Old 97's Throw Left Hooks On Fight Songs
After rising through the ranks of the alt.country
movement to become one of its brightest hopes, the
Old 97's are in a bit of a quandary these days: do
they stay loyal to the sound or follow their pop
instincts to break through to a wider audience?
It's a dilemma similar to that of Wilco, who have
veered further into Beach Boys-ish territory of
late, and Old 97's singer/ guitarist Rhett Miller
understands the impulse. The band's new, forth
album, Fight Songs, released Tuesday (April 27) on
Elektra, is unapologetically hooky. In fact, some
fans who have heard one of the new album's catchiest
songs, "19," mistook it for Weezer.
"Well, better Weezer than the Rembrandts," laughs
Miller, who also writes all of the band's songs.
"[The pop] is pretty obvious. It wasn't even where
we were going. I was playing ['19'] at a soundcheck,
and I had the verse, and [guitarist] Ken [Bethea]
goes, 'Man, that's a good song -- you should write
that.'"
At the time, Miller was trying to pen songs for other
artists. "I'd come up with that for someone else,
thinking the Old 97's would never do it," he says.
"We'd never done a song that was a straight 2/4,
three-chord approach. It was usually over a shuffle
or a waltz rhythm. So that was weird, but I'm happy
with it."
That's not to say that all of Fight Songs sounds like
a different band. On the contrary, "Crash on the
Barrelhead" bears an unmistakable country twang, and
the shuffle beat of "Indefinitely" is reminiscent of
songs like "Salome" and "Timebomb" from their 1997
album Too Far to Care.
Still, the move towards blatantly infectious pop is
intentional. And although Miller is cautious about
alienating his alt.country fanbase, he's just as
insistent on being allowed to pursue his muse, in
much the same way Jeff Tweedy of Wilco has been
defending his recent albums (allstar, March 10).
"People think there are these rules," he says. "But
I didn't make them. Jeff Tweedy didn't make them,
and [we] can't be expected to adhere to them.
"It's funny," he continues, "when we finished the
record, I gave Frank Black a copy of it and John Doe
a copy of it -- because who has more integrity than
those two guys? -- just to make sure everything was
cool, and that we weren't selling out, or whatever
we're gonna get accused of. And they loved it. They
said, 'If there's a song you can take to radio, go.'
They both said, 'Money is freedom.'"
Although the band -- which also includes bassist
Murry Hammond and drummer Philip Peeples -- has long
been based in Dallas, Miller recently moved to L.A.
to be with his girlfriend. "I'm an American Airlines
Advantage Gold customer," he laughs. "I fly back a
lot for rehearsals, I fly back a lot for gigs, I'm
constantly flying. But $270 gets me home, and if the
gig pays well then it's not that big a deal."
He figures to be doing even more flying when the Old
97's hit the road in support of Fight Songs. "The
label would like us to be an opening act on a big
tour, like R.E.M., but in addition to that we'll be
doing a lot of headlining club shows," says Miller.
"We're a hard opening act. I remember there was a
long time when we'd be opening for Son Volt here and
there, and they didn't like it."
Indeed, the sheer, sweaty energy of an Old 97's show
has long been a bane to any act that follows them.
"That's just what we do," says Miller. "So I guess
if it's R.E.M., they're not really running a risk of
us, you know, upstaging them."
- John Bitzer
