ROCK PREVIEW
Twists of Fate
The oft-overlooked Grant Lee Buffalo finally gets invited to the party with its new record, Jubilee, and the budding hit "Truly, Truly."

BY RICHARD MARTIN
rmartin@wweek.com

Grant Lee Buffalo, Grandaddy
LaLuna,
215 SE 9th Ave., 241-5862
9:30 pm Wednesday, July 29
$10

 

One of the most talked-about records of the moment is Mermaid Avenue, which came to fruition when Billy Bragg took a collection of Woody Guthrie lyrics that had been locked in an archive and set them to music with help from Wilco. Suddenly in the spotlight, Bragg imparts a feigned guilt that a staunchly British folk rocker such as he should have the privilege of working with the words of America's most revered songwriter.

Nobody's come forward to suggest a more worthy candidate--until now. Grant Lee Phillips, speaking from his Los Angeles home on the eve of his band Grant Lee Buffalo's nationwide tour, suggests he's better qualified. His mother grew up in Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Okla., for one thing, and he lists the folk legend as a primary songwriting influence.

"I'm kind of jealous and feeling left out of the party," Phillips says with an air of seriousness, then laughs and graciously admits, "but I'm a big fan of Billy Bragg and Wilco."

It's all for the best, as Grant Lee Buffalo's just-released fourth album, Jubilee (Slash/Warner Bros.), looks like the band's surest bet to date for mainstream success. Phillips, longtime drummer and friend Joey Peters and a cast of star sidemen, including Tonic's Dan Rothchild, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Robyn Hitchcock, put the finishing touches on the record earlier this year in a Hollywood studio. It's already yielded the hit "Truly, Truly," a sidewinding love song with a catchy chorus.

For Grant Lee Buffalo, the song and the album represent a desirable yet peculiar twist of fate. The band formed six years ago when Phillips and Peters concluded work with an L.A. art-rock outfit called Shiva Burlesque and hooked up with bassist Paul Kimble, who went on to produce the trio's three albums--Fuzzy, Mighty Joe Moon and Copperopolis. With each release, the band earned critical acclaim and hinted at expanding its core fan base, especially when the second record produced a modest hit in "Mockingbirds."

Grant Lee Buffalo became a reliable name, yet it never really evinced anything more than lukewarm loyalty and merely respectable sales.

"There was a feeling that we were definitely getting somewhere," Phillips says, "but at the same time we were always reminded by people within the industry that we weren't getting far enough."

Stuck in a vacuum, Phillips and Kimble's already strained relationship became insufferable. Prior to entering the studio to work on Jubilee, Phillips asked Kimble to step aside, both as producer and band member. The move would surely alienate Grant Lee Buffalo fans who adored the bassist, but the options were nil.

"There was always a real tension between Paul and I," Phillips says, "and in fact our communication was frequently limited to what we could say through our guitars. We didn't do a whole lot of talking, and in time the breakdown became so prevalent that it was even more difficult to communicate musically."

Phillips and Peters seized the opportunity to work with different talent, and aside from calling on a few friends to perform the new material, they hired trustworthy producer Paul Fox (XTC, 10,000 Maniacs) to sculpt their latest batch of songs. The resulting album unveils a more accessible Grant Lee Buffalo, with a sound that places the band's past pop sensibilities into a more modern framework. Songs such as "APB" and "Fine How'd Ya Do" possess a similar robustness to the previous output but inject a sprightly crunch where there was once a subdued charm. Phillips' vocals move to the forefront of a sharply defined pop/rock aesthetic on tuneful mid-tempo tracks like "Everybody Needs a Little Sanctuary" and "Seconds" and forcefully melodic tunes like "Change Your Tune" and "My, My, My."

Phillips says he's aware of his followers' feelings about the evolution of Grant Lee Buffalo, but he insists that Jubilee is a natural progression.

"There are some folks who are going to say that this is quite different from Mighty Joe Moon or Copperopolis," he says. "But we've always been a band to reinvent ourselves while not losing the spirit that fuels the whole thing."

He also notes the inherent dilemma of operating as a rock band that straddles cult status and mainstream acceptance.

"It's hard for me more than anyone else to put a label on what we do and to quantify it," he explains. "That's probably been one of the most difficult things about our career. The question is how to place us or where do we fit in. I think we have something to offer so many types of listeners."

With Jubilee, this assertion may finally ring true. Then again, the current and unprecedented airplay Grant Lee Buffalo is experiencing with "Truly, Truly" doesn't necessarily quiet the band's critics.

"I think we've had a lot of champions both in the public and in the industry as well," Phillips says of the recent groundswell of support. "But along with that there are always going to be those folks who aren't satisfied when we don't sell like Hootie."

 

Originally published July 29, 1998