Influential Albums: Veruca Salt - American Thighs

Words can't express how much I love this album. But I'm gonna try...

Back in 1995 I was hanging out at my buddy Mark's apartment and the video for "Seether" came on MTV (they used to actually play music videos back then). I was entranced. The other guys in the room were making fun of me for being so enraptured by these weird, nerd girls in slips eating ground up, raw meat out of dismembered baby dolls and occasionally singing like they had sucked in helium. I didn't care. This was awesome.

A week later, I developed a pretty serious case of bronchitis. My grandmother drove me to the doctor, and on the trip back home, she agreed to let me stop off at Media Play (a store which I sorely miss... they started an incredible CD price war in Tulsa with Best Buy around that time which drove all the CD prices down to $9). I was praying the album cover wouldn't look anything like the video, or there would be no chance I'd be able to buy it without a long lecture. Fortunately, the cover was tame, so she actually paid for it (thanks, G-ma), and I headed home and popped on the headphones while I played video games and hacked my lungs up.

I probably heard this entire disk more than 20 times that day. I was HOOKED. The playing is sloppy in all the right ways, impacting, gritty, yet with moments of elegance here and there. This was grunge, yeah, but a far cry from the Seattle thing, and with much more creativity than just 3 chords and screaming about angst, apathy, and heroin.

The recording quality is stellar. This is another one of my stereo test CDs. The low end on the bass is appendix-shaking, and the crisp, brilliant highs on the ride cymbal bell takes you to the other end of the sonic spectrum.

There are some who will say "But Gregory, they were just ripping off the Breeders!". Kinda true... also like saying Guns 'N Roses ripped off L.A. Guns. It's the same sound, but in my humble opinion, The Breeders had a formula that they really couldn't see or reach the potential of. Veruca Salt was somehow able to construct skyscrapers off of a blueprint The Breeders were using to build dog houses. Plus, Nina and Louise were waaaaay cuter. :)

Every single time this album cues up with that fuzzed-out midrange heavy guitar and "I'm spinning out..." on "Get Back", it's like the climb up on the first big drop of a rollercoaster. The album just rolls from there. "All Hail Me" still creeps me out. I still rewind the scream at the beginning of "Seether" multiple times before I let the rest of the song play. I still sing at the top of my lungs with the whoa-ohs at the end of "Spiderman '79". The harmony parts throughout the album are breath-taking, and the lyrics on all the songs, but especially "Wolf", "Sleeping Where I Want", and "Celebrate You" still conjure up such vivid, demented imagery... I will adore this album for all time.

And if anyone out there knows how to get the guitar sound on the lead that plays out at the end of "25", please let me know.

Don't own it yet? Listen and buy it here:

  

Musician Tip #2: Show Up

Again, this probably seems simple to the point of being asinine.

Believe me, it needs to be said. When I first decided to take on being a full-time musician, I made some calls to local club managers, event booking agents, etc. I was trying to promote myself, but before the calls ended I would ask, "What is it that makes an artist someone you love working with?".

I must have asked this to a dozen people, and all the answers I heard could be boiled down to these points:

1) They show up.
2) They don't get hammered drunk while on stage.
3) They don't take long breaks or take breaks every 20 minutes.
4) They either bring people in, or keep people here.

I was amazed. NOBODY said anything about the quality of music being made. And really? Just being there is Priority 1? Isn't that obvious? It seems not.

In the months to come I heard stories from all sorts of people who booked performers that never even showed up to a gig. Some didn't even show to people's weddings they were booked for. I was amazed... all you have to do is drive to this place, play guitar and sing, and people will pay you. And you DON'T GO??!!

Obviously, musicians have a bad rap for being flaky, irresponsible, artsy, bums (and I'm not even gonna get into jam bands)... and for good reason. In my estimation, roughly 90% of "musicians" are nothing more than hobbyists who are far too lazy to do any real work in any form, and a music career is no exception. Yes, I just said that.

So I was excited beyond belief at these list points above. That was EASY. I can show up, not get smashed to the point of vomiting on my microphone, keep the breaks to a minimum (or non-existent... but that's another article), and entertain a room full of people.

Without a doubt, I must say that only the Divine favor of God Himself could have brought me to the level of success I've achieved thus far... I'm certainly not that good on my own. However, diligent work pays off. Always.

If you're struggling as a musician, first ask yourself if you're adhering to these points. If not, there's good news - being a more successful musician is gonna be easier than you think.

Influential Albums: Cream - Disraeli Gears

This was the first cassette tape I ever bought with my own money.

Around the age of 11, my brother had begun taking guitar lessons and started a quest of finding the best guitarists to emulate. Though I hadn't yet picked up an instrument of my own, I was already an avid music fan, so I shared my brother's enthusiasm for finding new players/groups to check out. Of course, Eric Clapton ranked pretty high on almost every one's recommendation list.

So Chris (my brother) bought a cassette single of "Bad Love" off of Clapton's Journeyman album. We wore that thing into the ground, rewinding and replaying it for hours as we did our homework after school. It's just an incredible song. Clapton's guitar work was everything we had heard it would be (SIDEBAR: Phil Collin's drumming on that track is also artwork in and of itself), and we were instant fans.

Chris later tracked down some of Clapton's earlier group work - namely The Very Best of Cream and the Blind Faith album (I had to draw a black t-shirt over the topless girl on the cover so as not to freak our mom out). Blind Faith didn't have much appeal then, since there weren't any rockin' guitar solos, though I rediscovered the album once my ears had matured a bit. The Cream tape was great though. It's hard to imagine some of those sounds are actually coming out of a guitar.

A while after, I had a birthday coming up and was allowed to pick out a cassette tape as a present at our local mall music store. As I scanned the tape racks (not yet in the market for those new-fangled CDs), I stumbled across this album. An actual Cream album, not just an incongruous selection of cuts. Thanks to the Greatest Hits tape, I was already familiar with songs like "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Strange Brew", but "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (which I hadn't heard since it was only available on the Greatest Hits CD, not the tape) quickly became my new fave song of all time. "Blue Condition" was another favorite, with Ginger Baker's sloppy, cockney vocals making that track jump off the album.

There was obviously some psychedelic influence creeping into the blues-based trio around this time. I was entranced by the subdued, almost eerie vibe to "World of Pain" and "Dance the Night Away". The slow, intense build of "We're Going Wrong" still gives me chills every time I hear it. And "Mother's Lament" is just brilliantly hilarious.

"Outside Woman Blues" also became a staple in my live set. If you've seen me play live more than once, chances are you've heard this song, though my rendition is a hybrid of Clapton's take and the original version.

This album was a major influence on me creatively, and it was also one of my major inspirations for learning bass. Jack Bruce's approach, attack, and note selection were always the target I was aiming for as a young bassist. His tone... not so much. These Cream albums weren't recorded very well, and personally, I think the remastered versions that came out in the 90's sound even worse. Clapton's guitars were already ridiculously high in the mix, and the bass and Baker's drums were barely audible on a few tracks... the remastered versions only amplify these problems.

I'd love to hear an entire remix of this, if it were ever possible. Chances are the only thing they have to work with are 2-track masters, but I still often wonder what it would sound like to have these redone by one of the Lord-Alge brothers.

Fun tidbit... the day I bought this cassette, the guy at the checkout counter asked me if I liked this new band Pearl Jam. I told him I had no idea who they were. He informed me the guy in line ahead of me paid for their new CD, Ten and forgot to take it with him. It was mine if I wanted it. I didn't have a CD player (and wouldn't even know anyone who owned one for a few years), so I declined. It was about a year later when the video for "Even Flow" broke on MTV and I wholeheartedly regretted my decision.

Don't own this album yet? Listen and buy it here: