by: Rich Drees
Bassist Steven Gustafson has a lot to say about his band, 10,000 Maniacs. The one thing he doesn't want to talk about is the departure of their high-profile lead singer, Natalie Merchant.
"There's a lot of people out there who think that Natalie's still in the band," he says. "There's a lot of people out there who think Natalie Merchant records are 10,000 Maniac records. There's always somebody out there who wants to talk about it, but frankly I am a little tired of being asked about it."
There's nothing acrimonious in Gustafson's tone as he speaks from his home in Jamestown, N.Y. After all, when Merchant decided to leave the band, she had given the group a full year's warning before her 1994 exit. [webmaster's note: Natalie left in 1993 and had given the band two years notice] Instead of dwelling in the shadow of the past, he is more content to look toward the future.
Specifically, the band's new album, The Earth Pressed Flat, due out next month.
"Many of the songs (on Earth) were recorded during and leading up to the Love Among The Ruins record," says Gustafson, referring to the 1997 release on the Geffen label. "At the time that Geffen came along, we were in the studio making a record, and we were planning on releasing it independently. Geffen came along with their check book open and said 'Here take all this money and make another record.'
So the work that the band was doing went onto the back burner as it headed into the studio to record what would become Love Among The Ruins.
"It was a little more their record than our record," Gustafson says. "So the songs on Earth Pressed Flat are really the album we intended on making until Geffen kind of intercepted our plans. We were happy to take their money, because they were offering a big advance to make a record and remix it three or four times."
That's not to say that the band is soured on the experience with the label.
"I like Love Among the Ruins, " Gustafson states. "I think it's a great record, and I'm proud of it, but this is more what we intended to do. We look at it as closure to that early period in the Maniacs' new life."
Another part of the Maniacs' new life -- post-Merchant -- is the addition of Mary Ramsey at the center-stage microphone.
Ramsey became associated with the band through one of its founding members, guitarist John Lombardo. Lombardo had left the group in 1986 and soon had formed a duo act with Ramsey. After the band released 1990's Hope Chest, Lombardo and Ramsey were asked to come along on tour.
"Mary and John would open the shows, then John would join us on stage," says Gustafson. "Mary started joining us, singing harmonies and such. When we did Our Time in Eden in 1992, Mary played viola on lot of those songs and toured with us. She also performed with us on the Unplugged record in 1993."
For Gustafson, it was an obvious progression for Ramsey to take over the lead vocal position. "We all knew Mary and we all knew what talent she had," he says. "It was a very obvious choice for us."
The band recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, where they performed several shows for the USO.
"We're currently working on new songs for the next record," Gustafson says, chuckling. "It's nice to be ahead of the game a little bit."