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This article is from July 18, 2001 on www.rollingstone.com.(thanks Kevin!) Second Chance for Mayfield Four
Washington band just wants to rock on second CD Every once in a while a major label does something really intelligent -- after signing an artist, it actually lets appreciation for the music grow organically. Sometimes, it can take six months. Other times it doesn't happen for a year or even until an artist's second or third album. But in the age of Total Request Live and increasingly sterile radio programming is there still room for the type of organic growth that allowed Jewel, Dave Matthews, Everclear and even Sarah McLachlan to break through in the mid-Nineties? And if the answer is yes, will it take on the form of a driving hard rock band from Spokane, Washington called the Mayfield Four? It just might. After releasing Fallout, a promising, if not scattered, debut on Epic Records in 1998, the band went on the road for fifteen months, opening for the bands holding rock radio hostage at the time: Everclear, Fuel and Creed . But while Scott Stapp was striking his Jesus Christ poses for all who came to bow at Creed's altar, the Mayfield Four were knocking the crowd on its ass night after night. Frontman Myles Kennedy, one of the most arresting not-yet rock stars of his generation, didn't need to strike poses -- he possesses a natural swagger and warm presence that only amplifies his band's music, driving home the point that hard rock is alive and well. And graced with a voice that finds its home between the passionate tenor of Jeff Buckley and the calculated wails of Chris Cornell, Kennedy captivates anyone within earshot. Rabid fans have created dozens of Web sites touting the band's soulful hard rock, and the group has always enjoyed great acclaim within the music industry. So why were fewer than 10,000 copies of Fallout sold over 15 months of touring with rock's big names? "Fallout should have been a second or third record," says bassist Marty Meisener. "Maybe our live show went over people's heads," adds drummer Zia Uddin. Both assessments are true. Fallout's dark soul was perhaps a bit too cerebral in theme and musicality for the post-grunge generation -- at least coming from a band no one had ever heard of previously. But with the release this week of Second Skin, the group's second outing, all bets are on the group to grow its fan base exponentially. After dismissing their second guitarist and manager within six months of each other post-tour, the Mayfield Four retreated back to Eastern Washington, where Uddin and Meisener moved into Kennedy's house and spent a year writing the songs that simply and cohesively make up Second Skin. "It was a nightmare," says Uddin of the post-tour apocalypse. "It was a really dark period. This is an album that deals with a lot of those dark themes, but even more so I think this record deals with hope -- coming out the other end of the tunnel." Hope isn't the touching theme that opens the album, however. Oozing with a rarified, raunchy sexuality, the album kicks off with "Sick and Wrong," a pounding, aggressive track that spotlights the tautness of three friends who have been playing together for more than a decade. Overall, the intimacy of Fallout has been replaced by a simpler mantra on Second Skin: We want to rock. "The whole Prodigy thing a few years ago was kind of terrifying for me," says Kennedy. "I think I had this fear that [dance music] would eclipse the electric guitar for some reason. I had nightmares of people burning their Stratocasters." Produced by Peter Collins (Rush, Alice Cooper, Queensryche) and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge (Marilyn Manson, Hole), Second Skin is the antithesis of the Jerry Harrison-produced Fallout -- instead of reaching far into the stratosphere with digital flourishes and a mishmosh of musical experiments, it's an analog album in every sense. Songs like "Lyla" reach back to mimic the bluesy side of Led Zeppelin , while ballads like the melancholic "Summergirl" let Kennedy reveal his divine falsetto. "We're so proud of this album," says Uddin. "Not because we dumbed it down, but because it's a more focused, understandable record." Kennedy adds, "It just seemed like there were too many records coming out where people were spending their hard-earned $17 on a couple of good songs. I think I wrote about 100 songs and brought in thirty or forty to the band, and we demoed around twenty-five." And while Second Skin is a record that needs time to grow and breathe -- even at rock radio, where the playlists are starved for good music -- the band is champing at the bit to get these songs out on the road for a summer tour with Everclear. It is, after all, where they do what they do best. As Meisner and Uddin lay down a highly composed rhythm explosion, Kennedy will step up to the microphone, bow his knees slightly, and roar through his repertoire with an angelic furor -- frequently reaching deep into his gut to find a note, his eyes constantly scanning the crowd. The friends will be joined on the road by Italian guitarist Allesandro Cortini, but it's likely that the Mayfield Four will remain a trio for the near term and beyond. "We're a brotherhood," says Kennedy. "We fight like brothers, we play like brothers, and we love like brothers. We've tapped into a vibe that I don't think any of us want to let go of." And if Epic Records is still thinking intelligently, they'll hold onto the Mayfield Four. Even if it takes a year or two. This is a group demanding to be heard.
ANDREW STRICKMAN |