by: Mark Genovese
To say the crowd in Muenster, West Germany, appreciated that May evening's performance by Jamestown's 10,000 Maniacs would be an understatement.
"We turned on the lights and started the taped music. We were getting dressed downstairs and they wouldn't leave. They were clapping in rhythm, pounding on the floor," said keyboardist Dennis Drew.
Steven Gustafson, bassist, said the club manager told them: '"You couldn't hear the music through the cheering because the people were screaming so loud. So we had to do another song." The German fans even knew the words to the band's songs.
They have accomplished a lot the past few months: polished their skills to major label standards; excited fans in England, the Netherlands and Germany; and won even more acclaim from the European music press.
But most important, they finally earned what most local bands can only wish for: a recording contract. The album, The Wishing Chair, was released by Elektra Records Friday in North America and Europe.
People locally have a lot to be proud of, as all members are Western New York residents. Drew, Gustafson, vocalist Natalie Merchant, and guitarists Robert Buck and J.C. Lombardo, are from Jamestown and drummer Jerome Augustyniak is from Sloan.
In fact, Miss Merchant refers to her home frequently on the album through songs titled: Lilly Dale, Cotten Alley, and Maddox Table.
One of the band's first activities after arriving in London on March 26, their stop on their European tour, was to appear live on a television music show, The Tube.
The band rented a house in the Muswell Hill section of London. A lawn mower was not available, so they let the weeds their spacious backyard grow and used the jungle backdrop for photo sessions. They also rented a grill and had frequent evening cookouts on the back porch.
The group began its studio sessions for the album on April 3. First the group had to record the basic instrumental tracks of each song. From these any changes could be made for the other instruments. But it was most important for the band to produce good drum and bass tracks to create a tempo for each song.
Often it takes more than two hours of testing for the producer and engineer to get an acceptable drum sound, Gustafson said.
Drew said they worked for about two weeks from about 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., with a break for dinner. Producer Joe Boyd helped keep the atmosphere relaxed, Gustafson said.
Drew called Boyd "a real mentor," noting he gave the young band a chance to experiment and fail. "He let us do what we wanted to and only would tell us what didn't work or what he didn't like," he said. "He would keep us from banging our heads against the wall on one song."
The Maniacs' planned to first release a single in Europe, entitled Can't Ignore the Train, on June 10. Four songs had to be finished by the middle of May because a B-side song was needed as were an extended version of the single and a third track for an extended-play record, which would also be released.
The band was to pick three or four suggestions for the single, from which the record company would pick one.
The company wanted an extended remix of Train to be placed on the EP, but the band felt the song worked well enough at its length of 2 minutes and 45 seconds. After some discussion, the band tried to throw in a longer instumental in the middle. As a result, the new product was now a whole three minutes.
Elektra officials and the band decided then to add on an older Maniacs song to the EP, Grey Victory. The single and EP were finished by about May 15.
Then the first leg of the tour began, as the band traveled overnight on a ferry to Amsterdam, only to be told upon their arrival at the hotel at 9 a.m. they could not check in until 2 p.m.
At most of the dates the band drew about 400 to 500 fans in clubs that could hold about 600 people. Gustafson said they often were called to do three encores per night. "We had to stop playing with people in there, we ran out of songs," he said.
Besides Muenster, other dates were in Venlo, Bochum, Hamburg, and at a U.S. Army base in Frankfort. During the tour, Jerome Augustyniak, the band's drummer, had a cold but managed to play each night, even the multiple encores. "He was a real trooper," Gustafson said.
The band expected the crossing of the East German border to be tense, having heard stories of other bands being detained all day as the border guards ripped apart their vans. Luckily, they did not have any problems, with the advice of Scumeck Sabottka, their German road manager who was provided by the promoter.
"The border is barbed wire and guns. Machine gun turrets. Automatics. Guys with guns checking your over," Drew said.
"They got on the bus and they would have everyone's passport. You would all have to sit up straight, take your sunglasses off and look at them, Gustafson said.
Gustafson said one guard wanted a photograph of the band to give to his children, "because we were an American pop band."
"You've got to bribe them half the time," Drew said. "We were fortunate. I guess we looked like a wholesome crew," Gustafson added.
The mood of East Berlin was cold, the two said, noting the Berlin Wall was about 200 yards from their hotel. Drew band members were told by a man at a club in Berlin there are kids on the other side of the wall in East Germany that hear their music on the radio, but were not able to come to the concert that night.
Drew noted that one fan, Roberto from Italy, said he traveled 22 hours by train to see the band.
Of course their motor transportation was first class. "We had this huge Mercades van/bus. A beat-up ugly thing," Drew said. "We had a few problems with the van, some electrical. We thought it was the starter."
They found themselves frequently push-starting the vehicle. "We'd be on the expressway, and we'd stop to go to the bathroom and get some gas and them we would all have to get behind the van and push it, loaded with equipment," Drew said making a pushing motion with his hands.
"So even though - here we are, really cool - the Maniacs in Europe, we still had to push the van," he laughed.
The band's last German road date was on the 25th, then it was back to the studio. "Now at this point we had hoped to have everything done, except odds and ends," Drew said.
However, Miss Merchant was sick and could not record voice tracks. Band members mixed songs in the studio a bit more during the 10-day layover before the rest of the tour in England began on June 5.
The band played in Croydon, Coventry, Manchester, Worcester Polytechnic College, Portsmouth, Brighton, at the medieval campus of Oxford University, at a lavish ball at Cambridge University.
