From the Dallas Observer, September 28, 1989
"Gang of Four"
By Eric Wilken
Something strange is happening in Dallas. Just a few years ago,
the idea of bands playing songs they wrote themselves in local
clubs seemed farfetched. Don't even ask about getting paid for
it. Then out of the underground emerged something unexpected -
and it looked like money. Today, club owners and clubgoers alike
recognize the profit potential of homegrown music.
As local favorites have gone national, more than a few Dallas
bands have gone starry-eyed and art gratia ars has been
supplanted by quid pro quo and career awareness. Amidst the
mad mating dances done for the benefit of record company A&R
personnel, however, there are sill quite a few for whom the
bottom line is still just playing music.
The four bands profiled here, though representative of a wide
variety of styles and appeal, share that common element. This
is not intended as a complete listing; these four acts represent
but a small sampling of those bands who would be doing what they
do even if no one were listening. Lend an ear.
"You always hear the stereotype about the band that's concerned
with the environment. I hate to say it, but I guess that's us."
It's not likely that Vaughn Stevenson hates to admit his concern
for the planet as much as he'd hate to have his band, Course of
Empire, subjected to a stereotype. Not that this is at all
likely to happen, either. Course of Empire is as resolutely
different as they come.
Uncomfortable with the roles of performers playing for a passive
audience, the band set about trying to alter this relationship,
though the members admit that their initial efforts were met
with built-in resistance. "Standing up on stage sets up all
sorts of weird expectations and barriers that we're just
figuring out how to deal with," says guitarist Mike Graff. The
band met this challenge by adding a second drummer to supplement
Anthony Headley's big beat, and by placing storage drums in the
audience and encouraging fans to take part.
"Just personally," says Graff. "the ideal of exploring the
entire room, leaping off the stage, grabbing someone, handing
them a pair of sticks and getting them involved in creating the
music that is going down right now in the present tense is
fascinating to me." And it seems to have worked. Although a
Course of Empire show may begin conventionally enough, the band
endeavors to build to what singer Stevenson characterizes as "a
really energetic, chaotic feeling."
The energy outlined by Graff's metallically meandering guitar
and Paul Semrad's whomping bass line is dark, but not without
hope. Using the performance as an object lesson. Course of
Empire teaches its audience the possibility for action affecting
their own environment. "Anybody who show up has an opportunity
to influence the work in progress." says Graff, "and the
experiences of everybody else in the room."
Citing such influences as Bauhaus, butthole Surfers, and Laibach,
Course of Empire nevertheless practices its own style, which
doesn't beg comparison to anyone, though it does share Laibach's
outlook: the musical experience as a means to philosophical end.
Although lacking a written manifesto like Laibach, the band has
taken to passing out reprints of articles on subjects such as
creativity to fans after their set. The object is not
proselytization, but, says Graff, "to somehow go beyond the
scope of just that meeting. When the rock 'n' roll is going down,
when you're up on stage, there's not time to get involved in an
intellectual conversation. But if afterwards you hand somebody an
article that inspired you, two nights later they'll be sitting on
the toilet and have a chance to read it. The next time we're
together a conversation starts."
The major impact of Course of Empire's music is visceral, not
cerebral. To augment its carnivorous sound and to replace a recent
departure, the band is looking for a second drummer who shares its
vegetarian practices. When the new lineup is in place, the band
will start working on a winter album release. Graff says he
envisions the band moving towards a "kind of tribal experience" in
its future activities. Acknowledging that it's only rock 'n' roll,
Graff says. "Yeah, I'm talking about some big stuff, but at this
point, we're just laying the groundwork. We're just trying to play
our chords right."
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