Metro Pulse/Music/The Shazam

Comment
on this story

What:
The Shazam w/The French Broads

When:
Friday, Feb. 28, 10 p.m.

Where:
Pilot Light

Cost:
$5

On the ropes once again, The Shazam comes out swinging

by Matthew T. Everett

It's been an up-and-down nine years for The Shazam. After years of struggling in the Nashville music scene, band members were on the verge of breaking up when they recorded their second full-length record, Godspeed the Shazam!, in early 1999. That record was a critical favorite and minor commercial success in the U.K., leading to several European tours and next-big-thing status among the capricious British music press. European success, however, didn't translate in the U.S., and The Shazam was in at least a rut, if not a shambles, heading into the summer of 2002.

"All our records have been made in desperation," says Hans Rotenberry, the band's singer, guitarist and songwriter. "On this one, it seemed like our fortunes were declining again, so we said, 'Hey, why don't we just go make another record?' We thought it would help us focus, or wake us up. We booked some studio time and I started writing while we were in the studio. I was thinking, 'This is going to be the worst piece of shit I've ever done.' Now that I'm on the other side of it, maybe I've found the winning formula."

The Shazam's new record, Tomorrow the World, has helped the band get some of its momentum back. Forsaking the shimmering psychedelic power pop of their earlier records in favor of boot-stomping arena rock, the record's January release has dovetailed with the re-emergence of scrappy rock bands on the airwaves, even if The Shazam does more nearly resemble Cheap Trick than the Voidoids. It's not a departure but a refinement, stripping away some of the studio sheen to replicate the band's live performances. Reviews for the new record haven't been widespread, but they've been overwhelmingly positive, and Little Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band has promoted the band on his new syndicated radio show, Underground Radio.

"Little Steven decided we're a garage rock band," Rotenberry says. "Our older fans, the record collectors, might prefer the power pop. But it seems like people who are just discovering The Shazam hands down prefer the new record."

The Shazam's national tour with modern rockers Flickerstick last summer showed the band that turning up and stripping down was just what they needed. Playing short sets every night in bigger clubs than they'd ever played before, like Irving Plaza in New York City and the Metro in Chicago, helped the band members—Rotenberry, drummer Scott Ballew, bassist Mick Wilson and guitarist Jeremy Asbrock—figure out which songs worked, and opened them up to a whole new audience.

"We found that as we cranked everything up a little more, we've made more fans that way and there haven't been any complaints," Rotenberry says. "There were kids who thought we were a punk band. At these all-ages shows, these 16- and 17-year-olds were out there who weren't old enough to recognize all our obvious references. They were too young to remember those bands. They'd go, 'You guys are so bad ass, you don't even have to play it as fast as you can.' It's just good rock and roll, man."

The Shazam's new turn doesn't mean they're veering in a radical new direction. For all the Rolling Stones-influenced guitar riffs and cowbells on Tomorrow the World, there are just as many hooks and harmonies. And stripped down doesn't mean lo-fi. The Shazam is still a power pop band, even if there's a little more emphasis on the power part now. The song "Getting' Higher," in particular, bears Alex Chilton's influence in the intro and chorus. (Rotenberry says he hears Chilton and Big Star comparisons all the time. But he insists the enigmatic Memphis songwriter hasn't been as big an influence as critics think; the first time Rotenberry heard of him, he says, was in the Replacements' song, "Alex Chilton.")

"As we've made the transition from a power pop band, well.... I don't know that we've made it. But people listen to us," Rotenberry says. "All the stuff I've been writing, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I imagine at least our next record will be brasher. What are we going to do, make an Americana album?"

That's about as far ahead as Rotenberry is inclined to think right now. The band is scheduled to play around the South for the next few weeks, then heads back to the U.K. in the spring. He's writing some songs—he has, in fact, about half a dozen new songs in the works now, which is as much material as he had when they were starting to record Tomorrow the World—but there are no plans yet for the next record. Just more touring. And hopefully the new record's title will bear itself out.

"There may be hope yet," Rotenberry says.