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Show uic mwci UWCCl, 1UU UWCCl by C h r i s t i A r i a a n The difference between Matthew Sweet's winter '95 tour and his spring '96 tour was drastic. The winter tour sig- -' nakd the end of Sweet's long silence following his dark-hors- e masterpiece' Altered Beast. Dredging himself out of a ' s p h o 1 t o tour supporting the album. Sweet's recent tour date at Club DV8 partially e fans, disappointed j Looking overweight and yet still enerhimself The Sweet played solidly. getic, problem was the songs from his new depression, Sweet was tour--" album and his current band New songs California" ing in support of the mediocre album from Blue Sky like "Come to ' 100 Fun. Sweet's live show, however: "are completely disposable pop pap, lack- ; ing new direction and the bittersweet was an energetic return to form. .' The key to the winter tour's success melodies and lyrics of earlier albums. : Sweet's current band also fails to drive was the polar relationship between the Richard his and Sweet singer into new territory. Lacking a guitarist lloyd. riffs solid lead guitarist like Lloyd or Quine, and solid Sweet's syrupy lyrics guitar Sweet check. was forced to play all the guitar if in can grow saccharine not kept parts on Blue Sky, giving 'the album a Luckily, since Sweet's breakthrough feeL g album Girlfriend, he enlisted the For his touring band, Sweet brought support of Lloyd and Robert black guitarist Quine. Lloyd, the former guitarist in die along a nappy-heade- d seminal punk band Television, toured reminiscent of Lenny Kravitz in both with Sweet physique and playing style. While this and dark reckless guitarist was an improvement over last guitar playing Lloyd's long-tim- - self-impos- guitar-slingin- added a needed edge and ignition to Sweet's lovelorn syrup. The result was kinetic. Unfortunately, sometime between the winter and spring, Sweet managed to lose Lloyd's assistance. Whether bum-oor a disagreement caused the parting, on-sta- ge 1 ut Lloyd's absence plagued Sweet's spring tour. Instead of Lloyd's intelligent slash enlisted the nf ih'nit imn'nnn studio of guitarist, help a cheesy who soloed by the book and without Wrt LA-ty- pc inspiration. Since that spring tour, Sweet has released the extremely mediocre (even more mediocre than 100 Fun) album Blue Sky On Mars, and is currently on mono-dimension- -- al e the Kravitz spring's failed to fill the tall shoes of a guitarist like Lloyd. The rest of Sweet's band was " similar serviceable, but lackluster, One of the main problems could be that Sweet's current band is made up of gentrified players. Due to the band's age, an ironic accurateness permeated the look-alik- LA-typ-e, Grcenlcaf by Chad . lyrics of songs like "Get Older" and "Dinosaur Act" . Sweet ran through a long 21 song set that included two encores. His set list was an impeccable selection of his entire repertoire, satisfying the crowd with hits like "Divine Intervention, "Evangeline," "Sick of Myself," "Girlfriend" and "I've Been Waiting." Diehard fans enjoyed melancholy gems from Altered Beast like "Someone to Pull the Trigger," Time Capsule" and "Ugly Truth Rock." Sweet's set wasn't bad, just lacking. The real surprises of the evening were the opening actsespecially Sloan. Sloan, a band responsible for the operation of Murder records and for pioneering the Canadian retro-po- p phenomenon, turned out a set of incredibly diverse Sidewinder to Sleeowalk through Slow City craft-roc- k. The bands combination of nerd-cor- e combined the and Pavementy power-po- p and die '90s indie best of '60s retro-po- p revolution.. Although the band is from Halifax, Nova Scotia, the quartet looked and played die part of British mods, only less snooty and poodley than like Oasis and Blur. Brit-poppe- Sloan played the radio rs hit "Underwhelmed," along with songs from the band's three albums. Even better, die band's live performance breathed life into songs which don't rock enough on the band's recordings. Fastball, the first band of the evening, played a passable Austin, Texas version which also exceedof alterna-power-po-p, output found on the band's album Make Your Mama ed the over-produc- ed Proud. While Fastball rocked loosely and with "a refreshing