fockers nightmare."
Fortunately for him and his longtime
musical partner, guitarist/singer Jon Auer, the separation only
turned out to be just a much-needed break. Over the next couple
of years, the two performed together again occasionally and rededicated
themselves to making music together.
Now the Seattle based-band are
back with a new album Every Kind of Light (Rykodisc),
and augmented by a new rhythm section, bassist Matt Harris and
drummer Darius Minwalla. Stringfellow is clearly energized with
the Posies new lease on life and personnel. "The band sort
of died and rebirthed itself with two new people," he says.
"We like playing with each other. It was such an easy and
a fun thing to do. It wasn't easy and fun back in the old days."
The Posies emerged from the-then
thriving early '90s alternative music scene in Seattle that brought
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. But the Posies, whose main
core has always been Stringfellow and Auer, differed slightly
from their punk and grunge peers-their sound, while certainly
had its explosive moments, drew more on the melodic side of Big
Star, the Beatles, and the Hollies. Signed to Geffen Records
in 1989, the group would release melodic rock albums such as
Dear 23, Frosting on the Beater (containing the
popular single "Dream All Day"), and Amazing Disgrace.
The group also contributed the song "Going Going Gone"
to the Reality Bites film soundtrack in 1994. Their final
studio album before their initial break-up in 1998 was ironically
called Success.
Witt the new Every Kind of
Light, the Posies sound like they haven't missed a beat despite
the long hiatus between recording-a track like "Conversations"
is another gem to the band's catalog. That's is also clearly
the case on impacting rockers such as I Guess Your Right, "I
Finally Found a Jungle I Like," "All in a Day's Work,"
and the punkish fireballling "Second Time Around."
"We play very frenetic and high energy," explains Stringfellow.
"The fact of the matter is we made the record live in the
studio and added a few sprinkles on top. We wrote a song everyday
for 12 days. That was to capture sort of our spontaneity and
live charm that was not really accessible before."
What some people might also not
be able to pick upon the first listen of Light is the
political and social commentary on some tracks such as the bluesy
"Could He Treat You Better" (the 'he' in the song referring
to President Bush), the piano-laden "That Don't Fly,"
and the ironic "It's Great to Be Here Again," which
is not about the group's reunion but feelings about America post
September 11. "Part of the record for me is a break up album,"
says Stringfellow, who lives part-time in France. "I'm sort
of breaking up with my own culture. I woke up one day and didn't
really know my neighbors anymore. I feel morelike of a foreigner
in my own country everyday."
Then he deadpans, "I really
thought there was a very good chance John Kerry would be elected
President last year. Then I was sort of like, 'I wondered if
half our record is going to be like totally obsolete?' But it
wasn't the case, unfortunately."
The commentary hasn't dampened
some of Light's lovely melodic tracks such as the torch-like
ballad "Last Crawl" and the gorgeous and sunny "Love
Comes." "It's upbeat, isn't it?" asks Stringellow
about the latter. "It was fun to make. That's part of the
exuberance of recording us live together that is really shining
through. We probably just made the song ten minutes before we
recorded it."
It had been a particularly busy
time for Stringfellow and Auer in the last year; in addition
to writing and recording the new Posies album, the two have also
contributed their talents to the upcoming new album by Big Star,
their first in 30 years. The two Posies had played with original
Big Star members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens dating back to
their 1993 reunion at the University of Missouri (it was their
cover versions of Big Star's "Feel" and ex-member Chris
Bell's "I Am the Cosmos" that earned them the invitation
to join the band). For Stringfellow, performing with his heroes
is still a privilege and an honor. "Playing the old songs
in that context-it felt like we were helping carrying on that
legacy," he says. To me I felt like 'God, should we be really
doing this?' Because I love playing music with them so much,
it was sort of worth breaking that spell a bit."
The Posies are currently on tour,
and there has been no official announcement of Big Star doing
any shows. For Stringfellow, playing again as the Posies is a
chance to not only catch up with their faithful following but
to reestablish themselves to a new audience. "My expectations
are to present ourselves unabashedly, step up to the mike, and
just celebrate the fact we survived," he says. "No
matter what happens, if one person or a million people hear this
record, we made it. We worked out a way to play these songs,
which is very satisfying.
"I think if people who has
never seen us will be really bowled over by the amount of energy
that comes off from us playing onstage. [The record] is a great
souvenir from spending time together last year. After that, we're
gonna tour and see what happen."
A lot of trends of come and gone
during and after the Posies' career, not to mention several personnel
changes within the band. Bur the one remaining constant for the
Posies has always been the musical chemistry between Auer and
Stringfellow-a relationship that dates back to 1983 in Bellingham,
Washington."It's something sort of mysterious to me,"
Stringfellow muses about their partnership. "Our musical
connection is just there. We have a way of communicating without
words-just by being around each other. If I didn't see Jon for
ten years from this day, if we were going to dinner together,
it might be awkward. If we were to walk to the stage without
having seen each other, our musicality would pick up right where
we left off. I don't have any other musical relationship like
that."
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