Alternative music
Polka, cha cha infiltration crosses stale genres, styles
By Matthew Grant
Staff Reporter
According to Jeffrey Barnes of the polka
infested, unhip hipsters Brave Combo, there is
a certain point during polka when the person
dancing becomes weightless.
Anyone who hds ever seen or heard Brave
Combo play knows gravity is not the only thing
they defy.
Founded in 1979 by Carl Finch as a reaction
to “the stupidity of pop music,” the band aimed
to make use of discarded forms of music.
To begin with, the harbingers of real alterna
tive music tried to discover what pop fans
considered to be the most unhip type of music:
The general consensus was polka. So Finch
formed Brave Combo in the conception of a
“nuclear polka” group, and the group got under
way — playing their first gigs in state mental
hospitals.
Brave Combo will play at Howard Street
Tavern in Omaha Wednesday and at the Zoo
Bar in Lincoln, May 4.
Brave Combo takes influences from all over
the world and reworks them into diverse songs
held together by a rock focus.
“We reach out and take what we need from
a whole bunch of different styles of music,”
said Barnes, who plays saxophone and wood
winds for the band.
After the success of their previous album
(“It’s Christmas, Man!”), Brave Combo chose
to delve into the varied sounds and rhythms of
Latin America on their new release, “No, No,
No, Cha Cha Cha.”
The title song on this album — a perfect
example of the band’s bizarre mixture of musi
cal genius, irreverence and sheer zanincss —
throws together cha cha and The Rol I ing Slone ’ s
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
“No, No” was recorded after percussionist
Bubba Hernandez, who had done two tours of
Japan with Brave Combo, joined the group as a
permanent member, Bames said. Because the
band’s origins are in Texas, he said, its mem
bers have always been interested in Hispanic
music.
“No, No,” features charanga, salsa, tango
and bossa nova amongst other Latin styles,
sung in a mixture of Spanish and English.
Hernandez learned Spanish originally to speak
to his grandmother, Barnes said. Barnes and
Finch also sing the language fluently, but speak
it less well.
In the past, Brave Combo has also recorded
an album entirely in Japanese and other songs
in Polish and Persian. The band learned those
languages through phonetics, Barnes said.
As well as being a multilingual singer, Barnes
also plays the clarinet, guitar, harmonica, flute,
baritone and saxophone. At Brave Combo con
certs, both Barnes and the other members of the,
band constantly switch instruments as they
jump over genres, nations and styles.
-44
We reach out and take what
we need from a whole
bunch of different styles of
music.
—Barnes
band member
The root of it all, however, remains polka:
Finch has said polka is capable of bringing
about world peace.
“He’s saying, I think, that there is an incred
ible infectious happiness that comes with polka
music,” Barnes said.
Brave Combo’s “world music” is a step in
bringing the world toward peace through knowl
edge, Barnes said.
“A little bit more information on our rapidly
shrinking planet,” he said.
For the same reason, Barnes said he listened
to a lot of hip-hop music and is interested in the
concept of sampling.
“I have this idea that we’re getting all these
pieces of information all the time; it comes in
fragments and we piece it all together.”
But Brave Combo probably won’t be re
cording a hip-hop album, Barnes said.
Next for Brave Combo is a joint venture with
Japanese artist K ikusu imam, who came to Texas
recently and recorded the basis of some tracks
while the band was out of the state playing
concerts. By the time they returned, Bames
said, Kikusuimaru was gone but had left behind
his guitar, producer and drum kit for Brave
Combo to complete the recording.
Courtesy of Rounder Records
Brave Combo will play at Howard Street Tavern in Omaha Wednesday.
'' " *
i-- i
Gin Blossoms hit touring circuit
with typical, laid-back demeanor
Courtesy ol AAM I
Robin Wlteon
By Jill O'Brien
Senior Report w_
The Gin Blossoms have been com
pared to The Byrds, Tom Petty and
R.E.M.
“Good comparisons,” said Bill
Leen, bass player for the Gin Blos
soms.
They’ve opened for the Neville
Brothers, Del Amiuri and Wet Toad,
and now the group headlines its own
shows — Thursday night, the Gin
Blossoms will play at the Ranch Bowl
in Omaha.
Currently, the band is louring to
promote its recently released album,
“New Miserable Experience.” No
fancy limos, jets or 16-wheelers for
the group yet.
Phillip Rhodes, Robin Wilson,
Jesse Valenzuela, Scott Johnson and
Leen arc still toughing out louring
van-style, a van Leen said he hoped to
run into the ground.
“Butl’m not complain ing,”he said
— and he’s not.
During an interview, Leen comes
across as quiet, unassuming and low
keyed.
