THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9509010073
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
DAN MURPHY KNOWS the secret of Soul Asylum's success: They finally know what they're doing.
The Minneapolis band's two most recent albums, ``Grave Dancers Union'' (1992) and this year's ``Let Your Dim Light Shine,'' are platinum. Guitarist and sometime songwriter Murphy, who's been on board since the group's early-'80s inception, thinks everything up to this point has been education.
``I'm glad we were on an indie label when we were learning how to play,'' he says of Soul Asylum's days at Twin/Tone Records, which also served as breeding ground for the Replacements. He also credits the bigger recording budgets that the foursome has scored, first at A&M and now Columbia, for allowing them time to ``actually have it sound like music and be quirky.''
Murphy says he hopes it won't take another three years before the follow-up to ``Dim Light'' is written and recorded, as was the case with ``Grave Dancers Union.'' That disc's long run near the top of the charts kept the band on the road for two years, which in turn taught another lesson. ``How to say no,'' chortles Murphy.
The group brings their sound to the Boathouse on Sunday.
Singer Dave Pirner and Murphy - who contributed one song, ``Promises Broken,'' written with Jayhawks bassist Marc Perlman - found it difficult to put together material while touring so hard.
``Down time, you have to be persistent. It's unlikely you're gonna pull your guitar out if you're playin' six shows a week,'' Murphy says.
He's not complaining about success, though, and even acknowledges that ``Misery,'' Soul Asylum's current multi-format champion, is full of digs at the generational spokesmodel syndrome. Witness lines such as: ``We could start a company and make misery/Frustrated, Incorporated.''
Murphy says, ``I think we're makin' fun of ourselves as much as anything.''
He isn't apologizing, either. Of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, the punk heroes the outfit was scheduled to play with at this weekend's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opening ceremonies, he says, ``All these bands, these people, were tryin' to sell as many records as they could.''
In fact, he says, ``it feels kind of redeeming'' to have fans listen to the band's music and attend shows.
``I never wanted to do one of those elitist punk rock bands,'' Martin says. ``I don't have a problem with being on a major label. When we first went to England (in the '80s), they thought we were Husker Du clones. The posters said, `Soul Asylum, produced by Bob Mould' in real big letters. We thought, `Christ, how are we gonna get out of the shadow of Bob Mould?' So that was the first problem we faced.
``Then we signed with A&M, and that was really looked down upon in those days. And now we're so popular, some people can't like us because of that. But we believe in the songs and we believe in the band. Without that, I wouldn't do it.''
Murphy's also happy with new drummer Sterling Campbell, who worked on ``Grave Dancers Union'' and officially replaced Grant Young before the ``Dim Light'' sessions.
``He's pretty musical,'' Murphy says of Campbell. ``It's more consistent. The things that are supposed to be beautiful really do have something to them now, whereas before I'd be really nervous. You'd start a slow song and it would be like a trip to the dentist. Personally, I feel tons more confident.''
Which must have contributed to Murphy's realization that as the band's strengths grow, ``you get this tiny batch of magic you can make.''
Potentially even loopier than offbeat ``Dim Light'' tracks like ``Caged Rat,'' which melds Pirner's shaky trumpet chops with punk power chords, is the forthcoming album from Murphy's side project, Golden Smog. The group also includes members of the Jayhawks, Wilco and Run Westy Run. Murphy invited Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy to join after hearing his work on Uncle Tupelo's ``Anodyne'' before that group evolved into Wilco.
``I found out I had the same publisher as him, so I called him,'' Murphy says. ``I left a real sheepish message on his machine. He's got a great voice. There's this song on the record called `Pecan Pie' he sings. The words are, `Sometimes I get so hungry, I think about pie all day.' Not a great lyric, but when he sings it, it sounds pretty good.
``If I sang it, everybody would be going, (sarcastically) `That's great, Dan.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY ROCK MUSIC
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