by: G. Brown
Adjustments All in The Family for 10,000 Maniacs
It could have been problematic for 10,000 Maniacs when Natalie Merchant went solo in 1993. But the remaining members - guitarist Robert Buck, keyboardist Dennis Drew, bassist Steven Gustafson and drummer Jerome Augustyniak - opened a new chapter for the band.
Mary Ramsey, who played viola and violin and sang backing vocals with the group both on tour and on record over the years, is the new lead vocalist. John Lombardo, the Maniacs' original guitarist, has also returned to the fold. They had recorded two albums as John & Mary, an acoustic duo, with Buck and Augustyniak performing as guest artists.
So it's always been one, big, happy family.
"The positive thing is that the whole group has a natural chemistry - that's helped keep the music going," Ramsey said recently.
"There's this false notion that I was waiting to fill the slot. To be honest, I was very much into the John & Mary duo. That was my baby. Playing and touring with the Maniacs was something I did to make money and enjoy the work of other artists. I had no idea Natalie was leaving; they were very quiet about their business dealings.
"I went with Natalie to Europe to promote the MTV Unplugged album. When we got back, John said the other Maniacs needed other people to write songs with. It was an opportunity, a very gradual process."
Filling Merchant's shoes, Ramsey said, is an interesting task.
"I struck up a friendship with Natalie immediately. We had fun playing and doing things together. She was pretty lonely at times on the road, and I can understand that. When you're the only woman among a bunch of guys, it's only natural - it's the yin and yang, things are a little imbalanced.
"It made it a more understandable transition, knowing what she's been through. She was so dedicated to the band's music from 16 years old to 33. That perseverance is a major part of it. I feel like I have some awareness of things I never would have known otherwise." [webmaster's note: Natalie was involved with the Maniacs from the ages of 16 to 30]
Ramsey's harmonious soprano may be new, but 10,000 Maniacs' graceful, pleasant folk-pop music is quickly recognizable on the new album Love Among the Ruins. The band has a history of doing cover songs (Cat Stevens' Peace Train, Patti Smith's Because the Night), and the new lineup's version of Roxy Music's More Than This has become a hit. The highlight is Rainy Days, the last song Ramsey wrote for the album.
Recent performances have sparked an enthusiastic response, and the Maniacs will visit the Fox Theatre in Boulder Thursday night. Where Merchant's giddy spins were always the visual focus of the band's shows, Ramsey is more of a player.
"Singing is so integrating, so physical. But playing is having a rapport with your instrument, like you have a cocoon around you," she said. "To play the viola and violin solos and sing is all-encompassing."
Ramsey's favorite of the band's earlier songs is Stockton Gala Days.
"I played on the version on Our Time in Eden in 1992. It was written about a place that's near where I'm from, Fredonia, N.Y., which is a half-hour from Jamestown, where Natalie and the guys grew up."
The old Maniacs tradition seemed to emphasize Merchant at the expense of her bandmates, but the thrill is just beginning for Ramsey.
"The guys have made a very good living, but I haven't made any money from music. It's always been an aesthetic thing. The wonderful response from the fans at the shows is the payoff for me. When I see that I've connected, it makes it all worthwhile.
"It's part of the human condition - people are understandably missing Natalie and they're trying to get used to me. My parents are divorced, and I know what it's like to adjust to a new stepperson.
"I just want to focus on music and hope people do the same. Everything else, the politics, gets too confusing. It's out of my control, so I just control what I can."