New members round out A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle is more of a fluid circle these days. The group has a different cast and has quietly become a "supergroup," to use an old rock phrase. The core is still Maynard James Keenan (who also sings with industrial rockers Tool) and guitarist Billy Howerdel, who writes the music. But the new members are guitarist James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and bassist Jeordie White, formerly known as the infamous Twiggy Ramirez when he toured with Marilyn Manson.
"It does feel like a totally different band from having two new members. The last band feels like a lifetime ago," says Howerdel, whose ad hoc group headlines the Worcester Centrum Centre tonight.
The personnel changes haven't hurt record sales. A Perfect Circle's first album, the heavier "Mer de Noms," sold 2 million copies, and the latest, the more moodily atmospheric "Thirteenth Step" (which deals with addiction and recovery from it), has sold close to 1 million sparked by two hits, "Weak and Powerless" and "The Outsider."
"We took more of a chance with the arrangements this time," Howerdel says. "There are more challenges on this record, even though the mainstream seems to be going toward more of a power-pop format."
The addition of new members Iha and White has also fortified the band in concert. "To think that they're playing your music is flattering," Howerdel says. "These guys are obviously professionals and have been around the block, but they have something fresh and different to offer. And they have different personalities in this band than they did in their other bands. It's important for people to grow and adapt and change.
"I'd say Jeordie has changed the most," he adds. "He used to shave his eyebrows and wear white makeup and a dress onstage, but now he dresses like a preppie nerd. I don't know if either one is his real personality, but it's different, and it's been a shock to people who come expecting him to be Twiggy from Marilyn Manson."
White came onboard after A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese met him at a New Year's party. Iha was an old Howerdel friend from the days when Howerdel was a guitar tech for Smashing Pumpkins.
The foundation of the band is still the chemistry between Howerdel and Keenan, who writes the lyrics and came up with the theme for "Thirteenth Step."
"We have a lot of friends and peers around LA who have been through it," Howerdel says of 12-step recovery programs. "But no one in the band has gone through it."
After A Perfect Circle's tour ends June 13, Keenan will return to Tool, and the others will disperse for various projects. Howerdel plans a solo album and isn't sure when A Perfect Circle will regroup or who will be in it. "You never know what's going to happen," he says. "I just want to let it come together organically."
Rumble time again: Shred, local music director of WBCN, says this year's annual WBCN Rock N' Roll Rumble is "a real even playing field. It's wide open this year." The event starts at the Middle East Upstairs on Sunday. "It reminds me of the time that Darkbuster came out of nowhere to win the Rumble, compared to other years when you sensed that bands like the Dresden Dolls and the Gentlemen might win," Shred adds. The lineups: Sunday: Illuminada, Every Forty Seconds, the Dents, Raymond; Monday: the Charms, Jabe, the Information, Orange Island; Tuesday: Fooled by April, Brett Rosenberg, Seemless, Sugabomb; Thursday: Throe, Meat Depressed, Redletter, Jake Brennan & the Confidence Men; Friday: Ad Frank & the Fast Easy Women, Black Helicopter, Stoic, Roxie; and Saturday: So and So's, Paranoid Social Club, the Spaceshots, the Model Sons.
Caught in clubland: Jen Chapin at the Paradise Lounge: The media know her as the daughter of Harry Chapin, but Jen Chapin staked her claim to be judged on her own with an engagingly sultry set of subtle jazz-pop and soul balladry. She cut deep with lyrics that provided a fresh take on romance and what it takes to survive in a cynical world.
Two Timin' Three at the Middle East Corner: Elvis Presley and Sam Phillips can rest easy knowing there are still some capable bands that know how to convey the rockabilly aesthetic. Two Timin' Three made the Sun Records era live anew with a snap and crackle that brought Memphis to Massachusetts Ave. in no-frills style.
Bits and pieces: Dispatch has set a free farewell show at the Hatch Shell on July 31. Why is the group breaking up? "They're looking to do other projects. There's no animosity or anything," says band spokesman Perry Serpa. . . . Tickets are on sale May 7 for these new shows at the South Shore Music Circus: America (July 1), Irish Tenors (July 10), Pat Benatar (July 22), Kenny Loggins (Aug. 11), and Cyndi Lauper (Aug. 17). . . . Tonight: Moonraker and the So and So's at the Middle East Downstairs. . . . Tomorrow: Kaiju Big Battel at Avalon, Alienist Outfit and Sarah Rabdau at O'Brien's, and the Twinemen, Kris Delmhorst, and Jimmy Ryan at the Lizard Lounge in a benefit for Ethiopian orphanages. . . . Sunday: the Bob Marley Ensemble from Berklee College of Music at Bill's Bar, Jose Ramos at the Barking Crab, and Bill McQuaid (excellent, old-timey blues) at Toad from 7 to 9 p.m. . . . Monday: Talib Kweli at the Roxy . . . Tuesday: Ware River Club starts a Tuesday residency at the Lizard Lounge, and Fenway Recordings takes over the Paradise Lounge with the Mittens and DJ turns from Read Yellow and Roger Miller of Mission of Burma.
