Truly Super Group
By Bryan Reed
The New Pornographers
Headliners: Monday, Sept. 22
I often find the term “supergroup” to be both offensively euphemistic and misleading. We hype-tracking music consumers fall time and time again for this misnomer, even after all the years of — to put it nicely — varied success of these aging rock-star casseroles. Need I remind you of The Highwaymen, the mid-’80s collaboration of country icons Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson that, despite mathematical logic, resulted in lukewarm recordings and barely a footnote for a legacy? And, by all means, we were entitled to expect something at least moderately badass of the confluence of Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach, Ted Nugent, Biohazard’s Evan Seinfeld and Zeppelin progeny Jason Bonham. But what we got was a s#!tty VH1 reality show and a limp-wristed, quick-to-disappear quintet that tried to name itself FIST and Rawdog before finally settling on (I kid you not) Damnocracy. Cue disappointment.
So to these ears, the mere utterance of the word “supergroup” results in a disgusted shudder and a preemptive write-off of the (probably not-so) supergroup in question. But in anything you’re likely to hear or read about Vancouver’s New Pornogrpahers — which play Headliners on Monday — the S-word is bound to pop up. And regardless, I love The New Pornographers, in the special dance-around-the-room-when-nobody’s-watching type of love great pop bands tend to inspire. Still, the fact remains, “supergroup” is unavoidable. It’s the fifth word in the allmusic.com biography of the band. Thing is, though, this time it’s accurate.
For the Canadian crew, the roster of which reads as a checklist of indie-famous musicians, the working definition — that is, a group whose members are already known or respected outside of the group in question — fits. Principal Pornographer Carl “A.C.” Newman began his career in the power-pop band Zumpano, which released two albums for the iconic Sub Pop label before disbanding. The New Pornos’ other primary songwriter, Daniel Bejar, tours with his successful, Merge-signed solo project Destroyer. And alt-country chanteuse Neko Case lends her pipes to all four New Pornos records to date. So the requisite talent-pool is accounted for; what of the music?
With Newman and Bejar providing delightful foils to one another — Newman’s grounded evocation countering Bejar’s surrealist eccentricity — The New Pornographers have managed to marry indie rock’s predilections for cerebral imagism with power pop hooks and an unadulterated joyousness in the music that offers the same time-and-again thrill as the untouchable A-side of Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic, Rumours. Last year’s Challengers, The New Pornos’ Matador-released fourth LP, found the octet turning it down a notch from the wide-eyed exuberance of 2005’s Twin Cinema without losing any of its characteristic charm or fullness of sound.
Most importantly, though, for its now-four-album career, The New Pornographers have provided a tailor-made fit for its three keynote vocalists, providing a common ground where Bejar’s adenoidal whine, Case’s velveteen coo and Newman’s malleable tenor meld together to create a singular voice that is unique to the New Pornographers — separate even from Case and Bejar’s outside work.
I’ve developed my own frightfully obvious clarification of the definition of “supergroup” that ought to make it a less odious idiom. It’s simple: Separate the word into its two halves, “super” and “group.” There’s a very clear prerequisite that this group must be super. That doesn’t mean, “This group must have band members from other bands that people like,” it means, “This group must be super.” With a circle of talent that, when combined, creates a sum that is far greater than its individual parts, it becomes pretty clear that as groups go, The New Pornographers are pretty super.
Headliners is located at 700 Gervais St. Doors open at 8 p.m.; The Heist and the Accomplice open. Admission is free — provided you know where, when and how to get tickets. For ticket information, visit jdstudiono7.com; you can also register to win tickets by emailing your name, email address, state, zip code and birthdate to contests@free-times.com. For more information, call 796-2333 or visit headliners.com.
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