by: Richard Tuthill
"The thing that actually moves me is seeing people in situations that seem out of their control." - Natalie Merchant
10,000 Maniacs' second LP, In My Tribe, is a pleasant collection of songs dealing with a mixed bag of social issues. Leading the pack is Peace Train, a moving cover of the Cat Stevens hit. The song is the first single (and video) from the album and isn't even it's best, although it's easily the most recognizable.
Soldiering is covered in a very touching Gun Shy, which Merchant wrote for her brother, who was joining the service, and Don't Talk covers the problems surrounding alcohol. A lilting Caribbean tune, Like The Weather, is about as "classic" a view of romance as there is on the album, but it's followed by Cherry Tree, a poignant tune about illiteracy. These two songs give a good idea of just how broad the territory is that 10,000 Maniacs covers. There are no obtuse, enigmatic statements here, either on City of Angels, which comments on the homeless in LA, or What's The Matter Here, a study of child abuse. The Painted Desert is an atypical cut for the band, combining the longing to see someone with the longing to see a place.
Commenting on their lean away from conventional pop music, lead singer Merchant asserts, "I think the 'standard pop lyric' is really self-centered and usually about lust - not affection, lust. Lusting for someone or hoping that someone will lust for you. I find that really boring. I figure if there's thousands of people who might hear what I have to say, I should be very careful what I say and say something that actually means something to me."
Merchant, who calls herself "tragically happy," is intensely concerned with the state of humanity. "It always seems like for every wondrous thing I see, there's five miserable things I see." She finds war upsetting, saying "The fact is the whole world economy is geared toward creating weapons that are intended to keep us from destroying the world." Explaining that five dollars a day per person is spent on weapons, she points out that "we could easily feed everyone in this country for five dollars a day. That's just so huge that I don't even dare write about it."
While she is very adamant about her stands on social issues, Merchant is quick to point out that she is "not on a crusade for anything. I think it's very important to teach people by example." She is a vegetarian and doesn't drink or take drugs and guesses her body is just "allergic to vices." Upon being told that she seems to be very spiritual, she retorts, "It's the only thing that's going to save this world, realizing that there's God in everything possible. It's in everything and you have to respect everyone and everything, or else the same thing will be returned. The more violence we put out the more violence will come back."
The 10,000 Maniacs are comprised of five members: Merchant on vocals, guitarist Robert Buck, keyboardist Dennis Drew, bassist Steve Gustafson, and drummer Jerome Augustyniak. The relative isolation of their hometown, Jamestown, about nine hours from Manhattan, is one reason for the band's diversity. Keyboardist Drew remarks, "In Jamestown there was never any music community for us to become part of or be influenced by, so we were about to develop in a vacuum and come out sounding like ourselves." In addition to using the Caribbean sounds they liked, the Maniacs added the influence of the English bands they admired such as Joy Division and Gang of Four, creating music that draws one to dance, but which is also affected by the socially conscious lyrics Merchant writes.