Community Corner
New Jersey Band The Feelies To Play Maxwell's
Patch talked to the band members in anticipation of their July 2 performance.
Even if you don't know The Feelies music, you can probably get a sense of it simply by talking to their chief songwriter, Glenn Mercer. In conversation, he's minimal, wry and prone to odd little tangents. These are some of the adjectives you might apply, too, to the lovely, odd little tunes he writes for his seminal alternative New Jersey based band. The Feelies will be playing a rare, local show at Maxwell's on July 2.
Since the late 1970s, and on-and-off ever since, the Feelies off-kilter rock, sparse enough to make The Talking Heads sound like a Phil Spector production, has inspired love from famous fans (director Jonathan Demme, REM's Peter Buck) and elicited unconditional love from the critics. Chances are, you're familiar with their best-known album, 1980's, "Crazy Rhythms." Mercer, is pleased about the devotion, but wonders in his quiet way, what all the fuss is about.
"I first got the idea that it was an important record when Rolling Stone picked it as number 49 on their list of best albums of the 80s," said Mercer. "I think it is a good album, but its iconic status is a bit frustrating. We've made several others just as good. Fans bring their own perspective to bear on a particular record. Sometimes, they really love it because it reminds them of a cherished time in their lives. As for the stuff I write, it still has to please me first. If other people like it, that's fine."
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Mercer also happily punctured the notion of sacred album, when he related a funny anecdote about the recording sessions for The Feelies classic disc.
"When Bill (Million), Anton (Fier) and I were making the record, we had a really unsympathetic engineer that Stiff Records stuck us with. One day, on the title song, Anton counted out the bridge wrong and it was suddenly longer than it was supposed to. The engineer wasn't listening and didn't notice, so we decided to keep playing. We ended up adding some percussion, too and it sounded great. But it was basically an accident."
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So much for they myth of the classic album. Sometimes, cool stuff just happens.
Another of The Feelies' more memorable 80s acts, is their kooky appearance in director Demme's comedy-drama, "Something Wild." If you remember the scene where Melanie Griffith takes Jeff Daniels to her high school reunion, you may also recall that the quirky boys onstage, playing a quaalude-slow version of "Fame" are Mercer, Million and the guys.
"Jonathan was a fan of ours from the time he heard our early demos," Mercer related nonchalantly. "He was actually hoping to make a documentary about us called, 'Night Of The Living Feelies.' It never materialized, but when he was shooting 'Something Wild' he contacted us and asked us if we'd like to be the band at the reunion dance."
As funny as the band's appearance is in this scene (they play the Bowie song with all the energy of medical school cadavers), it could have been even weirder.
"The theme of the dance is 'The Spirit of '76," said Mercer. "It's supposed to be the class's 10th reunion. So, we worked up a version of 'Gonna Fly Now' from 'Rocky.' It sounded like it was played by Brian Eno. But we couldn't get permission, so we went with the Bowie song."
Mercer, who is producing these days (check out local favorites The Shrubs), as well as working on solo material, said The Feelies may also be in the studio soon. More than likely doing a record for Hoboken label Bar/None. The singer/guitarist said the process of building an album is both the same and different from the days when the original band members were located in New Jersey.
"It all starts pretty much the way it did back when we began," said Mercer. "I do an acoustic demo, with guitar and vocal. Then the songs evolve from there, with other members suggesting parts. That's the way we did 'Crazy Rhythms.' Of course, now I have to mail my demos to Bill, instead of handing them to him. But, we still do things on our timetable and try to exercise as much creative control as possible. Those things, I'm happy to say, haven't changed."
