PUBLISHED IN THE KW RECORD ON TUESDAYSEPTEMBER 15, 1998
By Nick Krewen
Here's a band who wants all its fans to visit the tour bus after its show.
PAUL DE LISLE, bass player with the California ska punk band SMASH MOUTH says the band usually likes to entertain its fans with a post-gig acoustic set a few minutes after they've left the stage.
"Sometimes we'll go out after the show and just sit on the sidewalk and just play some of our songs acoustically," De Lisle says by phone on the eve of his band's first Canadian appearances.
"We take requests and try to meet some kids. It's fun for us and we do it every chance we get."
De Lisle and his Smash Mouth pals realize the quickest way to world domination is playing your music as often as you can, for as many people as you can.
"If you do that long enough just around the whole country, it all adds up to record sales," says De Lisle, 34. "So meet us right in front of the bus."
De Lisle has at least one other advantage over his bandmates : he's the only member of Smash Mouth, the California punk-ska band racing up the charts with its debut album Fush Yu Mang, familiar with Kitchener.
A Canadian citizen, De Lisle has trouble containing his excitement about playing before his fans and family when his band opens for BLUR at the Lyric tomorrow night.
"I used to drive through Kitchener every summer when I was a kid," De Lisle recalls.
"We would drive from St. Catharines to Eganville. We'd stop in Kitchener for picnics and lunch. We'd do it every summer. My parents had a little cottage on the lake out there. I'm actually a Canadian citizen," he announces.
De Lisle says he had the best of both worlds: summers in Canada and winters in California.
"My parents are originally from Ottawa, but my Dad was also based out of San Francisco as an airline pilot."
There's little doubt that De Lisle and his other pals in Smash Mouth -- singer STEVE HARWELL, guitarist GREG CAMP and drummer KEVIN COLEMAN -- will be soon racking up the frequent flyer points. Propelled by their hit single "Walking In The Sun", a psychedelic cakewalk in the tradition of THE STRANGLERS that sticks out like a sore thumb on the generally ska-punk sound of Fush Yu Mang, Smash Mouth is racing up the charts.
However, just in case Smash Mouth fans mistake "Walking In The Sun's" sound as being representative of the band's hyperactive sound, De Lisle says their live shows usually set them straight.
"If we were to worry about that, that all changes during the live show," De Lisle says. "You can see the kids singing along to all the tunes. Most of them tell us they dig the rest of the CD."
And how did Fush Yu Mang get its colorful name? A badly translated BRUCE LEE film?
"It's actually Scarface," explains De Lisle. "It's an AL PACINO reference. When we were in the studio recording our album, the TV didn't work but it played videos. So we watched Scarface a lot, and that became our favorite saying between band members. `Fush Yu, Mang!'"
The Smash Mouth story began only about two years ago, after the band released an EP and their song "Nervous In The Alley" earned them some airplay in San Jose.
At the time, De Lisle was involved with three bands, the most serious being LACKADADDY which he describes as being "more of a rap group with instruments -- a RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE kind of thing."
"Our drummer never made rehearsal," De Lisle says. "And the guy who played guitar decided he wanted to write all the music when we were about ready to record. So we said, `See ya later.'
"Greg was in the band with me, and we were playing in Lackadaddy and Smash Mouth simultaneously for six months. Things were getting crazy. I was in another band on top of that, and something had to give. But Smash Mouth was more up our alley, so it was a pretty easy decision to make."
De Lisle says "Walking In The Sun" is actually an old Lackadaddy tune that was discovered by drummer Kevin Coleman.
"It was kind of like a rap song," De Lisle describes the old version. "Drummer Kevin had asked Greg for a bunch of his old tapes, because Greg has been recording different music in different formats for different people. He heard `Walking In The Sun' and was adamant. We completely re-recorded and re-arranged it with new bass lines, new drums and new melody, so it would be a bit more of a song rather than just a rap. And it worked out."
De Lisle says that life with Smash Mouth, who are booked to appear on Saturday Night Live on September 27, is at a pretty exciting juncture, and he feels the ska revival being led by NO DOUBT and THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES can only grow in popularity because it's so much fun.
"It's good vibe music," says De Lisle. "It's a good way to get the room moving."
DISCOGRAPHY
1997 -- Fush Yu Mang
1999 -- Astro Lounge
©1998, 1999 Nick Krewen, Octopus Media Ink
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