HEADING FOR THE SUN | BEING HERE | CREATING AN IMAGE | COVERING PEARL JAM
HEADING FOR THE SUN
GREG CAMP and Paul De Lisle stare at a 19-inch TV waiting for the sign in the music business that they're well, players. It's 1 a.m. on Monday, July 21. Camp's wife, Anzimee, is still awake in the couple's West San Jose apartment. Her mother and her mother's boyfriend are slouched on the living room futon, and De Lisle's girlfriend, Kelly Young, is trying to get comfortable on a wooden chair because, hey, this could be way cool.
In the apartment upstairs, Camp and De Lisle's band mates, Kevin Coleman and Steve Harwell are lying on matching black sofas waiting for this moment they've imagined the way budding ballplayers dream of that World Series homer.
Years of disappointments have thought these four guys to keep their hopes in check. Downstairs, everyone drinks Gordon Biersch and smokes cigarettes. Anzimee shaves De Lisle's head because it's a good distraction.
Oh, man, what if we got the date wrong? What if it doesn't happen?
And then, from the three-inch speaker on the television...the sound of Coleman tapping on a cymbal and the '60s Doors-ish sound of Camp's Fender. On the screen, Harwell's silhouette flashes at the end of a dark hallway. "Smash Mouth" appears at the bottom left, along with "Interscope," their new record company and "Walkin' on the Sun," the name of this funky single with a surfy, go-go groove that is white vinyl boots with attitude.
For the next three minutes and 23 seconds the TV Smash Mouth guys are stars of a retro parody of an Annette Funicello beach party--Greg Camp on guitar, Paul De Lisle on bass, Kevin Coleman on drums, Steve Harwell singing into the camera. Remember "China Grove" and "Black Water"? Well, it's been that long since the music world has listened to San Jose. Not since the Doobie Brothers has a group from a place where garages are known for start-ups than band practices received international exposure this big. After the screen fades to black, De Lisle leaps and pumps his fists.
"Yeah!" he screams. "We're on MTV!"