Harry Evans -
Harv Evans -
Jeff Booth -
Robert Potts -
Mick Aildasani -
Brian Barnhart -
Shawn Mathews -
Bill Campbell -
Dean Nitz -
Bryan Baxter -
Mike Lumer -
Etkilendikleri
The Knack, Cheap Trick, Lilys, Nick Lowe, The Smiths, Big Star, The Beatles, The Who, The Jam, Elvis Costello, REM, Tom Jones, 77's, AC DC, Kiss, The Ocean Blue, Talk Talk, etc etc etc....
It was 1995, and alternative music was suddenly popular, defying the entire concept of "alternative," but that's beside the point. Grunge was dying quickly, and there was a backlash against the thick guitars and intensity of grunge. Bands that made pure pop music - and those bands have always existed - were suddenly getting recognition, and that in turn spawned a host of new bands making jangly guitar-pop that owed as much to the Beach Boys and the Beatles as modern sensibilities.
It was on tour with Letters to Cleo and Superdrag that I first saw Poole, the opening act that played the shortest set. The venue was only half-full when they took the stage, and while the crowd was only there to see the more rocking main bands, I was blown away by this opening act from Fairfax, Virginia. They played pure, sugary, unabashed pop, and they didn't seem to care that their music was so upbeat and fun. It was exactly what they wanted to do, and it was so good that I was hooked. After the show, when the crowd surged around the tables to buy t-shirts and overpriced CDs from the main acts, I sought out Poole and bought their first CD, Alaska Days. I shoved it in my back pocket, and the whole thing shattered in the crowded car on the way home, but the CD was unscathed, and it remained perhaps my favorite pop album in my CD collection.
I was hesitant to write this column on Poole's Alaska Days. For one thing, it barely falls under my prerequisites for DOA's Unappreciated Album of the Month, which requires the album be released in 1995 or before. For another, many indie music critics have lauded this album and consider it a top-10 indie-pop album not just of the year but ever, myself among them. However, Alaska Days didn't get the recognition that it deserved at the time, and despite being on the influential indie SpinART, the band didn't really get recognition until their third and last album was released in 1999.
It's important to note where Poole was coming from to realize what resulted in such a perfect pop gem. More than just a close suburb of Washington, DC, Northern Virginia is a thriving metropolitan area, one of the largest in the country. Inevitably, bands from the area got lumped in with the Washington area bands, yet Northern Virginia is suburban to a large degree. There were many differences between the harder punk and hardcore thriving in Washington and the pop coming from Northern Virginia. DC had Tsunami, Fugazi, and Jawbox, while the DC suburbs of Virginia and Maryland had The Lilys, Velocity Girl, and Poole. Perhaps because Velocity Girl seemed to be everyone's indie-pop darlings, Poole seemed to slip under the radar, especially with their first album.
And yet a claim that Alaska Days is required listening for fans of jangly indie pop can easily be made. Seldom is a debut so tight, so infectious. That comes, of course, from work on previous bands. Poole frontman Harry Evans was in The Throes for several years and played drums with The Lilys, and he brought his brother, Harv, with him to form Poole. Learning how to make tight, pleasurable pop from The Lilys, Harry brought that approach to Poole as a kind of rebellion from the more twangy rock of The Throes. However, later incarnations of Poole would end up bringing together all of the original Throes members, so it's really only the debut album that truly is a pop gem.
There's all sorts of indie pop, though, and it's important to know that this is not the sugary sweet stuff of twee. More akin to Matthew Sweet or Sugar's lightest moments, Poole is quite capable of rocking. In fact, it's only on their slow songs, the slow, echo-filled, dreamy "Snowcicle" and the quieter, drifting closer "Smile," that Alaska Days falters. For in their most upbeat moments, these songs are infectious, playful, happy, and still rocking.
Still, it's the band's more purely poppy songs where they shine the most. "Favorite Beatnik Star," for example, is perhaps the second-best song on the album. With backing "ba-ba-ba-ba" vocals, the multiple singers somehow give the up-beat song a more restrained pop feel. And even with the more up-tempo chorus driven by the percussion, the beautiful guitar work helps keep the song at a more even keel. There's even a nice jangly guitar solo. On "Ovalteen," the breakout single from the album, the band goes all-out, delivering the most up-tempo and infectious dose of pop-rock you're ever bound to hear. The guitars have a little na-na-na feel to it, which the band backs up with some like vocals, and the chorus of "I wish my hair was long and clean and your favorite drink was Ovalteen and we could share a glass and stares" is one of the most catchy you're bound to ever hear. They even have the wonderful line, "one girl, two girl, red girl, blue girl / I am so in love with you, girl." Silly, perhaps, but poppy in the purest and happiest sense.
From the opener, perhaps one of the most rocking tracks on the album, "Supermerica," you'll be singing along. The song kicks off with a guitar-and-keyboard line that rips into the first verse, but by the multiple harmonies of the chorus ("I don't feel bad / I miss America, but I don't feel bad"), it's hard to resist. There's some fine bass lines (and a different singer) driving the more playful "Strawberry Kool-Aid Smile," and with a song title like that, how could you not like the song? Driven by the stellar drumming, the song rocks along at a fast pace that you'll be tapping your feet to in no time, and the use of multiple backing vocals again helps fill out the choruses.
The guitars definitely drive the more laid-back "Loon," with its more serious lyrics of "I didn't believe you had a gun / I thought you were only making fun of me…again." Those ultra-slick vocals are fantastic, giving more depth to the song. After the slower "Snowcicle," the band offers their most rocking moment yet, "Si." Like Sugar, this track is driven by driving, jangly electric guitars, and while the vocals aren't as slick here, the song definitely rocks.
"Oregon" is a nice, drifting pop album that makes great use of backing vocals that give the song a kind of spacey feel. On "Mary Shakes Her Hair," the band is back to their more unique style. Starting with some glorious shimmering electric and acoustic guitars, the song has this almost beautiful pop quality. Stellar production really turns this song into a brilliant composition, and the sweet backing vocals give the chorus of "Sad girl, happy boy" and "Love, love is making me high, and you're the apple of my eye" a sentimental feel that keeps it from feeling cheesy or overly sappy. On "Car," the band takes a more melancholy feel, and some thick, almost crunchy guitars in the background help convey a more serious feel backed up by lyrics like "I'm not depressed / I'm just sad…" Those louder guitars only intersperse the lighter, more playful and poppy feel evident throughout.
After Alaska Days, The Late Engagement was released in '95, and the band took a more rock approach, due to some degree to their more rocking tour companions for Alaska Days. While it wasn't a bad album at all, it lacked the sheer pleasure and precision of Alaska Days, and the band floundered to some degree until the glorious, almost Elephant 6-style pop of Among Whom We Shine, released in 1999.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the band after Among Whom We Shine. At some point, presumably, the band broke up, and I suspect Harry Evans is still doing the producing/engineering work in Virginia. But as happens all too often, you find a band you really enjoy, and then they break up and you never hear from them again. A band that has made three such fun pop albums should still have more wonderful music in them to create
Still love, and still listen the albums... 'Alaska Days' in particular is a lost 90's classic, but all 3 are exceptional. I hope one day for a reunion & some new material, or even a new project from an ex-member or 5, but until then there's always "Ovalteen"... Best of luck guys, wherever you are & whatever you're doing.
