[ Metro | Metroactive Central ]

Beat Street

By Todd S. Inoue

A Chat with Sooyoung Park

Last Thursday, a Palo Alto squat off of Alma Street became the site of a live show with Chicago's melodic pop wonders Seam, Merge Records' Spent, and Cain, a Palo Alto group made up of members of Mindslam. The bands set up in a converted two-car garage in the back yard. It was the ultimate intimate show: milk crates as amp chairs, an Atari 2600 in the living room, a washtub full of beers, no cops; you couldn't ask for a better ambiance. Around 30 people gathered to bathe in Seam's glorious pop trajectory. The band ebbed and flowed in its trademark buildup before exhaling like a billowing, humid dry-ice cloud. New songs--code names "Hootie," "Gish" and "Disko"--made the set list along with favorites like "Rafael," "Hey, Latasha," "Berlitz" and the encore, "Two Is Enough."

As a beeping "Journey's Escape" video game raged behind us, I cornered Seam vocalist Sooyoung Park for a quick chat. "I prefer playing out here," Park said. "People have a fresher outlook on what they like. A lot of music is centered in New York, and tastes are determined by that. Out here, it's totally different."

For Seam, a modest Chicago band with a healthy underground following, the landscape is changing, as evidenced from the popularity of Pavement, Sebadoh and Superchunk. Park said that Seam is in the middle-age period, where the members have to decide whether they're going to commit to being career musicians or just release records and play shows around their Midwest home. They've considered bigger labels but are wary of the shift. "It's like you see this big hole in the ground, and you've seen three of your friends jump in and fall to their deaths. Should I check this hole out, or what? The success ratio is not high. Almost everyone who does it complains about it. Even bands that are successful complain about it. We're considering it now, but we haven't gone through the steps of getting a lawyer, etc."

Seam's latest release, Are You Driving Me Crazy?--a mix of moody pop tunes and autobiographical lyrics--is one of my favorite albums of the year. "Musically, our next record will be our best one ever," Park promises, adding that the band will record over the summer. "I'm really excited to get into the studio. There's four or five new tracks we feel good about. It won't be as dark as the last one, because last year was a shitty year for me. My life has changed a lot since that record. More of the songs are upbeat, tempo-wise."

In March, Park and former Seam mate Bundy Brown collaborated with noted filmmaker Rea Tajiri to score her first feature-length film, Strawberry Fields. The movie, a road picture with an Asian American slant, will have its premiere at the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival next spring. The band plans to return to play the week of the gala--expect a South Bay date.

King of Clubs

This Wednesday (Nov. 22), Chris Esparza and his posse take over the Hochburg Von Germania on Second Street in San Jose for their annual pre-Thanksgiving party. Lots of the blokes and sheilas from the old days will be there. Julius Papp, Chris Elliman and Ray Stevens will spin rare groove, acid jazz and conscious hip-hop in the ballroom. Congo Square bassist Ron Johnson has put together a band to do a set of funk and soul classics. Stay tuned for more on what the ex-Ajax impresarios are planning.

[ Metro | Metroactive Central ]