A Little Night Mojo
 

Consider the buzz. It's that nearly inexplicable microburst of
consciousness that envelops one band out of, say, every few hundred or
so. When the buzz is on, the name of the act in question seems to be 
rolling off every tongue simultaneously. The buzz is not like the 
"bandwagon," which is a much more conscious and manufactured invention 
of the human mind and the music business (devised by those acts that 
lack a spontaneous groundswell of support, desperately want one, and 
are willing to go to sometimes buffoonish lengths to create one). No,
the buzz seemingly comes out of nowhere and everywhere, makes a huge                                   
racket, and then, mission accomplished, lopes off to enhance someone 
else's career. It's all very sudden and strange. 
 
New Bohemians owned one of the biggest buzzes in local history once, a 
long time ago. Three On A Hill was sporting a dandy at last year's 
South By Southwest Music and Media Conference. Last year at this time, 
Austin's Poi Dog Pondering had a bad case of the buzz - and that's bad 
meaning good. The most interesting thing about the buzz is that it 
usually has nothing to do with real-world considerations like media 
support or A&R scouting reports. The buzz transcends all that petty 
day-to-day stuff; it seems more a product of fortuitous timing and, 
perhaps, a little well-placed mojo. 
 
Course of Empire (previously described in this space as "U2 with a 
Bauhaus hangover") is the latest local beneficiary of the buzz. Which 
is to take nothing away from the group's obvious talents. Buzzes rarely 
happen to hopeless bands. It's just that Course of Empire, after a 
couple of years of being lumped in the rank and file of all those other 
fresh young bands with potentially bright futures, is looking more and 
more like a hot number. In a sort of social stampede of taste, the band 
has recently rocketed to number-one on the local hit list, with a bullet. 
The tongues, as they always do, have started to wag. But it's not that 
Course of Empire has suddenly blossomed into one of the big draws in
clubland; that's another flavor of buzz altogether - same genus, 
different species, if you will. And it's the rare week, maybe even month, 
that this band gigs live. 

No, this buzz thing generally boils down to aesthetic properties. For 
instance, when pressed to name the band that, petty realities aside, 
should make it, the band with the buzz is almost always the first band 
that leaps to collective mind. And petty realities aside, Course of 
Empire should make it. That's what everybody's saying. And that's 
important, but it's also the way they're saying it. 
 
Course of Empire is the first Dallas band in this memory that has been 
the subject of what you might call a local bidding war - the difference 
being that this particular skirmish, so-called, had nothing to do with 
money, at least not in any immediate sense. This unsigned relatively 
unknown, and basically umproven act (if your yardstick is the standard 
criteria of audience draw) had two promising indie record labels - 
Patrick Keel and David Dennard's "national independent" alternative 
label Dragon Street Records and Allan Restrepo's excellent, grassroots 
Carpe Diem label - going toe to toe for the right to do what almost 
every other act in the market would kill for: to release, and fully
promote on a national level, a full-scale album of original works. 
 
Course of Empire was reportedly leaning toward signing with Dragon 
Street and becoming that label's first (and thus showcase) signee. When 
the smoke cleared, however, the band had picked Restrepo's Carpe Diem, 
which released Rhett Miller's Mythologies last year and will unveil Ship 
of Vibes later this spring. Restrepo says Course of Empire's debut has 
been tentatively scheduled for a September '90 release on CD, cassette, 
and LP. "This will be Carpe Diem's first fully promoted release. It will 
be promoted all over the country," says Restrepo. 
 
"I think everyone feels that Course of Empire is an exceptional talent, 
and I think signing with Carpe Diem will be really beneficial for the 
band," he says. "The band and myself jelled pretty well, and I think it 
was just a matter of relationship. They were very interested in, quote 
unquote, an extended family. We complement each other personality-wise 
and on a lot of different issues. I pay attention to details, and I 
think they like that." 
 
"More power to them. We want them to succeed," responds Keel, who says 
his understanding is that the band was turned off, for lack of a more 
diplomatic way of putting it, by Dragon Street's condition of a multi-
album deal. "What it comes down to, it was a one-record deal instead of 
a three-record deal. They had an offer of a one-record deal that, 
obviously, was better for them. They have an opportunity to make a 
record, and [the Carpe Diem deal] leaves them totally unencumbered at 
the same time. Course of Empire is like a lot of other new bands. They're 
overly afraid of commitment. 
 
"In real terms, we're a little major label, doing what a major label does. 
We're making a bigger commitment monetarily. We're not going to sign people 
for one record. We're signing them to develop them," continues Keel, who 
says Dragon Street's initial signee will now likely come down to either 
Shoulder or Grains of Faith, two promising acts from Austin. "We want to 
work with people and develop them over a number of years. If no major comes 
along after the first album, we're there for a second, and a third, if
necessary. If a band puts out a first album and it's unsuccessful, what do 
they do then?"
 
Restrepo, naturally, prefers to couch the Course of Empire signing in more 
positive terms. "Course of Empire was in demand, and that's a good thing for 
them and for everybody else in Dallas," he says. "It proves that the 
business is evolving, and maturing, here in town. There's a new sense of 
reality, with companies like Dragon Street and Carpe Diem competing for some 
of the same acts. In the past, someone with a slight interest might have 
been willing to invest a little money in a local act. We've got our new
distribution situation in place, and we're prepared to make a big push on 
this band." 

And there's the interesting twist to this story. Before many of you have 
heard - or perhaps even hear of - Course of Empire, this band seems primed 
for bigger things. That's not how it usually happens, but that's what 
everybody's saying, and that's what the persistent buzz implies. But see 
for yourself. Course of Empire is scheduled February 8 at Club Clearview in 
one of its rare live performances. Those with their ears attuned to the 
frequency of new things, I think, will be enchanted.