Butcher has since left Radish for myriad reasons, none of which he feels the need to discuss publicly. But he holds no grudge against Ben. Indeed, he speaks of him with fondness, referring to him repeatedly as a wonderful songwriter whose "tastes grew up," allowing him to move past his poster-boy heroes.
"But I don't know how he got from one place to another," Butcher says of Kweller's evolution. "I think it had to do with him going back to the piano. I tried to get him to play more piano, which he used to do when he was a little kid. I told him the songs he was writing on piano were more harmonically interesting, not limited by the power chords of a guitar."
Sha Sha should already be on its way to stores, the title song or "Launch Ramp" already on radio as the perfect here-comes-the-summer singles they were meant to be. There's no doubt the disc needs trimming ("Silent Scene" and "Cali" wouldn't be bad places to start), but that takes about, what, five seconds? Instead, Mercury's release schedule is mucked up with the half-assed likes of Jimmy Buffett, Insane Clown Posse, Slick Rick, Def Leppard, and the Jerky Boys; and come fall, there will be a new Hanson record. Hold your breath.
Should Sha Sha be released, in any form, there will be no New Yorker profiles this time, no high-toned stories in glossy magazines celebrating the wunderkind. That's the way it ought to be. Sha Sha doesn't need to be ruined by hype. It's good enough to stand on its own. The label needs to put the thing out, ship it to radio, then back the hell away from it. If only.
"The thing is," Kweller says, "I still want the label's support, and I want their drive, but they don't have to announce it to the world as The Next Big Thing. I want them to love the record to death and work the hell out of it, but you don't have to put a rock band in the damned New Yorker magazine. Nobody who buys records buys The New Yorker. I'm not gonna talk about the mistakes we made, but I definitely like these circumstances better."
Radish performs May 12 at Deep Ellum Live. The Tomorrowpeople perform May 22 at the West Fest in the West End.
Scene, heard
One Ton Records, coming off its third consecutive Dallas Observer Music Award for Best Local Record Label, celebrates the release of Big & Bothered Vol. 2 on May 14 and 15 at the Bronco Bowl. The disc features new and unreleased tracks by Slow Roosevelt, Buck Jones, and Fixture, as well as a live Caulk song ("Birthday #5") and contributions by Doosu and Jump Rope Girls. Doosu, Buck Jones, and Jetpack (featuring One Ton boss Aden Holt on drums) play on Friday night, and Slow Roosevelt, Fixture, and Jump Rope Girls take the stage on Saturday. Twenty bucks gets you into both shows, as well as a copy of the CD. Sounds like a deal.
Send your unreleased major-label albums to Street Beat at rwilonsky@dallasobserver.com.
