Warm guns and weathered souls

She continues: "'Grey' is about this character I made up in my mind. But I can relate to this unhappy woman. I always wanted to write and sing a ballad. The song ends up being about me; I can't hide that. I always had a dark side in me ever since I was nine. I thought about dying a lot, so I wanted to be good so I can go to heaven. In my journey for trying to be kind and spiritual, I have been misunderstood a lot." She takes a deep breath.

"But I believed, and I finally found happiness. I've never been happy before, and this is a first for me; a new experience. I play these songs and these feelings come back to me. As time goes by, these songs take a new meaning--now that I'm happy," Hill says.

Happy Hour is a highly emotive album that manages to capture most of the raw energy Psalm 69 exudes live. Recorded by guitarist Ruston Vickers in his home studio and released by the band, it is one of the most honest local albums ever.

"A lot of us went into it; we did it from the ground up ourselves," Vickers says. "The music is written by all of us, and Judy writes all the lyrics. It's got a little different sound than what goes on in the mainstream right now--a pretty unique album that's a melting pot of our styles."

Vickers' style is an interesting mix of diverse players like Johnny Marr, the Edge, and Michael Hedges. Live, the guitarist builds different and ever-changing riffs within each song. On the album, his guitar work is equally imaginative, to say the least. "For me it's great when someone comes to me and points out a specific part of guitar playing that I did during the show. That means they're paying attention. The hooks are the same, but I always do something different when I play live," Vickers says.

It's not only local audiences that pay attention. The band has earned a reputation outside Texas and spots on two compilation albums: demo versions of "Riding," "Warm Gun," and "Vampire" found a place on 1995's Go On Girl compilation CD from Fret Less Music. The following year, an instrumental version of "Riding" was used in the TV commercial for the gory computer game Final Doom. Earlier this year, "Falling In" became the lead track of Go On Girl 2: Class of '97. Billboard magazine noticed, calling the song "an easy fit for adventuresome college radio stations" and citing Patti Smith as an influence.

For Hill, that's the ultimate compliment: "Patti Smith is a huge influence on me," she says. "The things that have influenced me, I haven't gotten over. I'm such a new-wave baby. My favorites are Karen Lawrence and the Pinz, the Pretenders, Concrete Blonde, X, Holly Vincent and the Italians, and Cher."

Even though you can detect Hill's inspiration, it is hard to put your finger on any of her influences. Her delivery is her own, a twenty-year distillation of the precious elements of punk, hard rock, and new wave. Happy Hour would have sounded contemporary in 1977 ad 1987, and probably will in 2007--unless Armageddon strikes as scheduled.

"We all come from such diverse backgrounds, and we all write different stuff," Rea says. "But we have a definite direction the band is going. We want that feeling behind the music. The way we do it, nobody writes anything outside our practices. We normally start playing and come up with a song all together. Then we'll put it on tape, and Judy will take it home to write the lyrics. Sometimes she uses stuff from her poetry and journals. Then she comes back, and we mold the song together."

After suffering through a rotating roster of bass players for the last two years, Psalm 69 is finally a stable four-piece with the addition of Dave Scott. Now the gigs are more frequent, the crowds are bigger, and the album has put a more professional shine on the band's reputation. On top of that, MTV came knocking on their door requesting the muscular "Riding" for their workout home video, MTV's Tune Up! Total Body Results.

"Ironically, 'Riding' is the first song Judy and I wrote together," Rea says, going back three years. "That first song got us in compilation CDs, got us involved with MTV, and was used for the Final Doom commercial. Go figure."

With all the attention and well-deserved flattery under their belts, the members of Psalm 69 decided to go all the way and shoot a proper video for the song that opened so many doors for them. The clip for "Riding" is the professional, expensive kind that would be perfect for the music channel, even if the chances of seeing it next to Beavis and Butt-head at the disco are slim to none without a major-label backing. Still, it is a worthy endeavor.