From the Met, June 26, 1996
Obstacle Course
An uncertain label situation makes waiting the hardest for Course of Empire
by Scott Kelton Jones
Course of Empire has nothing better to do than screw around in the clutter of its
self-made studio and wait.
While that might seem par for the Course to some onlookers, at the moment, it means
the Dallas-based band is waiting on drummer Chad Lovell to finish talking about the
ins and outs of recording. Guitarist Mike Graff and bassist Paul Semrad tune up their
instruments and muddle through the chord changes for the Cult's "Fire Woman." Michael
Jerome, Course of Empire's other drummer, leans against the microphone, delivering the
lyrics with an exaggerated falsetto and a Jim Carrey grimace: "Fi-yah woman. Smoke
she is a risin'."
The band has convened this evening to rehearse for a gig with former Cult-leader Ian
Astbury's new group, the Holy Barbarians.
"We were gearing up for a tour, but now..." singer Vaughn Stevenson trails off, his
hair looking bewildered. "We're waiting to see what happens."
Both fans and critics alike know that feeling all too well when it comes to Course of
Empire: waiting for what seems like and eternity to see what would happen with a band
that made the jump from local standout to major-label signee; watching more recent
upstarts get gleeful pats on the back, while Course, way ahead of the "our backyard
rocks" buzz, gets overlooked; and waiting for the band to get off its butt, write some
news songs, and produce a new album.
Finally, more than two years after Zoo Records released Course's second effort,
Initiation, and a year after the band submerged itself in the quagmire of building a
private recording studio, Course has done at least the latter, only to run into another
problem. With the band starting to publicly stir once again and the new album,
Telepathic Last Words, scheduled for a mid-August release, Course of Empire and Zoo
Records will be parting ways. Now the fans, the band, and the record get to play the
waiting game together.
"There really isn't much of a story to tell," Mike Graff says, belly-crawling through
the subject like he's deep behind enemy lines, not turning his back on it for a second.
"It's true that we are in the middle of negotiating our way out of being signed to Zoo.
The Friday before Vaughn and I were supposed to fly to L.A. to do the photo shoot for
the record, the head of the label called up and asked if we wanted to take the record
someplace else." Graff offers a coy smile. "And we said yes. That's as much as we
know right now. We're waiting for them to get back with us to find out exactly what
the details will be."
Graff offers little more insight except to speculate that Zoo plans to put out the next
Tool album this year. "I would guess they are looking at funneling a lot more effort
into that to make sure it pops, which, considering they had a platinum record last
time, makes sense," he says. "But getting on with another label could be a very good
thing for us. That's about all we can say without pissing anybody off. With these
types of situations, you just can't really say anything until something is concrete.
It's just all out there in the ether right now. We just have to wait."
He pauses before offering another coy tidbit. "It's no coincidence that we spent most
of our recording budget buying our own recording rig. It's not totally ironic that
that the album is called Telepathic Last Words. So there you go. That's all I can
say."
A Zoo Records spokesman was equally unclear on Course's status with the label. "I
don't really know what's going on, to be quite honest. I'll have the band's publicist
call you back with an official word."
The publicist offered that "we have a record, but we don't have a release date." When
asked about the renegotiation, she said the label had no comment.
Though Zoo - which is rumored to be going under - might be tight-lipped about the
band's current status, onlookers around Dallas had plenty to say about the turn of
events following the release of Initiation. Course of Empire only toured to support
the album for six or so months after its release. Then it missed a chance to have the
horn re-mix of the churning and instantly recognizable track "Infested" included on the
soundtrack for the abysmal Adam Sandler movie Airheads. And instead of jumping back
into the studio for a follow-up, the band started turning its rehearsal space, a dense
warehouse room parked just outside the core of Deep Ellum, into its personal 32-track
digital recording studio.
"I wasn't going to listen to certain nay-sayers in Deep Ellum," says Lovell, a self-
described technical-minded knob-turner who spearheaded the effort and spent months
buried in Macintosh manuals and software upgrades. "I wanted to buy ourselves some
longevity instead of spending a ton of money to go into some big, fancy studio.
Really, doing this is just using your money smartly. We could have spent $175,000
recording in someone else's studio, and, ooh, after it's all over, all we have is this
little silver disc. This way, we can still have our little silver disc, and we get to
keep the recording - no matter what."
That little silver disc - mixed elsewhere but otherwise recorded entirely in Course's
studio (save for the drifting T. Rex cover "Cosmic Dancer," a leftover from the
Initiation sessions and, incidentally, a track Zoo desperately wanted released with
that album) - is an expansive look at the band's dynamic and experimental prowess.
Whereas Initiation was, for the most part, a jarring attack of crunching guitars and
drums that got Course lumped in with industrial acts, Telepathic Last Words offers
songs in which silence and pause are as important as blasts of sound. Throughout the
album - most notably in the radio-friendly "Captain Control" - the melodies and
styling play off the unmistakable groove of the 1970s glam rock, while still mixing
in the tribal beats, primal rhythms, and dizzying guitar layers that are
quintessential Course of Empire. Where Initiation had one, and at times overbearing,
voice, Words flashes through different treatments.
"We got about halfway through, and we're like, Are we going to be able to pull this
off?" Graff says, running a hand down the mixing board. "It's kind of like getting
yourself in a situation like the Grinch getting halfway down the chimney and getting
stuck. It's just a matter of relaxing and getting on through it."
The hitch in Course and Zoo's relationship is just another chimney to squeeze through.
"We're ready for a change, and we have to wait," Stevenson says. "It's frustrating
as hell, but it could turn out much better overall. With a label we're happy with..."
He shrugs. "We are in a great position. A label can hear the record, decide if they
like it, figure out what they want to do with it before buying it. It's better for
them. It's better for us. If it doesn't work out, we know nobody liked it."
Graff interrupts: "Say we don't do anything with this record. Fine. We'll put
together another fucking record. We can start working on new material. By the time
this record comes out, we could conceivably be halfway through another record."
Everyone, including Course of Empire, will have to wait and see.
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