- Title: VARIOUS: Crowded House intrigues fans with new album
- Date: 20th July 2010
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 19, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEIL FINN SAYING: "Having a long break is a good thing for a musical relationship, we've found. We started making music again, Nick and I, a few years ago and it just started to feel good, like a band should, and then we decided we'd put a really big effort into finding an awesome drum
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- Reuters ID: LVA3IWGNPQ9W6ZTJK8DN7OJ9ASOV
- Story Text: The band that brought us "Don't Dream It's Over", "Weather With You" and "Pineapple Head" are back, after producing their first studio recording in 14 years.
Crowded House, led by frontman Neil Finn, are on a tour of the U.S. and Canada to promote their new album, "Intriguer".
The album has 10 tracks, opening with "Saturday Sun" which is filled with rich backbeat, reminiscent of 60s pop and more mellow tunes like "Isolation" and "Falling Dove".
Singer, guitarist and chief songwriter Finn says the new album is "exotic in parts and traditional in origin".
The New Zealand musician leads fellow bandmembers Nick Seymour on bass, Mark Hart on keyboard and guitar, and Matt Sherrod on drums.
The band's original drummer, Paul Hester, died in 2005 after battling depression. The group later disbanded, but reunited in 2006, with new drummer, Sherrod, to release its fifth album, "Time on Earth" which reached number one in Australia.
Finn says it's good to be back on stage after all these years and that the band has grown and evolved, but still misses Hester.
"Having a long break is a good thing for a musical relationship, we've found. We started making music again, Nick and I, a few years ago and it just started to feel good, like a band should, and then we decided we'd put a really big effort into finding an awesome drummer, because our last drummer and our original drummer was an awesome drummer and a fantastic human being and we missed him. We still miss him, but we knew that the secret of a great band was that guy behind the drums and we found Matt Sherrod who is the most wonderful presence in the band and has really breathed a whole new lease of life into us, I think," Finn told Reuters.
Two of it's members, Hart and Sherrod, are American, while Seymour is Australian. But despite the mix, the band has always maintained a strong New Zealand flavour.
The band had huge success in the last 1980s with their self-titled first album. Two of the album's songs -- "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong" both made it onto the top ten of the U.S. Billboard charts.
They again had worldwide success with their compilation album "Recurring Dream" which was released following their fourth album.
Chart-topping songs included "Weather with You", "Fall at Your Feet" and "Not the Girl You Think You Are".
But despite all their past success, the band says they don't feel any pressure to keep up the same pace as in their early days.
"Back in the day there was a whole machine built around Crowded House and it's like any band that's doing quite well, we were having a good run, but I found an overwhelming claustrophobia within it. Whereas now it feels free and really unrestricted," Finn explained.
Bassist Nick Seymour said the band's popularity has evolved organically through the years.
"It's almost as if the world-of-mouth aspect of Crowded House's legacy was going to spread in a way that stopped us worrying about promotional campaigns and all that sort of stuff when we got back together and worrying about the kind of schedules or how you reinvent yourself and get yourself back on radio and get yourself back into the limelight of ...you know, we're lucky that our music seems to have endured through the trends," Seymour said.
Finn said the inspiration for "Intriguer" came from everyday life experiences.
"If you just sit around and just watch telly all day, you're not going to write many songs. If you get out amongst it and talk to people and go for a swim and cycle around or get amongst it, things come out. You take stuff in and things come out," he explained.
"Intriguer" is their sixth album and was released on June 13th this year. It is the first album to feature all four current band members.
Asked what they're hoping to give their fans during the tour, Finn said: "You know, a good night out first and foremost. Comfort, if they need it. Inspiration. A good laugh. A tune to carry around in their heads everyday. That would be a delightful outcome"
The band is on tour in cities across the United States and Canada until September 6th. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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