The Gin Blossoms

New Musical Experience: The Rebirth of
Gin Blossoms
Back on tour: Gin Blossoms bring their rock/pop hit formula to Northern Michigan this weekend.


 
You’ve been hearing them for years, whether you realize it or not.  It’s a band that has contributed so many songs to radio - songs that are likely also easily hummable resources from your memory banks - that it’s no surprise their fans want them back in action.  And Gin Blossoms aim to please.
For proof of that, check out the band when they perform at the Leelanau
Sands Showroom in Peshawbestown on January 27.
After debuting in Tempe, Arizona in 1987, the band landed a coveted spot at the SXSW Music Conference in 1989 (after which CMJ dubbed them “the best unsigned band in America”). They signed with A&M Records in 1990, and put out their landmark album, New Miserable Experience in 1992.
Nine months after the album’s release, the band found their song, “Hey Jealousy,” in the Top Ten.  Four more catchy singles - among them “Allison Road” and “Until I Fall Away” - would follow, cementing GB’s place in alterna-pop history. A separate #1 single, “Til I Hear It From You” (as heard in the movie Empire Records) would be next, followed by the band’s sophomore disc, Congratulations I’m Sorry, in 1996 - the disc that earned the band a Grammy nomination. But by 1997, this music indus-try roller-coaster ride had exhausted the band to the point of its demise, and they made a quiet exit, each member embarking on other projects.

BACK ON TRACK
But you can’t keep a good band down.  It was five years later that the draw of Gin Blossoms began to simmer once again. 
“In 2002, (lead vocalist) Robin Wilson called me and said that he and the bass player were hanging out and writing some songs,” Gin Blossoms guitarist Scotty Johnson explains. “And he asked me to come over and check it out.  I didn’t ask why, but we all started writing songs right away.  And that was the start of the reunion, really.”
Recording was something that would wait for awhile, though, as the band got back together and began playing their new songs live.  “We actually did a kind of reunion tour in 2002,” Johnson says. “We weren’t even sure if anyone would be interested.  But we were glad to find that people were, which then made us determined to make
a record.” 
Without a label (A&M Records folded in 1999) the band continued to road-test their new songs as they decided which ones to record. 
“We’re not really the type of band that just pops in with 10 songs all ready to go,” Johnson says. “We like to try a lot of different songs, tempos, styles, before we record anything.  But as we worked on the new music, it all felt very natural, very comfortable, like an old glove, or shoe, or - well, whichever is better, of course.”
 
RADIO FRIENDLY
The band’s morale was also bolstered by the fact that even while they were on their hiatus, their songs were still a constant presence on the radio.
Although Johnson wasn’t surprised at this fact, he did, and does, definitely appreciate it.  “Well, that does make sense,” he says, “because we really are a radio band. We create four-minute pop songs, so radio is the perfect place for them to be.  The emphasis of the band - as opposed to focusing on just the vocalist
or on long guitar solos - was always on ‘the song.’”
The new album – full, of course, of those carefully-written singular songs - is out now.  Titled Major Lodge Victory, it 
resides on the band’s new label, Hybrid Recordings, and was recorded both in Arizona and at Memphis’ Ardent Studios (where GBs recorded their previous two albums). 
On the new CD are the kind of Gin Blossoms songs that listeners first identified with years ago; songs that tell stories and evoke emotions -- both populist and more thoughtful. 
Here is where you’ll find such soon-to-be-radio faves as the driving, melodic  “Learning the Hard Way,” the Wallflowers-esque organ-graced “Someday Soon,” the Cars-influenced “Heart Shaped Locket,” the Ryan-Adams-Would-Be-Jealous “Fool for the Taking,” and the familiar chime of “Long Time Gone.” 
 
UPDATED SOUND
All of the songs, while upgraded, so to speak, to a slightly more modern sound, also still carry Gin Blossoms’ hallmarks;  the yearning vocals, the alternately delicate and churning Byrds-esque guitars, the dense, high harmonies, and those sticky melodies that remain long after the CD has been
shut off.
To get these new tunes out to the masses, the band has been taking on scattered tour dates as well as preparing for a big summer tour.
Well, kind of. 
“We don’t rehearse,” Johnson laughs good-naturedly. “We’re all over the place as it is - I live in Arizona, the other guys live in California, Long Island - but we’ve been playing these songs so much that we don’t really need to rehearse them. We did all get together to work through the new songs - we have a studio in Tempe, so everyone comes to Arizona - but other than that, it’s just about playing live.” 
Touring, for Johnson, is as much about getting to know the places they’re playing as it is the shows themselves.  “I really like seeing America,” he says. “We play both big cities and small towns, so it’s interesting to get a feel and a vibe from each place. And it’s also fun to meet people at the shows.  It’s great.”
And as far as those live shows go, fans will be glad to know that they’ll get a chance to hear Gin Blossoms songs both old and new. 
“As a listener, I hate it when you go to see a band that you’ve liked for a long time, and all they play is their new record,” Johnson explains. “So, in consideration of that, we’ll do lots of the hits, plus some older back-catalogue stuff, and then the new songs too.  We usually mix it up, as we really want the audience to be happy.” 
Which is perhaps a big part of why Gin Blossoms will be welcomed back as if they never left in the first place. 
 
Gin Blossoms will perform at the Leelanau Sands Showroom, north of Suttons Bay, on Saturday, January 27 at 8 p.m. You can find out more about the band at www.ginblossoms.net, www.thegins.com (new album minisite), www.myspace.com/ginblossoms, or at www.myspace.com/scottyjohnson, which is Scotty Johnson’s own webpage.
 
 
 
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