Although Leen might be low
keyed, his playing isn’t But neither
can Leen nor the Gin Blossom sound
be pegged high-powered. Rather, the
Gin Blossoms’ music has been de
scribed as “Southwestern flavored
rock,” “classic American pop” and
“folk oriented.”
When Leen was asked to describe
the music, it took him only an instant
to respond.
“What would you call Tom Petty?
— just good rock ‘n’ roll," he said.
“We’re fans of ’60s-oricntcd-lypc
writing, basically, and then we mix
that up with a lot of energy.”
Lead vocalist Wilson said the mu
sic was “like a big slice of American
cheese."
“I’m still trying to figure out what
Robin means by that,” Leen said.
“Maybe he said that because we don’t
take ourselves very seriously. We’re
kids.”
The “kids” from Tcmpe, Ariz.,
played their first gig on Christmas,
1987. There’s nothing spectacular
about them, yet the band has a strong
college following.
Practically everyone in the group
had attended college and played lo
cally, he said.
The title “New Miserable Experi
ence” represents the band’s collective
philosophy of success and touring.
When the group cut the album with
producer John Hampton, the experi
ence at Ardent Studios in Memphis
was incredible, according to Wilson.
Yet, during that time, the strain of
recording almost broke up the band.
Guitarist Doug Hopkins was replaced
by Scott Johnson.
“There’s always changes in a
band’s lineup,” Leen said.
Besides the near breakup in Mem
phis, television appearances have
proven somewhat “miserable,” espe
cially for Loen.
“The last time... it was cheesy,”
he said. “Most of the band has been on
Letterman, but I haven’t.”
When the band was asked to play
on the David Letterman show, he
wasn’t needed because the Letterman
band had a resident bass player, he
said, so he stayed behind.
He won’t be staying behind June 1,
when the Gin Blossoms play on the
“Tonight Show” to promote “Experi
ence.”
The 12 tracks on “Experience”
range from melodious ballads to the
get-down “Cajun Song” complete with
accordion to the country sound of
“Cheatin’."
“‘Cheatin’’ had a steel pedal,” he
said. “We like to do a lot of that.”
“Experience” is not the first record
the Gin Blossoms made, Leen said.
Prior to that was “Dusted,” an in
dependently released record, then “Up
and Crumbling,” their five-song de
but album on A&M Records was
remixed and two of the songs appear
on “New Miserable.”
“The label forced us to include the
songs,” Leen said.
You could almost hear him shrug.
“But that’s all right,” he said, then
laughed. “I just hope one doesn’t be
come a hit. I’d hate to have to keep
playing it for a year.”
Finally, a week worth wailing
for — snappy satire, dramatic in
trospection and a movie with a
message—not bad for dead week.
“Bob Roberts” Tim Robbins
wrote, directed and starred in this
smartly satirical mockumentary
about politics and the campaign
trail.
Robbins is the title character, a
Pennsylvanian senatorial candidate
who would make Rush Limbaugh
proud. He’s an ultraconscrvalive
Yuppie, young Republican from I
hell — every reasonable person’s
nightmare.
Roberts is a media darling. His
campaign perfectly embodies the
American political ideal: Image,
not issues, is the key.
Roberts is also a folk singer in
the finest Bob Dylan tradition, ex
cept his folk songs are anti-social
services, anti-minorities, anti-gay
and anti-everything left-wing. But
he’s also a first-class hypocrite:
His anti-drug organization is merely
a cover-up for drug smuggling,
money laundering and savings and
loan np-offs.
Framed as an “on-the-road-wiih
the-candidalc” documentary, “Bob
Roberts’’ is a snappy, savvy and
smart look at American politics.
“Enchanted April” Showing
.. r_z_3
Scott Maurer/DN
this weekend at the Mary Riepma
Ross Film Theater, this drama was
nominated for numerous Academy
Awards.
Oscar-nominccs Miranda
Richardson and Joan Plowright star
as two of four women who embark
on a journey to Italy. They leave
not only the drabness of London,
but also the mundane trappings of
their everyday lives in an Italian
villa-tumed-paradise.
“School Ties” Brendan Fraser
stars as a scholarship student at an
all-boys prep school in 1955. His
big-man-on-campus status plum
mets when students discover he is
Jewish.
It is a moving portrait about one
young man’s struggle against big
otry and a broader look at the prob
lems caused by prejudice.
Chris O’Donnell (“Scent of a
Woman”) and Amy Locane
(“Melrose Place”) co-star.
Also this week: “A Brief His
tory of Time,” a documentary
about theoretical physicist Stephen
Hawking and “Flirting,” an Aus
tralian coming-of-agc film about
an interracial romance.
All titles available Wednesday.
— Anne Steyer
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