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May 1-7, 2008
buzz@boulderweekly.com
Midlife dance orgy
The B-52s’ new album brings the fun back to music, in the key of sexy
by Ben Corbett
All in the family
The band members of Eisley are growing up, and so is their music
by Alan Sculley
Midlife dance orgy
The B-52s’ new album brings the fun back to music, in the key of sexy
by Ben Corbett
That the release of The B-52s’ new album, Funplex, might be their attempt to recover from a midlife hangover is an amusing prospect. But no less so than the idea that longtime fans will soon begin the shameless practice of lying about their ages in order to cheat chain restaurants out of senior discounts (then, after dinner, jumping in the little red sports car, cranking “Love Shack” up to 20 decibels, and squawking tires in the parking lot). Older pop rock fans understand fun in a different way than today’s yearlings, who, on the dance floor, strangely resemble a shag-eyed flock of Jerry Mathers clones with their asses sewn shut: “EnterTAIN me. That’s what the ticket price covers. And I’m just gonna stand over here and imitate a loofah sponge.”
OK, but this formula simply won’t work at a B-52s show. If you go, you’re gonna shake and sweat, and in this age of extreme seriousness, the Athens, Ga., band’s brand of campy, zany weirdness is brain-salve for the culturally (and sexually) deprived. After three decades The B-52s (sans apostrophe; they dropped it) are still running strong, and Funplex, the band’s first release of original music in 16 years (following 1992’s less than well-received Good Stuff) is long overdue. Band leader Keith Strickland calls the record “loud, sexy rock ’n’ roll with the beat pumped up to hot pink.” While that description works, you could probably say that about the entire B-52s catalog. Meaning nothing exceptionally different here, other than a return to the World’s Greatest Party Band’s trademark high energy, and a fleshing out (literally) of the Earth Girls Are Easy sound of the late 1980s, yet enhanced by an ultra-dose of Extenz. Choruses like, “There’s a rest stop / Let’s hit the G-spot,” highlight the album’s sexual overtones. And if that doesn’t arouse you, picture the riders crop-carrying emcee Fred Schneider’s sprechgesang (talk-singing) interjections of “I am a fully eroticized being!” laid against Strickland’s Ventures-esque space-age surf guitar and fused with the melodic chiming of Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson.
Released on March 25 and produced by Steve Osborne (New Order), Funplex landed at #11 on Billboard’s Top 200, coming in second only to 1989’s Cosmic Thing, which charted at #4. However, were The B-52s a new band and Funplex a debut record, it would probably go platinum. In this age of masturbatory reclusion, it’s obvious what The B-52s are trying to address with their art-house mod eroticism. America needs a blast of pure hedonism, and The B-52s need to stave off the retirement home. Everybody wins.
You might call Funplex a belated concept album that unites ’70s ironic glam-pop culture with today’s consciously apathetic emo scene. Or you might not.
On the Bill
The B-52s will perform with Eagle Seagull at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, at the Gothic Theatre, 3263 S. Broadway, Denver, 303-788-0984.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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All in the family
The band members of Eisley are growing up, and so is their music
by Alan Sculley
After two EPs and two full-length CDs, one thing that’s become apparent with the pop group Eisley is that people have a hard time trying to decide where the band fits in the musical landscape.
But when the group’s current CD, Combinations, was released last fall, a rather surprising comparison started to surface in reviews and interviews, as Fleetwood Mac became a frequent point of reference.
That comparison caught singer Sherri DuPree off guard.
“The funny thing is we kept hearing that after this album came out,” she said in a recent phone interview. “We had actually never even had Fleetwood Mac albums, sadly. So after Combinations was actually written we started getting into Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks and stuff like that. We love the stuff now, but it was definitely not an influence on our writing because we had not even heard it before. I think it’s so funny when people say that. But we get that a lot.”
Sherri DuPree doesn’t seem the least bit upset about those sort of comparisons. She understands what others are going through.
“We’ve always had trouble explaining where our band fits musically or what category and that kind of thing,” she said. “Like I don’t necessarily think it’s because we’re so different or whatever. I don’t know. It’s partly the fact that it’s three girls.”
The three girls in question are sisters Sherri, keyboardist/singer Stacy and guitarist Chauntelle. Along with brother (and drummer) Weston DuPree and cousin (and bassist) Garron DuPree, they form what is one of the rare true family bands in rock music.
Together Sherri and Stacy create some delectable vocal harmonies — perhaps the reason for the Fleetwood Mac comparisons — but the band’s pop sound is frequently brisker than the mighty Mac, yet also more delicate than much of the modern rock currently filling radio playlists.
However one describes Eisley’s music, Combinations represents significant musical growth for the group. The group’s full-length debut, the 2005 release Room Noises received mixed reviews. One reason was the songs, written mostly by Sherri and Stacy, were sometimes viewed with more than a hint of derision for their fanciful, fairy tale-like lyrical quality and for the romantic innocence that figured into some of the lyrics.
The youthful feel of Room Noises, though, was understandable, considering how young the DuPree sisters were when many of the songs on that CD were written. Stacy, now 19, was just 10 years old when she penned some of the material. Sherri was just 15.
What also made it possible to give a pass to the lyrical perspective of Room Noises was the DuPree sisters showed a notable gift for melody on the album.
Songs such as “Memories” and “Brightly Wound” were imbued with especially striking and graceful vocal melodies.
Combinations retains the melodic charm of its predecessor while on a musical level growing more multi-dimensional (note the darker hues to the song “Many Funerals” and the folky pulse that leads into the ear-grabbing melody of “Taking Control”).
The lyrical perspective, meanwhile, is more mature, and while there are certainly songs that offer elements of romantic bliss, there are songs where the feelings are decidedly more ambiguous and complex.
The romantic element that flavors Combinations was a natural dimension considering the changes that were happening at the time the CD was written.
Sherri was getting married to Chad Gilbert, guitarist in the band New Found Glory. Chauntelle, meanwhile, was engaged to singer Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday.
But life has taken some sharp turns since then, with Chauntelle and Lazzara splitting up and Sherri and Gilbert ending their brief marriage.
“My husband decided he didn’t want to be married anymore, so we split up. It’s totally fine,” Sherri said, indeed sounding as if she has moved on emotionally from the breakup. “It’s actually really good. We’re still friends. Things just went too fast.
“It’s kind of like a crazy trip, but it’s just life,” she said. “I’m doing good and I feel I’m in the best place I’ve ever been in my life right now, so it was actually a blessing that it all happened.”
The period of upheaval prompted Eisley, some five months ago, to put a stop to touring and take time off from promoting Combinations to deal with the personal issues.
But the group is now back in action, having just launched a 50-date headlining tour.
Stacy, in a separate phone interview, said Eisley has some surprises in store for its audiences.
“We’re doing most of the tracks off of Combinations, of course, but I think honestly we’re going to do whatever we want,” she said. “I think we may do some older songs, some songs our fans have been requesting, that they have never heard [live], I don’t know, just really create where we are right now as a band, who we have been and where we’re going, and just kind of complete it all. Hopefully it can please our fans and please ourselves and everything like that.”
On the Bill
Eisley will perform with the Myriad and Vedera at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7, at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder, 303-443-3399.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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