by: Anthony Violanti
Jamestown's 10,000 Maniacs have reason to celebrate the new year. The band's current album, Our Time in Eden, just went gold with sales of more than 500,000 copies. It was the first release for the group since 1989 and it has become popular at college radio stations across the country.
"We feel really good about it," said keyboardist Dennis Drew, during a visit home for the holidays. "This album was a little different for us. It's not as folk or political, but more personal."
The video clip of the single These Are the Days has been in rotation on MTV, and the group, which not long ago completed a national tour, will be back on the road in early 1993. They hope to play Buffalo sometime in March.
Tonight, the Maniacs will perform on the MTV New Year's Eve special starting at 11 on the cable-TV music channel. In January the Maniacs will release a new video for their next single, Candy Everybody Wants.
Also, Drew said, the Maniacs have recorded a song for a cassette prepared by the inauguration committee for President-elect Bill Clinton. The cassette, which features songs by other artists, will be given away as a souvenir of the inauguration.
"There is still a chance we may play at the inauguration, but we don't know yet," Drew said.
Drew said the band may make some live recordings but right now is just taking it easy. "We're not in a rush to make another record," he said. "It took three years to do the last one, and we don't want to go any faster."