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Band's Side Projects (Long 180 lines)

                     THE DAILY NEWS ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE
                                       
   
   Brought to you by The Daily News, Halifax, Nova Scotia
     _________________________________________________________________
   
Saturday. January 28, 1995

  JUST PLAYIN' AROUND
  
   Musicians find a little something extra on the side
   
    by David Rodenhiser
    
   Members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden did it when they teamed up for
   the Temple of the Dog album. Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, George
   Harrison and the late Roy Orbison did it under the guise of The
   Travelling Wilburys.
   
   Even Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris
   Kristofferson do it when they call themselves The Highwaymen.
   
    For love or just the thrill of something new, many musicians keep a
   project outside their regular band. Something to fool around with.
   
    For the artists mentioned above, endeavors outside their primary
   careers have proven lucrative. For other, lesser-known bands, such as
   Eric's Trip, side projects may not make much money, but they're a good
   way to have fun and be creative.
   
   "We like to have something on the side to get out other possibilities
   that we can't vent through Eric's Trip," explains Mark Gaudet, the
   Moncton band's drummer.
   
   Eric's Trip, signed to Seattle's Sub Pop Records, is one of the
   Maritimes' most popular alternative bands. They're presently in the
   running for this year's East Coast Music Award for best
   alternative/rock artist - up against the likes of Thrush Hermit and
   jale.
   
   All four members of Eric's Trip have side projects, which metro music
   fans will get to see tonight at the Oasis Bar & Grill.
   
   Gaudet, 31, and his lifelong chum, Raynald Legere - "another guy that
   refused to grow up" - will be performing as Purple Knight, a basement
   band they started in 1974.
   
   "Deep Purple was the main inspiration for Purple Knight, back when I
   was about eight years old," Gaudet says. "Where I'm an old hack, I get
   to play the older music that the rest of Eric's Trip is not used to
   playing.... That era, with the heavier, bombastic stuff, is what I get
   out with Purple Knight."
   
   Gaudet released a cassette in December for another side project,
   called No Explanation, in which he handles all the vocals and
   instruments himself.
   
   "It's just nice to have a band that's totally your own, in case you
   have no friends and you still want to do stuff," Gaudet jokes.
   
   Likewise, Eric's Trip guitarist Rick White has a solo project called
   Elevator to Hell, which will release an album in March on Sub Pop.
   Meanwhile, bassist Julie Doiron, has a record for her solo act, Broken
   Girl, coming out later this year on Halifax's murderecords label.
   
   "For Rick, he has quite a deep-seated soul that can't be fully
   conveyed through other people, so he has to do his own stuff. And
   Julie has her own personal things that she wants to exercise," Gaudet
   says.
   
   In live performances, Doiron is onstage alone with her guitar as
   Broken Girl. But for Elevator to Hell, Gaudet often backs up White.
   
   Moonsocket is the side project of the fourth member of Eric's Trip,
   guitarist Chris Thompson. Thompson may play solo for the Oasis gig, or
   he may have a few friends from Halifax back him up, Gaudet says.
   Moonsocket, too, has a single coming out on Sub Pop.
   
   Gaudet says the numerous side projects don't cause tension between the
   members of Eric's Trip or threaten to break up the band. The complete
   group plans to put out a seven-inch EP this summer, and release a full
   album toward the end of the year.
   
   "We just treat it as a break from Eric's Trip to do our own stuff.
   Then, in February, we'll get Eric's Trip back together and it'll be
   cool," he says.
   
   However, there might be a brief Eric's Trip reunion at the end of
   tonight's gig.
   
   "A lot of people were wondering if we'd do a song at the end. So,
   we're going to have to wait and see what happens," Gaudet says coyly.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   The Tim Robbins Experience is three-quarters of Halifax's Thrush
   Hermit, and gives the Hermit members a chance to switch instruments.
   
   "It's for the fun of playing a different instrument, and to be able to
   explore ideas that I wouldn't necessarily explore in Thrush Hermit,"
   says Joel Plaskett.
   
