by: Denise Jewell
When Natalie Merchant left 10,000 Maniacs to start her solo career in 1993, the band was left to find a spotlight apart from its former lead singer.
Next Thursday, the band, now led by Mary Ramsey, who sang backup until Merchant left, will try to prove to a Boston University crowd that it hasn't lost its appeal.
10,000 Maniacs and local rock band Angry Salad are set to perform at the Commonwealth Armory next week in a concert sponsored by the Student Union. A guest to be named at the Spring Thaw on Saturday will also perform.
In an interview last week, Ramsey said the group will play their "little hearts out" for the BU crowd and will include renditions of new and old songs in the set.
The concert will be the first large-scale music event at BU since 1996, when blues legend B.B. King played at the Armory as part of President Jon Westling's inaugural celebration.
The Student Union has encountered problems hosting concerts in the past. A Buffalo Tom concert at the Avalon in April 1996 saw mediocre success, and fans caused extensive damage to Walter Brown Arena when a Red Hot Chili Peppers show got out of hand in November 1991.
Although the Union has said it chose the 10,000 Maniacs to perform because its music doesn't promote boisterous concert behavior, Ramsey remembers a concert at the Texas Motor Speedway when fans started crowd surfing.
"It's not something that happens very often," Ramsey said. "I think it's going out of style."
After Ramsey took over lead vocals for the Maniacs in 1993, the group started work on its most recent album, Love Among the Ruins, which was released last year.
Ramsey, the band's chief lyric and melody writer, started playing music at 5 and is the most musically educated of the six-member band. She plays both the violin and viola and has studied music at the University of Buffalo.
"My older sister played; music was kind of a natural," Ramsey said. "It's like a drug, but without the harmful side effects."
Besides the two albums that Ramsey made as a member of John and Mary before joining the 10,000 Maniacs, she has also sung on albums of Ani DiFranco and the Goo Goo Dolls.
Although Ramsey's experience has helped her and the band find their way without Natalie Merchant, she said people still compare her to the former lead singer.
When Ramsey first took the role of lead singer, she kept in contact with Merchant, but the band hasn't heard from her lately.
"At first I was kind of oblivious to it all," Ramsey said. "I've been playing since I was a little girl. It's a transition, an emotional experience. It's been a good thing."