by Zella Ozretich
She really does whirl like a dervish. The schoolgirlish figure on stage didn't look large or powerful enough to contain the distinctively rich voice which belts out the 10,000 Maniacs' often biting social commentary but Natalie Merchant's looks beIie her.
The band's Paramount show last month showcased a good selection of their repertoire, moving easily from the happy pop/folk of their latest album, In My Tribe, to the more somber, maturing feel of their new release, Blind Man's Zoo. The show was sold-out, the crowd a mix of the regular college new music followers and older adults who had probably heard Trouble Me on KLSY.
After the show I talked with drummer Jerome Augustyniak. Allthe hype and media attention - a hit single, sell-out crowds, coverage-in every music magazine imaginable - might be expected to turn the heads of the Maniacs. "We're just a regular bunch of funny-looking people," Augustyniak says, nonchalantly.
Blind Man's Zoo deals with serious subjects like unwed pregnancy, the Vietnam War, and environmental poisoning in a style Augustyniak characterizes as "observations, not preachiness" about life in Jamestown, NY. He muses when asked about it. "I don't know if this album is more serious ... In My Tribe had a Sister Rose to break up the darker tones; this one doesn't have that, which I think is kind of unfortunate. We didn't want the same crystalline, antiseptic sound of the last record, though I'm glad we got to make a record like that. But I think this new album captures more of the live sound."
The 10,000 Maniacs' sound combines the musical inspiration and arrangements of the entire band with lyrics and vocals by Merchant. This central role naturally makes Merchant the focus of the furor: she's the most prominent on stage and in photos; her quirks and causes are most eagerly delved into by media. Does the rest of the band feel slighted? Augustyniak says no, and offers a realistic attitude. "She's the best looking, and certain things you can't avoid," he says. "I suffer from the drummer syndrome. A lot of people come up to me and ask me where the restroom is."
Stardom is still new to this band that started by playing bars in Jamestown after Merchant met Dennis Drew and Steve Gustafson, both then DJs at the local college radio station. She came to the station to ask that they play some records she'd brought along, and ended up helping at the station, eventually singing in their band, Still Life.
Guitarist Rob Buck was also in that band, which evolved into the Bum Victims, including John Lombardo, and finally into 10,000 Maniacs;. Augustyniak joined after the band's first recording, an EP: titled Human Conflict No. 5, but in time for their first, full-length album, Secrets of the I Ching. The early Maniacs played the Clash (which explains the Guns of Brixton encore at their Seattle show), Gang of Four, and other college radio staples Augustyniak describes as "great angular stuff."
The band's breakthrough came with In My Tribe, an album geared more toward pleasing the record company and the public. Lombardo, a key band member and songwriter, had left in discouragement. Augustyniak says that the rest of the band "finally got the discipline to sit down and write. Natalie really blossomed."
The new album is more brooding, not as folksy and introspective as the band's earlier work and the band dislikes being categorized as part of the new bohemian folk/pop trend. "I hate being lumped in with the Indigo Girls," Augustyniak complains. "I like high powered stuff, I hope we come up with something like My Mother the War again."
Still, it's not luck or a folk boom that has won an audience for 10,000 Maniacs. "The luck comes a lot easier when you have persistence," is Augustyniak's explanation. It seems to be working.