FFWD Weekly
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| MUSIC 54·40 "I'm tired of eating Nirvana's leftovers," Neil Osborne, vocalist and guitarist for Vancouver's 54·40 laments. "It was okay for a while, everybody did it because they had so much impact that it was the thing that had to be done. We had a piece of it with Trusted By Millions, which was power pop and very aggressive. Everyone had a piece of it, but I don't want to chew on those bones anymore." If Trusted By Millions was 54·40's Nirvana flambé, then Since When, their seventh album, released in July of this year, is a buffet of many musical styles. Drenched in strings and sweat, the album's dozen tracks journey from rock to pop to a rootsy, folky feel, and prove that maturity need not abridge passion in rock music. "We tend to react a bit against what we've done in the past. There are a lot of variables that go into creating an album, almost as many as what goes into creating a person. The first half, it's me bringing in the songs, the words, the chords. The rest is the band - their attitude, their treatment of things. It's not that we were trying to sound like a trend or not sound like a trend, it's just that... well, where we're at is where we're at," Osborne explains. "Sometimes I'll have a direction planned for a song, but I'll bring it in and not tell the guys what I'm thinking about it. They may take it in a direction I never thought of. On this one, I wanted space, openness, anything but the '90s sound." To help recreate that sound on their upcoming tour, Osborne is grateful to be playing in concert hall venues like the Max Bell Centre. "It's a nice change. I'm tired of flogging beer for a living - it's not what I wanted to do with my life. It's pretty depressing when the most excited person in the crowd is the bar manager because he's running up to tell you you just broke his liquor sales record. "We're happy to play a place that's a little more intimate and not quite as lively. If the crowd at a bar is lively, it's really not us, it's just the beer talking anyway." And if kickbacks from Molson aren't in his plans, Osborne has another reason to be happy about this tour's more graceful settings. "We are going to have a two-hour show. There will be no opening acts - we will be starting at eight sharp. There will be an intermission, too. We hope to attract people that wouldn't want to go to a bar to see us. Also, we'll be able to do songs like 'Laughing' and 'Broken Pieces' that we wouldn't be able to pull off in a bar. As my brother (David) is touring with us on keyboards, we'll be able to do up some of the songs differently as well. On some songs, they'll be just two of us on stage, on others, four or six." Another benefit a tour in larger venues might create is a feeling of having achieved recognition and respect. "Right up until my father died, he was still asking 'What are you going to do for a real job?' It was a big secret, but all of us had two jobs right up until Smilin' Buddha Cabaret came out (in the early '90s). I worked at a print shop, Brad (Merritt, bassist) was the foreman of a recycling plant, Matt (Johnson, percussionist) worked at the A&B Sound Warehouse and Phil (Comparelli - guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist) was doing drywall. Now we can make a living at this. We're like an old ship - steady as she goes." Now when Osborne is at home, he has time to spend with his family, taking his daughters, aged eight and 10, to school, and doing homework with them. He credits his ability to leave his family while on the road to a very understanding wife and the fact that he is at home 100 per cent of the time when he's not touring. "I don't go out to bars for entertainment; I don't see bands. I don't know, maybe that's not a great thing, but that's how it is." Living this way, one thing the singer misses is the camaraderie of the local music scene. "When we started, you did it to be part of the scene, to hang out and enjoy music and have some fun. Now, young bands, they've seen too much of MuchMusic and Spin and Rolling Stone and they're all in it for fame and fortune. That's their measure of success. When we started, the idea of having a record deal was just out of reality, it was not thought of." But even with the most understanding wife in the world, Osborne chooses not to seek the camaraderie that might still exist in his Vancouver home. After choking on the bones of Nirvana, maybe the idea of crossing his West Coast wife by being away any more than he is already is a little too unpalatable. |