Photo by The Commercial Appeal files // Buy this photo
The platinum-selling Gin Blossoms, fronted by Robin Wilson, play roughly 100 shows a year since reuniting in 2002 after a bitter breakup in the late '90s. On Saturday, they will be headlining a concert at Southland Gaming and Racing in West Memphis.
Most rock and roll bands don't have happy endings. No matter how much success they achieve along the way, few groups ever make things work for the long haul.
For Robin Wilson, frontman of Arizona-based pop group the Gin Blossoms, it seemed like his band's tale would end the same way.
But after a bitter split at the height of its fame in the late-'90s, the platinum-selling act reunited in 2002, and have been chugging along ever since.
These days, the Blossoms' public profile is lower than it was during its heyday, but the group still plays roughly 100 shows a year, traveling every weekend to perform. On Saturday, the Blossoms will be headlining a concert at Southland Gaming and Racing in West Memphis, part of the Mid-South Great Steak Cook-Off.
For the 46-year-old Wilson, the newly separated father of a young son, rock and roll has become both a career and an escape.
"The last couple weeks it was just me and my son hanging out; I've been a single dad, a sandwich-making homework-helping machine. And as much as I loved that, I couldn't wait to get to the airport and play a rock show," says Wilson.
"I'm so glad this is how I get to make a living. Whatever has happened with this band over the years, there's no divorcing the Gin Blossoms."
Formed in the college town of Tempe, Ariz., in 1987, the early Blossoms were in thrall to the melancholy pop of Big Star and modeled their live act after the boozy bonhomie of Minneapolis postpunks the Replacements.
In fact, it was the lure of those groups ? who both recorded classics at Midtown's Ardent Studios ? that ultimately brought the band to Memphis to record its major label debut, New Miserable Experience, nearly 20 years ago.
"Our career is deeply intertwined with Memphis and Ardent," says Wilson. "I remember the first time anybody played a Big Star record for me, it was a big moment. Being 20 years old, working at a record store, writing songs in our bedrooms and trying to start bands, it was an important moment for us to find big influences, and Big Star was a huge influence on us in Tempe."
"So were the Replacements. So was someone like (Ardent studio alum and power-pop cult hero) Tommy Keene. So to end up there at Ardent making our first real record ... there's no way to overstate how deeply important that was to us, to guys who'd just started out as fans."
Of course, unlike their commercially snake-bitten predecessors, the Blossoms became an unlikely success.
Despite initially sluggish sales, New Miserable Experience became a slow-growing hit, selling four million copies on the strength of radio and MTV favorites like "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You."
Their 1995 follow-up album, Congratulations, I'm Sorry, also recorded at Ardent, earned them another platinum album and a Grammy nomination.
"Our biggest dream was to just aim to approach the quality and influence that the records we loved had on us. And to end up more commercially successful than our heroes was a little ironic," says Wilson. "It was hard to get your head around that."
Of course, the Blossoms' career was also tinged with plenty of tragedy and rancor. The band's founder and chief songwriter, Doug Hopkins, was fired during the New Miserable sessions, and later committed suicide in 1993. The group's second album was released amid growing inter-band tensions, which caused a breakup in 1997.
Wilson and guitarist Jesse Valenzuela essentially split the Blossoms into two new groups, neither of which found success. Eventually, fences were mended and the band resumed as a full-time concern in 2002.
"It's been as hard as any family relationship," says Wilson. "There's been as much drama, joy, heartbreak and success and failure as with any family. As I've always said about the band, there are many layers to this smelly onion."
Formerly signed to A&M, in recent years the Blossoms have released a pair of post-reunion LPs ? 2006's Major Lodge Victory and 2010's No Chocolate Cake ? on indie 429 Records, which caters to veteran artists like Bruce Hornsby, Robbie Robertson, the BoDeans and Cracker.
"Over time, we've gotten to experience a bunch of different aspects of the industry and ways of releasing records and learning how to make a living off of music. We've definitely been able to do all of it," says Wilson. "We've gone from a bar band to a multiplatinum pop group to a veteran act that's still in the fight."
Nearly a quarter century into their career, the Blossoms, like their fans, are a little older and a little grayer, but remain just as enthusiastic about the music.
"We do play differently than when we started. We play like guys who've been playing for 20-plus years, not guys who just bought their first guitar the week before," says Wilson, chuckling.
"Certainly, there's no way to replicate the sensation of being a wild 23-year-old, where everything we did we were swinging for the fences and it was all just desperate energy. But I do feel like the essential spirit of the things is the same. There's not so much aggression and desperation anymore, but there's at least as much pride in being able to do what we do."
Gin Blossoms
8 p.m. Saturday, headlining the 2011 Mid-South Great Steak Cook-Off at Southland Gaming and Racing, 1550 North Ingram Blvd., West Memphis. Tickets are $10 ($15 for steak tasting); kids ages 3 and under are free. For more information, go to southlandpark.com or call (800) 467-6182.
Source: http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2011/oct/13/many-layers-to-blooming-blossoms/?partner=RSS&partner=RSS
memphis heating and air conditioning heating and air memphis tn
No comments:
Post a Comment