BLACK LAB: Finding Their way

Black Lab have a hit song on their hands. Unless you've been living in a cave off the coast of Costa Rica for the last few months (and as long as that cave isn't equipped with a top-flight satellite "dish") you've probably heard the haunting strains of the band's Wash It Away, a song that has dominated "alternative" radio play lists and MTV airwaves with equal aplomb. The song's heavy-yet-accessible beat and emotive lyrical message has quite obviously touched a responsive nerve within rock consumers from coast-to-coast, many of whom have rallied to make Black Lab's debut disc, Your Body Above Me, one of the year's surprise success stories. But the fact is that there's a lot more to this Northern California-based quartet that just one song that's maganged the difficult task of catching the ever-ready ear of the American masses.

To put it simply, Black Lab are one complicated bunch of rock and roll dudes. Band vocalist/guitarist Paul Durham, in particular, is one of those people who seems to be on a non-stop quest to seek out all of life's hidden secrets, no matter how obscure they may be. A one-time philosopher major in college, this tall, lanky native of Twin Falls, Idaho (where he was raised as a Buddist), seeks rock and roll as a perfect outlet for conveying his attitudes towards the little tricks that life often has in store for each of us. Thus throughout Your Body Above Me, Durham and bandmates Michael Belfer (guitar), Geoff Stanfield (bass), and Bryan Head (drums) continually probe into the deep recesses of human nature - without ever loosing one iota of their rock and roll credibility.

"The characteres in my sounds are immersed in trying to find some redemption," Durham said. "That usually comes from the experience of loss. They are trying to find some meaning in that loss, find resolution and transcendence - sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing."

Despite Black Lab's apparent overnight arrival on the rock and roll scene, Durham's path to success has actually been littered with a variety of intriguing diversions and pitfalls. Just prior to the formation of Black Lab in 1995, for example, the vocalist had been forced to disband his previous outfit because the highly talented mix of jazz-influenced players he had assembled just couldn't cut the more hard rocking direction in which Durham wanted to take his music. Enter Belfer, Stanfield, and Head who almost immediately helped Durham re-direct his artistic energies and come to grips with his desire to bring his deep sense of spirituality into his songs. Soon after, the fledgling unit recorded thier first demo tapes, one of which found its way onto the desk of Jim Barber, an executive at powerful Geffen Records, who immediately stepped forward to sign the band.

"Jim was someone who had been aware of my music even before Black Lab," Durham said. "He had kept an eye on me, and when he became aware of what this band was doing, he was very supportive. He helped us decide on a producer, and a studio, and really got us to understand what recording an album was all about. Oce we got going on the record, things really fell into place. Originally, we wanted to produce the album ourselves, just to make sure that we captured the kind of live sound we were looking for. But with all the help we got fromthe outside, we realised that there wree other people - like our producer David Bianco - who were more qualified to do that."

Soon after Your Body Above Me was released last October, there were some sniffs of interest offered from radio and MTV regarding not only Wash It Away, but also some of the band's other tunes, including She Loves Me, Time Ago, and She Sleeps With Angels. Despite that initial intereste, however, at first it appeared that the disc was going to have to fight for any recognition it was going to receive, as it languished in that great "undiscovered" bin to which so many new rock and roll outfits are often relegated. Slowly but surely, however, the buzz surrounding Black Lab began to build. The group's dynamic live shows left reviewers walking away astounded, and collge radio stations around the nation soon began rallying to the band's cause. By early '98, this commotion had begun to cross the wide chasm that often seperates "underground" success from mainstreen acceptance. Sonn Wash It Away was breaking out on "buzz bin" rotations, and major radio statiosn were getting fevered listener feedback demanding the song's airplay.

"I'm not really that surprised by the reaction the music has received," Durham said. "I think people can relate to what I'm trying to say. I take an experience and try to find the seed, the thing that's more basic than me. If I tell a story about my life, what is it about the story that's going to be interesting to you? I boil it down and stare at it and then try to build around it using melody and rhythms. That's the attitude which unifies everythign on Your Body Above Me. Even the title means something special to me. I was haunted by that phrase the whole time we were mixing. It was embarassing, this extremely intimate thing, but I finally said, 'thjs is it, this is the title.' Now it seems very appropriate, because at its hear, this is a collection of love songs."

Love songs or not, when played in a live enviroment, the tunes on Your Body Above Me take on a power and grandeur only hinted on the album. While Durham confesses that the band's live power is still thier greatest strength, he also admits that he enjoys the wide range of musical deversity featured on Black Lab's debut disc. But this multi-faceted rocker isn't about to let any degree of temporary self-satisfaction make him waver from his pre-ordinated "mission." Despite the inital success his unit has enjoyed, Durham remains as motivated as ever to have Black Lab evove into one of the best band's of the '90s.

"We've still got a way to go," he said. "But we're getting there. Being on stage with these guys is so natural. I get to rage as well as croon. Playing live seems real to me in a way that it never did before - I finally feel like myself up there. The best part of being in this band right now is that everything seems to fit."

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