Monday, November 11, 1996
MUSIC:
Love of music, ambition keep band determined to succeedBy
Vanessa VanderZanden
Daily Bruin Contributor
Raw, trance-like guitar riffs seep through a wounded amp and mix
with a drum beat. The vocals provide a low, yet crisp balance to
the songs’ rapid pace. Yet, it remains lead singer and guitarist
Sarah Utter’s lyrics which make Plastique’s seven inch single,
"De-Real," more than just your average small label debut.
Of the B-side, "Xanax, Baby," Utter explains, "It was about a
time in my life when I lived on the East Side in a house and my
friends lived down in the city. I said, ‘how am I supposed to see
you’ and they were like, ‘a long walk (into the city) and an empty
hand, (since there’s no one to hold it).’ It’s the most sappy thing
I’ve written."
Since the Olympia, Wash. based band released this piece on their
hometown’s K records, they have come out with two more offerings
and changed their name from Plastique to The Seductive. One is
solely a Seductive project, while the other is a seven inch with
band Love As Laughter, a one man act who will tour with them
beginning this month.
Monday they stop at UCLA’s Cooperage, and on Wednesday they will
play at Jabberjaw. And though they plan to stop at the Huntington
Beach Library on Thursday, such obscure venues don’t displease the
low-key band.
"Once we played at this steak house in North Dakota," says
Utter. "It was really weird. It was a fancy, members-only Steak
Castle and we played downstairs to a crowd of kids ages 13 to 16.
It was actually really fun, because the kids were really into it,
running around and jumping on each other while we played."
As Utter and her drummer, Mark Hamilton, left the desolate town,
the kids yelled, "Wear your seat belt!" and "Have a good trip!" K
Records, a punk label, seems big in that area as midwest kids reach
for something a little more substantial than the radio’s stale
Hootie and the Blowfish-style schlock. However, for the rest of
their nationwide tour this summer, The Seductive met with
unenthused crowds. But what Utter really hates "is when people sit
down at shows. In Olympia, people nod or sway."
Yet, 21-year-old Utter won’t let a lack of nationwide support
stop her from playing music for (what she hopes) eternity.
Procuring her first guitar four years ago, she’s already got
hearing problems from playing too loudly. And though it can
sometimes be rough getting in touch with Hamilton, since neither
have a phone due to bills and mobility, she’s determined to find a
way to succeed.
She and Hamilton have done pretty well thus far, even when it
comes to making decisions like choosing artwork for the album cover
of their first record.
"We both do things last minute," Utter says. "We really didn’t
want to use pictures of ourselves and we couldn’t agree on other
images. So, we went to a nearby photo booth and fooled around with
a Xerox machine afterwards."
The result is a black, red and white design with double-prints
of the two Seductive members. Both Utter and Hamilton are proud of
the cover art, though Utter recalls that the recording of the album
was nerve-racking. And because the band hasn’t played a gig in two
months, due to an exploding amp and a cut finger, she’s still got
butterflies about hitting the road.
But maybe she’ll take her own advice from her song, "De-Real,"
and "just get numb." If that doesn’t work, she can at least take
pride in knowing that she keeps her music raw and real, so that if
her nerves show, we won’t mind.