Quotable Matt Cook says:
>Both of these guys left bands that have WAY more financial potential
>than The Gourds. Keith left The Damnations who signed a major label
>deal and have been getting unending positive press in anticipation of
>their debut.
(snip)
>I hope it stays the same in March when Wilco and The Damnations' new
>records are selling like crazy, and GHOSTS is being ignored.
>
I don't want to take any credit away from the Gourds, of course, but I
think you might be overstating the case here, Matt, at least as far as the
Damnations are concerned. "Unending positive press" and "selling like
crazy" are relative terms. I've heard that the Damnations themselves are
worried about the amount of attention they've gotten this early in their
careers, and though that's understandable, it's not like they've gotten
*that* much attention. They've gotten lots of nice local press in TX, and
they've turned more than a few heads in the alt-country world at large
(mine included), but that's not necessarily going to translate to massive
radio play or record sales, or even features about 'em in Spin or Rolling
Stone; in fact, it's a fairly safe bet that their record won't sell like
crazy among the buying public in general, even if it sells well among p2ers
and our ilk. They're a great alt-country band, one of the best to come
along so far (if we're using the narrow definition of alt-country, that
is--the one that some folks would call country-rock). But that's a pretty
limited market, and for a variety of reasons, I don't see mass success in
the Damnations' future.
For that matter, the Gourds have gotten plenty of good press themselves,
and when they first emerged, there was certainly a lot of buzz about them,
too. So I think casting the Gourds as underdogs here is a little
disingenuous; they may be underdogs in the music biz at large--as are the
Damnations and most of the other bands that get discussed here--but I'm not
convinced they're really underdogs in the world of alt-country.
Wilco are another matter; I'm told their forthcoming record has a shot at
earning them mass success, in which case maybe the Gourds can look forward
to having their next record stickered with "Featuring Max Johnston,
formerly of Wilco!"
--Amy
"If I said I don't want what I don't have/And all the answers are in
love/If I said I believed in myself and that's enough/I'd be lying"--Sam
Philips
