STRAY CAT NO MORE: BRIAN SETZER SETS OUT SOLO

STRAY CAT NO MORE: BRIAN SETZER SETS OUT SOLO

by Jeff Tamarkin

Brian Setzer has been keeping a mental list. Everyone he�s spoken to lately seems to think his first post-Stray Cats album, The Knife Feels Like Justice, sounds like someone else. �Let�s see,� he says, counting them off on his fingers, �I�ve heard Buffalo Springfield, Creed ence the Byrds...�

To that you can add traces of everything from the neo-country-rock of the Long Ryders and Jason & The Scorchers to touches reminiscent of Marshall Crenshaw and even Jackson Browne. And that�s just the vocals. As for the numerous and sundry guitar sounds he�s worked up, well, that's a whole �nother list. Setzer doesn't mind the comparisons, though: he's finding them educational. �It's fine with me,'� he shrugs, "as long as you don�t say I sound like Loverboy.�

Not likely. But neither is it plausible that too many old fans will think the new effort sounds like Son Of Stray Cats. And that�s just fine with Setzer too. �I don�t think people want the same old stuff,� he says.

think they want to grow into new things. Of course, you�ve always got that group of hardcore rockers who want to hear the authenticity, but I couldn�t just sit down and write a straight rockabilly song anymore. I tried; it was really strange. I wrote one half-assed one and I thought this just ain�t happening;.«

It�s a good possibility that Setzer�s rockabilly writer�s block was self-imposed. After all, the Stray Cats� biggest hits in that vein happened in 1982 and the backlash was already upon them when the trio fell apart almost two years ago. Through no fault of their own, the Stray Cats were branded a fad and within a year of their two Top 10 hits, �Rock This Town� and �Stray Cat Strut,� every town north of Antarctica seemingly had its own Something Cats sporting quiffs and a stand-up bass. But Setzer harbors no ill feelings toward his days as a cool Cat.

�Musically, we were a good group and we had some classic cuts,� he says. �Maybe we became pigeonholed by some people because we had eccentric haircuts and clothes, but I think the music will hold up. Twenty years from now, oldies stations will be playing �Rock This Town.� I�m glad the Cats made it on our own terms. I didn�t compromise anything. And it certainly was fun to have rockabilly hits on the charts alongside Foreigner.�

So, then, the inevitable question: Wha�ppen? Why did Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker walk away spouting mean things about their former partner? �Yeah, I heard they were saying some nasty stuff for awhile,� Setzer says. �But it�s just that I didn�t get that great feeling anymore. The first tour we did was great. We were seeing America, seeing Red�s Chili House in Missouri, driving down the Jersey Turnpike watching the smoke come up from the oil refineries.�

But Bruce—I mean Brian—why did the Stray Cats split up?

�I had five good years of that, but then I got bored with it. In the last year I stopped getting that feeling, that great kick that twisted in my gut.� Is he sure that wasn�t Red�s chili?

In any case, Setzer went out on his own, with nothing particular in mind. He joined up with Robert Plant�s Honeydrippers for one night on Saturday Night Live, then began working on his new songs with his new band, now dubbed Brian Setzer & The Radiation Ranch after one of the songs on the album. The group�s first performance of any significance was at last summer�s Farm Aid concert, which, Setzer happily mentions, �people are still talking about.�

Setzer had been invited to play the nationally televised benefit show by John Cougar Mellencamp, a fellow musician Setzer admires. When it came time to go into the studio, Setzer even borrowed Mellencamp�s producer, Don Gehman, and his drummer, Kenny Aronoff. �My main concern when I went into the studio was that I didn�t want the record to sound overproduced. I didn�t want the drums to sound like the Lincoln Tunnel again. I wanted it nice and crisp. I heard John�s records and liked the sound. I like where Don Gehman puts guitars, how he makes them sound. So I sent him a tape and got to talking and it worked out.�

Some of the songs date back to Stray Cat days, notably �Barbwire Fence,� the bluegrassy number which closes the record. But the bulk of the album written

since leaving the Cats finds Setzer in a pure pop vein and exploring lyrical areas a Long Island rockabilly band would never have had any use for. �Maria,� cowritten by Setzer and Little Steven Van Zandt, is the story of a woman leaving her family behind in Mexico to try for a new life in Texas, while �Aztec,� written with Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers, is the lament of an American Indian who has seen his land and people ravaged by the white settler.

Setzer has developed something of a fixation for Indian culture, in fact. The inspiration for �Aztec� came when Setzer found some old arrowheads in his Long Island backyard (he�s since moved to L.A., because he �needed a change�). �I�ve always wanted to find one of those,� he reports. �I brought them to a museum and they told me how old they were. Long Island�s got some great history behind it. I mean, it�s turned into suburban bullshit, but it�s still got some great history. There are still some Indians on it; not many, but there is a reservation. Anyway, I found these arrowheads, and I said to Mike that I had an idea for a song. He had an idea for this backwards �Day Tripper� riff so we put it together and recorded it that night.�

Setzer�s affection for the Indian also led him to shoot the video for the album�s title track in Taos, New Mexico. �We did it in an Indian pueblo,� he beams. �It was a great experience. We asked about six tribes if we could just set up on their land and they said no. The Taos Pueblo Indians let us. At first they were really wary

but then they were really friendly; the Indian ladies even made us lunch.�

The video is a performance clip of Setzer and his new band: guitarist Tommy Byrnes (a former rival from L.l. band, the BMT�s), bassist Kenny Aaronson, keyboardist Chuck Leavell—of Allman Brothers fame—and temporary drummer Max Weinberg, on loan from the vacationing E Street Band. �I didn�t want to come across a white boy trying to save the Indians,� Setzer explains. �I just thought it would be a great thing for a video instead of the usual tits and ass bullshit. But they�ve been screwed over so many times by the white man, even in recent times with the movies and people doing Dodge truck commercials and leaving shit and litter on their land. I mean, they�ve been on this land for 6,000 years!�

If this doesn�t sound like the same wild cat who almost singlehandedly brought rockabilly music back to life in the �80s, well, maybe it isn�t. But ask Brian Setzer if he has any aspirations toward acting, and you begin to wonder. �Not really, not unless the right part comes along.� Like what kind of part? �I heard they cast Rob Lowe as Eddie Cochran. Gary Busey did a great job as Buddy Holly, but I don�t know about this. I don�t know if there�s much of a story to tell with Eddie. But I guess they can make one. I guess I shouldn�t say anything.� He doesn�t, for a few seconds. Then...�But somebody should do Little Richard. Now there�s a story!� No, Brian, don�t even think about it. S