Still rare

Swinging Steaks Bare all

by Mark Edmonds

Judging by their press kit, it's hard to picture Boston's Swinging Steaks any other way than successful. Throughout the nine pages of clips, the eight-year-old group are touted as one of the biggest things to hit the roots-music world since Graham Parsons crossed the line between rock and country 25 years ago. Billboard applauds the band. In another, CMJ seems to drool for them. As I read them, I have the impression that though these five guys from the suburbs haven't exactly made it, they must be getting close.

But they're not there yet. Despite everyone's high hopes (and the praise of music writers) the group, who appear this Friday at the Plantation Club and next Friday at Shirley's Bull Run, may be stuck in a miserable career quagmire. Thanks to a stretch of bad luck, worthy of a cry-in-your-beer country song, the band have seen their once bright fortunes dimmed since their 1993 national debut, Southside of the Sky (Capricorn).

That disc's bright, twangy melodies and three-part harmonies helped land the group spots on then experimental Triple A radio playlists. Two singles, "Circlin'," and "Beg Steal or Borrow," even made the format's Top 10. Overnight, the Steaks went from local cult faves (they were regulars in Phoenix music polls) to burgeoning national roots-music stars.

But just as their career hit cruising speed, the gods stopped smiling. First, the band's label dropped them in a restructuring move. Soon after, many of those same commercial stations that had toyed with Triple A (and airing Southside) switched to playing something else.

Though these were setbacks, the band carried on, touring and releasing another critically acclaimed disc, 1995's Shiner (on the Newton-based indie Thrust). Like its predecessor, the disc garnered the band great reviews and helped solidify their regional base.

"I've always seen it as being more about music than anything else with us," says guitarist Tim Giovanello. "So what happened? We had some fun on the road, made a name for ourselves, and that was it. If we didn't get a deal again, I don't think any of us would give up playing. We never started this to be stars, anyway. It was always about playing."

Still, the band wanted to take another crack at the national scene. "There's something about the term `dropped' that makes it hard for other labels to look at you," Giovanello says. "Even though Capricorn dropped us because they were reorganizing, others saw that, and it bothered them. It's been hard to get re-signed anywhere."

So in true DIY fashion, the band went back to releasing their material on Thrust. Their fourth disc, Bare, recently surfaced, with more than a few examples of the music that made audiences take to them in the first place.

Throughout the live disc's 15 tracks, the band effortlessly breeze through a compilation of songs culled from their earlier studio discs. Included are mellow, Nashville-styled, mid-tempo country rockers such as "Saddle Up" and "This High," the upbeat, hook-laden radio hit "Circlin'," and a spooky slide- guitar fueled "Family Tree" that comes out sounding like an eclectic masterpiece.

Two covers -- a high-octane, bluegrass-styled cover of Townes Van Zandt's "White Freightliner Blues" and one of the slowest, saddest versions of country legend George Jones's "He Stopped Loving Her Today" -- also appear because, as Giovanello quietly raves, "they're great songs. I've always really liked the way Townes could write, and I've tried to learn from him."

So what about the Jones tune? "We were on a trip South once, and it seemed like we heard that a million times on the radio," he remembers. "As strange as this sounds, it almost drove us crazy. But after a while we started liking it. Now, strangely enough, we play it."

Even though they're happy with their current status, the Steaks still look forward to another shot at the big time. And one may be coming. Recently, New Country magazine asked the band to offer a song for a sampler disc that it plans to fold into its September issue -- an ironic twist considering that the group have fought tooth and nail against anyone's attempt to label them "a country band."

Could it be that the Steaks are softening? "I don't really know. I guess we'll see what happens after September."

The Swinging Steaks play Worcester's Plantation Club on August 1 (752-4666) and Shirley's Bull Run on August 8 (425-4311).