THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605170106
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music review
SOURCE: BY SUE VANHECKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
FORGET THE BOWIE comparisons. To the lads of British neo-glam band Spacehog, the Southern-rocking Lynyrd Skynyrd has always been tops.
``I don't suppose Lynyrd Skynyrd had the same vibe over in England as they did in America,'' guitarist Richard Steel said recently. ``It was just very different music. (In England) no one was listening to stuff like that, no one was playing stuff like that, so you felt kind of cool if you liked that. It was good for guitars.''
Steel also admits being a huge Crosby, Stills & Nash fan, a fact that would surely confound critics who claim the fashion-forward, gender-bending Spacehog's stylish debut LP, ``Resident Alien,'' borrows shamelessly from the closet of Ziggy Stardust.
``That's cool,'' Steel said from a tour stop in Austin, Texas. ``I don't mind what people say. But I don't think Bowie would have made a record anything like ours. Likewise, I don't really think ours is that much like a David Bowie record.
``But I'm not scared - I don't think any of us are - to say that we think Bowie is brilliant. I think Oasis is closer to ripping off the Beatles than we are to ripping off Bowie. And even that's cool, because the end result works for me.''
``Resident Alien'' seems to be working for a lot of folks, as well; the album, which contains the unshakeable single ``In the Meantime,'' has sold more than 200,000 copies. Not bad for four boys from Leeds who came together just two years ago in New York City. Each came to America for a different purpose.
``Antony (Langdon, guitarist) had come over following his heart,'' Steel said. ``Jonny (Cragg, drummer) had come over following his head, seeing if the grass was greener. And Roy (Antony's brother Royston, bassist and vocalist) came over to visit Antony on a holiday, ended up never going back and then gave me a call. I was the only one who came over to join the band.''
It was drummer Cragg who actually brought the group together.
``Jonny was in the cafe business,'' Steel said, ``making coffees and killing rats. Antony walked in, because they were both living in the East Village, and they just recognized each other's accents. `Oh, you're from Leeds!' ''
Friendship turned into a band, which they dubbed Spacehog just before an early gig. That spontaneity is what Spacehog is all about, Steel said.
``When the band got together, it was fresh and fun, and that's been an important part of what we do. If we had gotten together in England, it'd be very easy to take yourself too seriously, because you're surrounded by your peers.''
So is it still fun when you're selling hundreds of thousands of albums, making videos and touring the globe?
``Well, that's the only point and the only reason to do it, to have fun,'' Steel mused. ``Otherwise, we might as well work in a bank.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ELI HERSHKO /
Spacehog includes, clockwise from bottom, Antony Langdon, Richard
Steel, Jonny Cragg and Royston Langdon.
by CNB