THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702140064
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 90 lines
IT WAS LATE SUMMER 1994, nearly a year after the release of Counting Crows' multi-platinum debut, ``August and Everything After.'' The album had been on Billboard's Top 200 since January, peaking at No. 4 in April.
Ben Mize remembers the morning Adam Duritz, the Crows' charismatic front man, picked him up at a San Francisco hotel to audition as the band's new drummer.
The two were wandering around Berkeley, looking for a place to grab a bagel.
``I sensed the anxiety that first day,'' Mize said. ``A bunch of people recognized him, and a couple gave him a hard time. I could see what he has to deal with. People can be really cruel. They don't know you, but they have everything to say. They either attack you or pass judgment.''
Mostly, they were saying that Duritz, who founded the band in San Francisco in 1990 with guitarist David Bryson, had sold out.
Some critics, after embracing ``August,'' picked up on that theme when the follow-up release, ``Recovering the Satellites,'' came out last October.
Duritz had left Berkeley for the anonymity of Los Angeles. Almost immediately, though, he was showing up in print and on TV in the company of the Hollywood glitterati. He briefly dated ``Friends'' actress Jennifer Aniston. Meanwhile, his typically introspective songs on ``Satellites,'' delayed by an 18-month writer's block, largely probed the perils of fame.
Mize doesn't get the critics' about-face. Just like he doesn't get why reviewers pay more attention to the beard Duritz grew between albums than the music.
``It's hard for us as a band, Adam included, to work hard and make what is a good record, go out and play, then read reviews that seem to have this kind of pent-up, personal aggression to them,'' Mize said from California. ``It's like they've been waiting to talk about this guy for two years.
``They talk around the show. They spend a page talking about how they don't like Adam as person, then say, `But you know, this is a beautiful record.' It's frustrating in a way. I think the people that matter see that, too.''
Evidently. ``Recovering the Satellites,'' a certified platinum-seller, is No. 19 on the charts. ``A Long December,'' the current single, is No. 6 among Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks. The Crows' Sunday-night concert at Norfolk's Chrysler Hall sold out in 20 minutes.
``It comes back to whether or not you're comfortable with yourself and what you're doing,'' Mize said. ``As a musician, you realize it's not about celebrity. It's not about people's impression of you. It's not about any of those things. Everyone has figured out what it's all about - write records, tour and promote them. It's pretty simple.''
Mize met the members of the alt-rock favorite, Cracker, while he was working at a club in Athens, Ga. He joined the band ``between drummers,'' on the first leg of its ``Kerosene Hat'' tour.
A year later, Cracker was on the road with Counting Crows, and the Crows were looking for a new drummer. Mize was recommended.
``The songs on `August' felt really natural,'' he said. ``It was where I was at the time, playing in bands with a similar sound. Once Adam started writing new material, we started pushing each other. It became important for us to force each other out of our habits.
``You get comfortable with a certain style of playing. We wanted to undo that a little, to abandon what we were most comfortable with and do something new.''
Duritz's idiosyncratic vocals played a major role in the Crows' redirection. Although not as readily accessible as ``August,'' ``Satellites'' is more ambitious in scope.
``There's a definite structure to the drums. You learn the part and play it,'' Mize said. ``But Adam's vocal style is so inflective and all over the place, you have to abandon the idea of parts and go with it. I had to have a rough outline of where I was going to be within a song, but also be completely open and ready to respond to where he was going.''
Not that Duritz was a tyrant in the studio - actually, a house in the Hollywood hills. He would come in with a song he'd written on the piano, but everyone - Bryson, Mize, Dan Vickrey (guitar), Charles Gillingham (keyboards) and Matt Malley (bass) - had a say.
``It was definitely collaborative,'' Mize said. ``All of us had a lot of liberty to express ourselves. The album could go anywhere. That's what was so exciting. There was no telling.
``But now we've done this and have a big tour. We're already looking ahead. Everyone feels really positive right now.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Photo courtesy of Dennis Keeley
Adam Duritz, left, and Ben Mize, second from right, with the Crows.
AT A GLANCE
Who: Counting Crows with Fiona Apple
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Chrysler Hall, Norfolk
Tickets: The concert is sold out.
KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW