by: Michael Norman (section: Friday page: 34)

CLEVELAND - Dennis Drew and the other three Jamestown, N.Y., "boys" in the rock group 10,000 Maniacs aren't stupid enough to let their egos get in the way of a good thing.

This is a band of creative equals, with Drew on keyboards, Jerome Augustyniak on drums, Robert Buck on guitars and Steven Gustafson on bass.

But Natalie Merchant, their beautiful and enigmatic lead singer, is the reason that the group, formed in rural Jamestown in 1981, is one of the hottest in pop today.

And Drew and the guys in the band know it.

"When we started out 12 years ago, we knew that we were lucky to have an incredible talent like Natalie," said Drew in a recent telephone interview from a tour stop in Salt Lake City, Utah. "We knew that if we were going to get anywhere in this world that we had to set ourselves apart from other bands.

"It's tough to get doors opened to a band full of boys because they are a dime a dozen. So, we got a funny name and we got a front person - a beautiful woman with a great voice and lots of talent. And we ran with it. She's the one who has opened doors for us. And none of us regret it one bit."

1993 has been a busy year for 10,000 Maniacs. Our Time in Eden, their fifth album for Elektra Records, is still in the Billboard Top 100 nine months after its release and has spawned two hit singles, These Are Days and Candy Everybody Wants.

The band did a string of sold-out college dates in the fall, then kicked off the new year at the MTV Inaugural Ball in Washington along with Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen (of U2), R.E.M., En Vogue, Boyz II Men and Soul Asylum and a who's who of Hollywood celebrities.

Then it was off to Los Angeles in April for an appearance with Paul McCartney and other top pop stars at the National Earth Day Concert at the Hollywood Bowl. After that, they filmed a segment for MTV's top-rated series "Unplugged" (it debuted June 1.) In addition to performing acoustic versions of their own songs, the band was joined by former Talking Head David Byrne for country covers of Dolly Parton's Jolene, Jimmie Dale Gilmore's Dallas and Iris DeMent's Let the Mystery Be.

With a summer tour now under way (the band plays Blossom Music Center Sunday), these are the days, indeed.

And the success of Our Time in Eden is especially satisfying for Drew because it represents a vindication of sorts for the band.

There were plenty of people ready to write off the group as a one-hit wonder after the 1989 album, Blind Man's Zoo, failed to match the commercial success of their 1987 breakout album, In My Tribe. There were even rumors of a possible breakup.

But Drew says he and his bandmates never lost faith.

"It's hard to look at an album that sells 900,000 copies and say it was a disappointment," says Drew of Blind Man's Zoo. "Maybe the record company was disappointed at it. They figured if you can sell 1.2 million copies of In My Tribe, then you've got to sell 1.5 million copies of Blind Man's Zoo.

"That didn't happen. But that doesn't mean the album was terrible or that we were going to break up."

Drew says the non-stop touring for In My Tribe and Blind Man's Zoo led to some tension and burnout within the band, but that things never approached a split.

"I think that we were very tired at the end of the Blind Man's Zoo tour," he said. "We probably gave people the impression that we were unhappy with things. But really we were just tired."

The band took nine months off in 1990 and when it came time to record Our Time in Eden, they decided to approach things a little differently.

For the first time in their careers, they worked together on the songwriting, setting up a kind of workshop in the studio. Merchant, who traditionally provides all of the lyrics for 10,000 Maniacs' songs, also took a more active role this time in writing the music.

"Working together like that was very rewarding," said Drew. "We really all sat down and played. Natalie played piano. We really just tried to break down that style of writing that we had in the past. We really tried to work together more and we tried to hear with some new ears.

"I think the album reflects the more relaxed attitude we had this time."

Our Time in Eden boasts a more eclectic mix of songs than previous 10,000 Maniacs' recordings. It includes the group's trademark mix of bouncing, happy melodies juxtaposed against biting, often deadly serious lyrics. But it takes more chances musically.

Horns spice up the arrangements of Candy Everybody Wants and Few and Far Between, a first for the band, and there are weird aural touches throughout.

"Hopefully, it's a more mysterious record," says Drew. "It's a little bit less obvious than the other records, which I think is good. Songs like Eden and Noah's Dove are a little bit weirder than we've done before."

Drew said the idea of Our Time in Eden was to produce a complete "band" record. "We tried to make this more of all of us playing," he said. "And I think it helped with Natalie being involved more in the writing of the music than she had in the past. She really played piano a lot. It made her sit more in the middle of the songs rather than ride along the top, which is what I think she did in the past. The band played, and then she was on top, out front singing. But now, I think she's more enmeshed in the real soul of the songs."

When Drew isn't working with 10,000 Maniacs he's a diehard homeboy, puttering around his home in Jamestown and spending time with his wife and 14-month-old daughter, Emily.

"When you travel a lot like we have over the last 12 years, you really take that time when you are at home just to do all the mundane things that everybody else is tired of - like mowing the lawn and painting the house and gardening and stuff like that," said Drew. "Just being with my wife and walking the dog and all that stuff, I really enjoy."

Drew said he did write and record a few songs of his own during the band's 1990 break and has the tapes "on a shelf somewhere" waiting for the right moment for a solo album. He, with several members of the band, also is pursuing the possibility of buying a commercial radio station in Jamestown.

As a kid, Drew wanted to escape Jamestown for the bright lights and big time of Los Angeles and New York City. Now, he wouldn't leave for anything.

"When we started the band it was supposed to be our ticket to the big time," he said. "We could really hobnob with the stars, move out and start a new life.

"But after spending time on the road, I really grew to love my home. I've been to New York and New York sucks. I've been to L.A. and it sucks. You couldn't pay me enough money to live in those awful places. People living on top of each other. The dirty air and the dirty water and the filth everywhere. I can't stand it. And I would never live in a big city.

"I want clean air and grass and I want a place where my daughter can go to school and not worry about being kidnapped and murdered. Those are the things that count in my life. I don't even care if I'm in this god-damned band any more, to tell you the truth. I'm so happy that we've made it and we've done it, everything now is gravy. I've got a great family and a great house in Jamestown and I wouldn't give it up for anything. And if I had to move to New York to stay in this band, I wouldn't do it."