Drew noted that "In England, especially around London, you'd run into at least one American, it seemed. There are a lot of Americans going to school there." While on tour, the band met two fans from South Carolina and some friends from Jamestown.
The last concert was on June 13 in London. It was immediately back to the studio because there was still more of the record to do. Miss Merchant still had to do her vocal parts the record had to be mixed and mastered. The group spent long hours in the studio, sometimes until 3 a.m. "Everyone worked hard that last month," Drew said.
"So we were starting to get a little tense, because we thought the record would be done. It wasn't close to being done," he said.
All constraints related to the band's budget, he said. Money was being spent daily on the house, car, equipment and studio rental, and the engineer's salary.
"A lot of money. It was longer for the record to come out. It was no longer going to be able to come out in August, it now had to be in September. So it was starting to get a little nerve-wracking," he said.
Noting that not every performer had to be there every day, after his basic tracks and additions were done.
"We didn't know when we could leave, we were running out of time," Drew said. The last day the group could have the studio was July 18. The record was finally finished by then, and most of the band members returned soon after.
Gustafson said all band members were there for the mixing. "We'd have half a dozen mixes of most of the songs, and we'd listen to them, pick out the ones we liked and listen to them again the next day, and say 'We've got to do it again,'" Gustafson said.
He noted that even a small change to the volume of one instrument would mean the rest of the mix would have to be changed.
"The magic in the album really is the mix. I always heard that was true but I never realized it - that how much you can really make a song sparkle by that perfect mix," he said.
Drew said Can't Ignore the Train, received tremendous reviews and got some radio airplay. It never made it to the top 40, but then again, they never expected it to. Nonetheless, the record company was pleased that it laid the ground work for future releases.
Drew said some people were not too happy to meet Americans, and were not even polite until they said they were members of a band, "and then they've heard of you and you're okay."
Gustafson said this behavior may be the result of the brashness of the typical American tourist - of which there are plenty - who swarm into their streets every summer.
Drew noted that people just do not talk as loud in Europe, even at most nightlcubs. Gustafson said an American can be easily spotted in many cases, "You can just hear, the person talking the loudest is usually an American."
On the other hand in Bochum, the band was in a restaurant when a group of teen-agers and young adults sat at a table next to them. The Germans then broke into song, as is common there.
"John speaks German and he sand a few lines of a song he remembered. And Rob knew it. So the two of them were signing," Drew said. "And the kids at the other end of the table loved it."
The Germans replied by singing If I Had a Hammer, in English. "We started singing it with them. Then they were singing some other American folk songs," like This Land is Your Land, Drew said.
"We started singing folk songs for them and they would sing back. We'd clap when they would sing songs and they would clap for us after we sang one," he said.
Boyd went to New York City soon after to master the album. Group members and the producer had to decide what the most effective running order of the 13 songs would be. "It was very important that we get it right, the way the songs flow after each other, the amount of time between songs," Drew said.
The length of the record was also a consideration because if a record is longer than 20 minutes per side the quality of the later grooves is less, Gustafson said.
Boyd would send samples of the work to Jamestown and the band would make suggestions and send it back. The band also designed the artwork for the album, single and EP.
Elektra's marketing department must take over now. "We did our half. Now it's up to them to get it out to the public. And we have to get out to play and sell it." Gustafson said.
Drew said if a new band is coming out to a lot of hype, there is a lot of pressure on them to be better than their publicity.
The Maniacs' promotion is to be low key. "Very subtle. We don't need the hype. We don't need to tell anybody how good we are. We're just going to present ourselves to people."
Attention is going to be focused on the college market, which tends to be more receptive to new music than the general public. Drew said they and the record company would be happy to break even on this project, as long as a base is built.
Part of the strategy is to perform at the New Music Seminar in New York, which many music-industry "movers and shakers," as well as college-radio and major club representatives, are to attend.
Can't Ignore the Train recently reached 27th place on a record report which includes college radio stations. It is is not guaranteed to be the American single, because the market trends in England are different from those in the United States. Gustafson said no one is sure how many records the band will sell and which one song is going to be the more popular.
Elektra officials may issue a single, depending upon what the stations are playing, "Just so they don't put out too much money right away. They'll wait and see and go with a sure thing, I guess," Gustafson said.
Next is a nationwide tour, which begins with an Oct. 4 date in Baltimore. In November, the band is to tour with R.E.M.
The tour includes dates in college towns such as Lansing and Ann Arbor, Mich. and Fort Collins, Colo. There are also dates in Chicago and Detroit and New York. They are to play in the South and possibly California after December.
Gustafson said "We've been writing some new material these past few weeks and working them out so maybe we'll get a couple of songs together." He said they may work the songs into their concerts.
Now the practical planning begins. The 10,000 Maniacs have to incorporate, they have to hire a crew, buy vehicles and equipment, and budget expenses for the tour. They need a German publishing deal, and a merchandising deal. And ongoing bills still have to be paid.
Members are to road manage their tour by themselves, taking care of hotels, interviews, food and anything else. Gustafson said having someone else take care of such details helps the band concentrate on playing, but they do not have enough money for that yet.
"We've been trying but by we haven't come close to breaking even. Now is our chance," Drew said. "Altogether it's better than selling hot dogs," he said.
"You get your whole life to write songs for your first record and then you get 18 months to write another 13 songs for your next record. There's a lot of pressure we haven't felt yet. We will," Gustafson said.