Success is dandy, but Warhols long for simple life

By Gelu Sulugiuc

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The spotlight has been good to cult
rock band the Dandy Warhols, but now it’s starting to get on
their nerves.

They built a sprawling studio in Portland, Oregon, with
money from a Vodafone ad that played their song “Bohemian Like
You” incessantly in Europe three years ago.

Their seven-year feud with rival band the Brian Jonestown
Massacre was portrayed in the film “DiG!” which won the
documentary prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and helped
build interest in their latest record.

But with the increased exposure came increased promotional
demands, and the band’s leader found himself bemoaning every
moment spent not making or performing music — especially those
moments spent talking to the press.

“Success is having two things: a little more free time than
you know what to do with and a little more money than you know
what to do with,” singer/guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor told
Reuters.

“When we were making our record, we were the most
successful band in the world,” he said. “We had our studio,
which is the coolest quarter of a city block on Earth, we had a
perfect life. We didn’t have to think about anything else
except meeting some friends for beer, playing guitar and
smoking grass.”

They loved the studio so much that they named their fifth
album after it. “Odditorium or Warlords of Mars” was released
last month via Capitol Records.

“Now it’s like a grind, it sucks,” Taylor said, blaming his
handlers who schedule too many press interviews and forget to
squeeze in some time for lunch.

“If you’re playing in a rock ‘n’ roll band and still you’re
doing whatever the man says, then I can tell you for the money
the simple life, honey, is good,” Taylor said, loosely quoting
one of his own songs. “I’ve got to take my own advice, Jesus
Christ…”

In a departure from the heavily synthesized sound of their
previous work, the Warhols’ new album moves from dreamy drones
to lively dance rock to stomping country blues.

Occasionally, songs lapse into extended jams, prompting
some critics to complain that potentially brilliant Warhols
material fizzles out in a display of self-indulgence and lack
of focus.

“That’s the point of a jam,” Taylor retorted. “It feels
good to do it, to just lay around, smoke out, talk to your
friends and have things keep moving.”

The band’s foray in film continued with a performance in “9
Songs,” English director Michael Winterbottom’s
sexually-charged tale of two lovers who meet at a rock concert,
but it’s all the same to Taylor.

“I’m not going to watch it,” he said. “I’m friends with
(actress) Margo (Stilley) and I don’t want to watch her (have
sex with) some dude.”

Reuters/VNU