The
four members of the Atomic Swindlers who gathered on a recent evening to talk
about their new album are no strangers to CD releases. Different combinations
of them have played in New Math in the early 1980s, Jet Black Berries in the
mid 1980s, and the Raw MaGillys in the 1990s.
“If
we’d made it years ago we’d be washed up by now,” says bassist Gary Trainer.
“We’d be on Behind the Music.”
“We’re
way behind the music,” adds guitarist Chris Yockel.
Vocalist
April Laragy and drummer Roy Stein join in the laughter, but, however
unintentionally, Yockel has a point.
Coming Out
Electric sounds nothing like the mainstream recordings of today. It’s a throwback to a
bygone era when the music industry cherished poetic lyrics and albums that were
works of art. The buzz was strong even before the release.
The
program director of XM Satellite Radio’s unsigned band station responded
immediately to the group’s demo, even though he receives 800 to 1,000 CDs a
week. Stein’s song “Float” eventually reached the top 20 nationally on the
station’s chart.
Alternative
forms of exposure like XM Radio are crucial in the age of corporate media
consolidation.
“There’s
that big rock world where millions of dollars are pissed away and then there
are people like ourselves who do it with whatever we can,” says Trainer.
If the Atomic Swindlers’ sound is lush, it’s because there’s no
skimping on talent. Laragy, long-time local favorite, has never been more
unleashed than on her lead vocals here. In addition to writing four songs, she
plays keyboards and guitar and wrote string arrangements.
Stein serves as far more than a drummer, contributing percussion,
loops, guitar, and background vocals. But it’s his writing skills that stand
out. Trainer,
the third writer, supplies some of the hardest rocking tunes on the album.
The
group is rounded out by Scott Ostrowski (guitars and vocals), Yockel (guitars
and sitar), and Brian Eggleston (keyboards and background vocals). Stein and
Laragy even persuaded their neighbor, Howard Weiss, former Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra concertmaster, to record violin parts on a few tunes.
“He had a blast,” says Stein.
The
album is a labor of love, the product of over 1,000 hours of recording and
mixing, much of it by Stein. It’s a pretty impressive recording, considering
the fact that Stein, Laragy, Trainer, and Yockel have day jobs.
Stein
is a professor of business and program director of the masters of arts in
liberal studies at Nazareth College. Laragy is a part-time receptionist at
George Eastman House. Trainer is a buyer for the City of Rochester, and Yockel
does planning and technical work at Harris RF Communications.
The group’s
songs all touch on science-fiction or space themes. And there are several
homoerotic undertones, from the album’s title to tunes like “Intergalactic
Lesbian Love Song.”
“Once
you’re working out adventures in the universe and you come across the strict
sexuality of this planet, you can let that go,” Trainer says. “You’re given the
freedom…. I don’t even think it’s gay.”
Laragy
gives Yockel much of the credit for the band’s sound. “He’s as important to the
group as George Martin was to the Beatles,” she says. “He doesn’t write, but
he’s that special ingredient that locks it all together.”
“On
a song like ‘Drag’ you wonder, is it going to be too pretty?” says Stein. “I
know Chris will bring an edge to anything I write.”
Yockel’s
magic is also rooted in the past. In the 1970s he worked for MXR, a
Rochester-based corporation that made effects pedals. He still uses MXR delays
and compressors. His heroes: the 1960s acid-rock group Quicksilver Messenger
Service.
“Most
of what I do is spontaneous,” says Yockel. “Roy puts them together, then I go
back and learn what I did. He whittles my redwoods into toothpicks, but it
works.”
Stein
is also quick to point out the contributions of guitarist Ostrowski.
“Scott
is a great rockabilly guitar player out of Canandaigua” Stein says. “He’s got a
huge guitar sound and a great voice.”
On
one tune, Trainer’s “Stars In My Pocket,” Ostrowski borrows a mind-boggling
trick from Jimi Hendrix, playing his part backwards so when the song is played
the right way the guitar has an other-worldly sound.
Stein
also credits Christopher Hooker, a 25-year-old engineer at GFI studios. Hooker
was so devoted to creating the right sound for the CD, he was given production
credit.
Stein
recently found himself at the House of Guitars, where Bruce Schaubroeck had
helped the band obtain instruments. Schaubroeck said he knew how hard the band
had worked, adding “Of course, you’re never really satisfied.”
“I
thought about it and said, ‘No, this time I’m satisfied.’ For the first time
ever, I’m happy with the whole thing.”
Atomic
Swindlers play on Friday, October 8, at 9 and 11 p.m., at Nasty D’s, 140 Alexander
Street, for the Opening Night Party of the ImageOut Festival. Admission: Ticket
stub from an opening night film.
Space
is the place
Local albums are released by the dozens every year; many of them
are terrific. But the new album by the Atomic Swindlers is an absolute
knockout. Coming Out Electric transports you back to a time when albums took you on a journey.
Pop this disc in the CD player and you’ll wonder where it came
from. Is it the soundtrack for the latest Barbarella movie? Did David Bowie put his dress back on and re-emerge in a female
incarnation?
It’s as if the entire group was trapped on a desert island for the
last couple of decades. They just got back and lost no time taking up where
Bowie left off with Ziggy Stardust.
In
fact, Roy Stein’s “Float” offers another imaginative take on the “Space Oddity”
concept. And April Laragy’s “Wonderlove” seems to come from the same unisex planet
as the Mott the Hoople’s gay classic “All the Young Dudes,” (which was written
and produced by Bowie). It’s a totally over-the-top time-warp.
On this album, space is most definitely the place. Its futuristic
setting is such a strange anachronism — looking backward to a 1960s view of
the future and forward to the real future at the same time — that it works.
The
melodies are as beautiful and as catchy as they are off-kilter. Laragy has the
perfect ironic sneer built into her vocal chords. She’s acting as much as
singing on every song in a manner reminiscent of great 1970s singers like Lene
Lovich and Kate Bush.
But maybe the best thing about this album is the lack of attention
paid to current trends. Forget rap and hip-hop, this is state-of-the-art 1973
— total, full-throttle self-indulgence — and there’s not a weak link to be
found. The songwriting is simply superb.
Some
of Stein’s tunes — notably “Drag” — contain beautiful echoes of John
Lennon, with equal shares of the psychedelic and the poetic. And his
“Intergalactic Lesbian Love Song” is a wild, gender-bending update of “Hey
Joe.” Trainer’s tunes, like “Diamond Dreamers,” continue to explore the cosmos,
but they’re firmly rooted in earthy rock. Laragy’s beautiful ballad,
“Underground Love,” is perfectly contoured to her emotional vocal gymnastics.
Most of these tunes are greatly enhanced by Chris Yockel’s
slashing guitars. But on Gary Trainer’s “Stars In My Pocket,” it’s Scott
Ostrowski’s wonderfully quirky guitar supporting Laragy’s Betty Boop swoops.
Each song is lovingly built, texture upon texture, constructing a
world of sound with far-off voices and atmospheric effects. Put on some
headphones before inserting this CD. This is a soundscape well worth entering.
And
don’t miss the website www.atomicswindlers.com/missioncontrol.html,
where you will find Joel Trussell’s animated video of “Float,” perfectly
executed in a retro kinky moderne style.
This article appears in Oct 6-12, 2004.
