Published on Oct 29, 1999
David Glennon might be a familiar name to anyone who followed
alternative radio in the late ’80s and early ’90s – and by
“alternative”, I mean “college” radio, the only true format
deserving of the alternative label. As bassist for The Vulgar
Boatmen and in his short stint with The Silos, Glennon built up
quite a reputation as a musician. His own side project, The
Tonewelders, seemed to sit idly by as Glennon continued working
with other bands, stopping only to release a tape of his
originals.
Now, 12 years after that original demo, Glennon has released his
band’s first full-length album,
Five Sticks, a disc which sounds like a cross between Big
Head Todd & The Monsters, The Jayhawks and The Bottle Rockets
(only Glennon is much less goofy, relying more on situations for
subtle moments of humor). It’s a disc that takes a little getting
used to, but is an hour well spent.
Glennon’s bio describes the music of The Tonewelders as
“altpoprockcountryfolk songs”. (Hah – let’s see the spell-checker
choke on
that one!) Such a description might be all-encompassing, but
I would dare to say it’s wrong, as I don’t hear that much of a folk
influence in the music. The music of The Tonewelders leans heavily
on alternative and pop, with more than just a pinch of country
twang thrown in at times.
Glennon’s vocals remind me a lot of Todd Park Mohr of Big Head
Todd & The Monsters; both singers have a unique vocal drawl to
their delivery. One quick criticism I would level against Glennon
is that I would have liked to have seen credit given for musical
contributions – even if he played most of the instruments, I’d
rather have him tell me that than have me guess at it. (For that
matter, the band’s Web site answers no questions.)
Musically,
Five Sticks is hit-or-miss, though there’s a lot more hits
in these 12 tracks. Glennon uses subtle humor at times to get his
points across, as on “When Good Things Happen To Bad People,”
“She’s Either” and “7-11 Of Lovin'”. But he knows when to temper
the humor and turn it into a lesson to be learned, as he does on
“She Hates Me,” a song which starts off debating how anyone who
wasn’t insane could hate our hero – and ends explaining how
circumstances could have led to it.
There are moments on
Five Sticks which are absolutely beautiful, like the track
“It’s A Guy Thing”. A good song on its own, the use of background
female vocals really seals this one for me, and raises the track to
a whole new level. It’s easily one of my favorites on this disc,
and is a good candidate for a single. Likewise, “What The I Ching
Says” takes a close look at the questions about one’s future that
have to be faced. Both in music and in message, it’s a killer
track.
Not every track on
Five Sticks works this well. The musical pattern tends to
get a little tired-sounding by the time you get to the last track,
“There’s A Last Time For Everything”. Had this disc had one or two
tracks left off, chances are it would have been perfect. A few
other tracks, like “She Didn’t Ask,” “Talk Me Down” and “Plan Z,”
are okay, but they don’t rise to the same level of perfection as
other songs.
For an “official” first effort,
Five Sticks is still a solid debut from The Tonewelders.
They are a band who aren’t afraid to fly a different musical flag
in the face of uniformity – and while such a move might eventually
hurt them commercially, they can take pride in the fact that they
will succeed or fail (my money is on succeed) on their own
terms.