The name of the group is Sal's Birdland, taken from a
friend's chicken shop in Rochester, N.Y.
But these days you could call the Canadian quintet Alannis' First
Stop.
That would be Alannis Morissette, the songstress who's topping
Billboard charts, singing her hits on "Saturday Night Live" and
simultaneously gracing the covers of Rolling Stone and Spin. The
members of Sal's Birdland know Morissette well; they were early
mentors for the future star.
"I met her when she was 12," says singer Louise Reny, aka Sal. Seems
that even then, Morissette knew she wanted to be a rock 'n' roll
star, and in Ottawa, Sal was already something of a legend. So
Morissette sought her out, invited Sal to her house, and began
picking her brain.
"My advice to her was to stay out of the music business," Sal recalls
with a laugh. "Good one, eh?"
Morissette quickly fell in with Sal and guitarist Leslie Howe, who
produced, co-wrote and released Morissette's first two albums on his
own Ghetto Records label. These days they're still friends, and the
duo is thrilled for Morissette's success.
"It's hard to believe or imagine that our buddy is like this huge
star," says Sal, who knows the target of Morissette's scathing hit
"You Oughta Know" but refuses to divulge his identity.
"If ever I met anybody who deserves to be a star, it's her. She's
worked really hard; it's not like it's fallen into her lap or
anything. But don't get me wrong, there's a little part of me that's
envious. I wish it was me, also."
That's why Sal and the rest of the Birdland — Howe, guitarist Mike
Goyette, bassist Tim Dupont, and drummer Andrew Lamarche — are
singing "I Wanna Be a Star" on their U.S. debut album. "Nude Photos
Inside" — they're baby pictures — was recently released on
Discovery Records; the label run by Jac Holzman, who lists The Doors,
Queen, Carly Simon, the MC5 and the Stooges among his
discoveries.
Sal and Howe, who are both in their early 30s, began playing in Led
Zeppelin cover bands when they were in high school. The bar band
experiences, she says, were helpful; "Once I started writing my own
songs and going into a recording studio, I could draw on all these
other styles I used to copy."
The duo's own sound is delightfully tuneful — an energetic but
smooth sort of pop that recalls late '70s and early '80s new wave
bands such as Blondie and Missing Persons.
Their songs are marked by spiky, sarcastic humor, as well as some
poignant ironies. Images of emotional and physical abuse counter the
titles of "Love is Groovy," "So . . . Happy" and "Wonderful World."
On the other hand, "I'm Not Like Madonna" is screaming, with Sal
singing deadpan observations such as "I keep all my clothes on/It
must disappoint you/I like my religion."
"We're a sarcastic bunch of idiots," Sal explains with a laugh.
"That's why we named the album 'Nude Photos Inside' — for a joke.
People can see that we have a sense of humor, that we're not all that
depressed and that I'm not the bitter, man-hating kind of woman I may
appear to be in some of the songs."
Any mention of Madonna, however, brings Sal back to Morissette, who
records for Madonna's label, Maverick Records. And she remembers a
call from her former protege, shortly after Morissette's first lunch
with Madonna.
"We had just finished doing that song," Sal recalls, "and Alannis
calls me up and says 'Sal, you wouldn't believe it; you're just like
Madonna!'
"That was too ironic. She just said our personalities are pretty
similar. Even the guys in the band have said that; when we watch that
movie, 'Truth or Dare,' they're like, 'God, Sal, that's you.' Except
I won't take my clothes off — for now. I haven't been offered the
big bucks to do it yet."