    "When you're on a different instrument it just allows you to
   manipulate a song in a different way." Plaskett plays guitar in Thrush
   Hermit, but beats the drums in the Tim Robbins Experience.
   
   Hermit guitarist Rob Benvie switches to bass and keyboards for Tim
   Robbins, and Ian McGettigan puts aside his bass to play lead guitar in
   the side project. Hermit drummer Cliff Gibb gets the night off when
   Tim Robbins performs.
   
   Named after the Hollywood actor and an old schoolmate by the same
   name, Tim Robbins is "more riff-oriented" than Thrush Hermit, which is
   "lyrical or song-oriented," says Plaskett. Performing as the Tim
   Robbins Experience allows the band members to experiment with music
   that would "pervert" Thrush Hermit, he says.
   
   Plaskett, 19, also plays drums in the band Somerdale, with his friend
   Matt Kelly, Lana Amey and Kristine Anderson.
   
   Meanwhile, Benvie, on drums, and McGettigan, on bass, helped back up
   singer Laura Borealis recently at the Oasis when they performed as
   Crappo 2. (Crappo is the name of Borealis's Chicago-based band.)
   
   As well, Plaskett says, Benvie, McGettigan, and Sloan bassist Chris
   Murphy are talking about putting together a punk band as a side
   project.
   
   Murphy, incidentally, backs up Matt Murphy, of Superfriendz, from time
   to time in the country send-up band Li'l Orton Hoggett. And, when
   Sloan plays with a member missing, it's billed as Salon Selectives -
   named for a shampoo. (Salon is also an anagram of Sloan.)
   
   Murphy and Murphy were among those who backed up Borealis in a band
   called Snob Shop for the album, Pick of the Week. (The album cover
   depicted Borealis with a finger buried up one nostril.)
   
   Another member of Superfriendz, Charles Austin, has been known to team
   up with Alyson MacLeod of jale, Chris Logan of Coyote, and NSCAD
   student Marta Swanie to perform as Skreech.
   
   MacLeod says she felt "burnt out," practising for both bands, but
   she's nonetheless excited about her new side project with Allison
   Outhit, of Rebecca West, and Pat Dooley, of Coyote. They plan to
   perform as a yet-to-be-named new wave act, covering tunes by such
   bands as the Psychedelic Furs, the Cure, Soft Cell, and Flock of
   Seagulls.
   
   "We thought Halifax needed a band you could get up and dance to," says
   MacLeod. "We all just wanted to do something fun, and not really worry
   about where it goes. It will be a real show: there might even be some
   eyeliner."
   
   If all these crossovers between bands confuse you - and this is by no
   means an exhaustive list - don't feel bad. Even those involved in the
   local alternative scene look at it with a sense of humor.
   
   "It's kind of incestuous, what's going on," admits Plaskett. "We've
   all played with other people or jammed with other people at times."
   
   But Plaskett says it's important to maintain perspective on side
   projects.
   
   "Thrush Hermit is the first priority," he says. "None of us want to
   lose track with what we're trying to do. Because the music that I
   really love is what we're doing in Thrush Hermit. That's what I want
   to focus on, and I don't want to water that down by spreading myself
   too far ...
   
   "Besides, I'm sure people get sick of seeing the same people in just
   different incarnations of bands. Like: `Oh no. It's the guys from
   Thrush Hermit again!'"

Forwarded by .......
___
"BuT I doN't wanT to go aMonG Mad peoPle," AliCe    |   Adam Rodenhiser
remarKeD. "OH, YOU caN't heLp THat," saiD THe CaT.  |   "Fan From Hell"     
"We'Re aLL MaD HeRe. I'm MaD, YoU'Re MaD." "How dO  |  dWIGHT fRY 6X9=42
You KNow i'M MAD?" saiD AliCe. "YOu Must Be," sAid  | ac768\!/cfn.cs.dal.ca
tHE CaT, "oR You wOULdn't Have COme Here."          |     TAKE OFF!! 
- Lewis Carroll, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' |    YOU HOSER!!!