amountof cheery good nature, the band's lyrics remained sopho-morand annoying. AH , totaled, die crowd received more ic by Christian Arial no secret that Utahns catch national trends It's e two years late. According to a the behind rambles Utah perpetually bus-lik- times. Nowhere is this latent behavior more evident than in Utah's musical taste. show an Examples: Nirvana didn't sell-otime first The at the Golden Spike Arena, in Ogden. handful Pearl Jam played a Salt Lake club date, only a of people showed up. Predictably enough, it took a full year and the MTV video release of "Jeremy," before Utah took note of Pearl Jam's album Ten. Ironically, the next time Pearl Jam played Salt Lake at the Delta Center, tickets sold out in seven minutes. Because Utah is so dependent upon the limited scope of televised music and commercial alternative radio, many good bands or even entire musical genres escape notice. The Friends of Dean Martinez is all-ag- ut es one of these overlooked bands and the movement is one of these overlooked genres. The Friends, a Tuscon, Arizona band, including of Giant Sand and Naked Prey, originated members than their money's worth, especially "as a kind of Santo and Johnny cover band, hoping to given Sloan's- - diverse and loose set It's a regular work, weekly gig and do some parties too bad Sweet seems like he's on the get and weddings, because in Tuscon there's only one way out ? club to play at, and you can't play there very often," said Bill Elm, the band's steel guitarist and principal member. Your Smile, the Friends first and only ,r The Shadow of album to date (a second .album called .Retrograde should be out soon), combined various instrumental music into a lazy sidewinder mood seasoned with surf music, latin rhythms, jazz blues, euro-waltzand dirt road driving. Elms' recognizable steel guitar was the band's signature instrument, while John Convertino's tasteful vibe playing, Joey Burns guitar work and other additions like accordion, piano, harp, violin and trombone added to the sound. Unlike many bands associated with the : movement, the Friends didn't just catch a rising tide. Instead of strict Dean Martin, Martin Denny or Juan Esquivel worship, the Friends were influenced by broader musical styles. Most members of the band have rock, jazz and backgrounds. "We play a lot of different styles, so I feel its a bit more than just lounge music," Elm said. The Shadow of Your Smile,1 which includes covers as divergent as Thelonious Monk's "Ugly Beauty" and Enrol Garner's "Misty," shows a depth, breadth and freshness missing from most cocktail clone bands like CombusCibledisonr The eight original cuts on the album are inventive and carry vitality. The Friends' originality may stem from Elm's longstanding interest in instrumental music. "I've heard Santo and Johnny since I was little the 'Sleepwalk' but I didn't realize they'd done so much more ' song than thatSo, I started looking around for their records, and found out that they were a real band. covers of They put but about 15" albums-mostI- y popularongs, Elm said. ' ' "An odd radio connection also influenced Elm, "I . used to listen .to easy listening stations, just because it's relaxing, and Tuscon has some really bad radio. It's either that or Foghat," he said. The Friends has also managed to avoid the kitsch retro bands are prone toy "We do old songs, but always try to do something different with them, with modern influences," said Elnv "A lot of bands go back and try to "do things as they were in 1964, like , the rockabilly bands and the swing bands that try to get that old sound. I've never really tried to do that because it's already been done, and I don't think (the "vintage musicians would Jiave even been doing it then, if Hendrix had been around." trend may V Elm is quick to add that the have helped the band reach fans. "I think it's only helped us in a positive way. I guess that's why we got noticed originally." J f With the band's legendary first shows played at "a wedding and an orphanageopening up for Ronald McDonald at the Arizona Children's Home," the band hasn't always traveled an easy road. "We played kind of' blew it town- - and-the- o few shows es 1) neo-loun- ge oil multi-instrument- al . neo-loun- Tmd ge |