16TfeTarHTh'ursday, May 26, 1988
Music
Student band soars
with popular covers,
some new originals
By DAWN GIBSON
Staff Writer
Imagine turning on your radio and
hearing the familiar tunes of a local
band that has performed at many of
Chapel Hill's nightclubs. That's
exactly what the members of the
Highlanders have been able to do.
Since October 1987, this band of
four UNC students has performed
many popular tunes in local areas
such 'as Granville Towers, He's Not
Here, the Cat's Cradle and fraternity
courtyards. The band has also had
some of its original tunes played on
WXYC.
The band made a promotional tape
of tunes made popular by other
artists, said lead singer Jamie Block,
20. In the fall, the Highlanders will
record some of their own tunes to
send to college radio stations across
the country, he said.
"We're really looking forward to
Love Tractor pulls catchy pop tunes together on stage
Anyone who has ever heard a Love
Tractor album must realize that the
band's recordings are not the most
exciting fare on vinyl. From their all
instrumental debut Love Tractor to
the tighter pop sound of This Ain't
No Outerspace Ship, on which the
band finally found its voice, the
emphasis has almost always been on
an easy7 melodic, almost pastoral feel.
Although this may make for some
genuinely pleasant listening, it does
not hint very well at the band's
capabilities on stage.
After eight years of slugging
through the club ci. ait away from
its hometown of Aniens, Ga., the
band's stage act has evolved into a
highly entertaining synthesis of
guitar, paisley pop, surf sound and
even white funk. This is strongly
supported by vocals that have
matured so well that they are now
better live than on the last studio
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this fall," Block said. "We're looking
to expand, and we want to send the
radio stations something of quality
level."
The band plays a range of music
from blues to progressive folk and
the Beatles to U2, said bass player
John Szczypinski, 21.
"It's really hard to say what type
of music we play," Szczypinski said.
"We're really a cover band right now.
Whatever anybody wants to hear,
well play."
The other band members lead
guitarist John Schultz, 19, and
drummer David Wend a, 19 will
join Block and Szczypinski in Chapel
Hill in June and July to continue
playing locally and in other parts of
the state, Szczypinski said.
In August, the band plans to go
to Long Island for a 10-day tour.
"It's going to be a really exciting
road trip," Block said.
Robert Genadio
Concert
release.
Love Tractor's set last Thursday at
Cat's Cradle started out, predictably
enough, with an instrumental, but the
band chose its best ever, guitarist
Mike Richmond's "Fun to Be
Happy," the outstanding cut off its
first album.
Using two slow, bright notes as a
springboard, Richmond's catchy,
meandering leads reveal more of a
debt to early Tom Verlaine than to
the Ventures, the group with whom
the band's instrumentals are fre
quently compared.
Less accomplished instrumentals
played during the evening featured a
predominantly surf-oriented sound,
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with only the more recent "Rudolf
Nureyev" distinguishing itself from
the other songs in its simple beauty.
These instrumentals were well
spaced, almost serving as transitional
passages between the songs with
vocals. However, there were a few too
many instrumentals, which often left
the audience in polite anticipation of
vocalizing.
Richmond was not born with the
most remarkable singing voice, which
is undoubtably why it had remained
unrevealed for so long. But he makes
up for it with a strong vocal dexterity,
using it effectively to switch from the
low tonal range to a high falsetto or
vice versa for a surprisingly interest
ing pop flair.
This was very evident on "Beatle
Boots," one of guitarist Mark Cline's
more commercial songs, but some of
the group's earlier songs (like a few
vocalized attempts off the "Around
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Local student band, the Highlanders
the Bend" album) were reworked
using this effect to produce a lightly
psychedelic touch.
Another vocal effect the band is
fond of is the interjection "Woo!",
which had its debut on the song
"Greedy Dog" off the 'til the cows
come home LP. Is it a dog bark? A
cow call? Somehow, whatever it is,
it works quite well, especially in
concert.
Love Tractor's vocal effects alone
could never have carried the show.
What ultimately did was the group's
understanding of its audience. By
raising the tempo of most of its
recorded work and adding a stronger
beat, songs such as "Small Town" and
"Outside with Ma" were transformed
from the mediocre ballads they were
recorded as into the excellent rock
songs they really are.
Having used these songs to build
up the crowd for the grand finale,
Richmond relinquished the vocals to
Cline, who launched into a long white
soul number, resplendent with added
brass and sung entirely in falsetto.
To end the show off, the energetic
bugle player Lasta La Vie grabbed
the microphone for an awful but
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infectiously enjoyable cover of
"Shattered."
Love Tractor proved Thursday
night that they are talented enough
and perceptive enough of their
listeners to be able to make very
interesting and engaging music, but
whether or not they will do this on
their next album remains to be seen.
Opening the concert was an even
harder-working group Chapel
Hill's own Swamis, performing for
the first time in its new line-up.
Having lost its bassist and their
keyboard player, Swamis has
slimmed down to a tight guitar band,
with new member Nat Smith (joining
from the Attitudes) jumping in on
bass almost effortlessly and providing
a powerful complement to drummer
John Hanks.
The new sound was brought out
in numbers like the forceful rework
ing of Swamis own "Little Secrets"
(the original recorded guitar break
was by Parthenon Huxley), but the
group's main strength was still firmly
anchored in the songwriting abilities
of guitarist vocalists Holden
Richards (formerly of One-Plus-Two)
and Paul "Is King" Price, most
notably with Richards' "Sign of the
Times" and Price's debut of "In the
Eyes of Buddha."
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