Music

Reluctant Shoegazers

Phaser Follow Britain's Woozy Lead

by Kathleen Wilson

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Joshua Kessler

PHASER Floating in space.

w/Mellowdrone, Voyager One, DJ Miss Cara
Sat Sept 6, Graceland, 9 pm, $8 adv.

Without the Velvet Underground, there would be no shoegazer genre for its current benefactors to kick around. Influenced by the VU, Suicide put out the first true album of the genre in 1977, a self-titled, 31-minute record that devoted 10 of those minutes to "Frankie Teardrop," a harrowing mixture of throbbing drum machine, narcotizing organs, droning bass, and tortured-cum-poetic vocal screams that were heard loud and clear in England. It was there that, five or so years later, Spacemen 3 and its members Jason Pierce and Pete Kember (AKA Sonic Boom) experimented with their musical style until heavy drug use helped them find the right combination of drowsy singing and swirling, near-majestic arrangements on 1987's Perfect Prescription. Meanwhile, Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid were experimenting with feedback, white noise, and bubblegum pop for the Jesus and Mary Chain, and in 1985 released the astounding Psychocandy. British successors include My Bloody Valentine, the Verve, Ride, Catherine Wheel (Ferment), Curve (Pubic Fruit and Doppelg...nger), the Boo Radleys (Everything's Alright Forever and Giant Steps), and of course Jason Pierce's still-active Spiritualized (Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase are their most fuzzed-out examples), and Sonic Boom's Spectrum.

That said, how quickly we Americans are to crap in the hand that fed us. Mere months since the shoegazer revival has taken hold in the U.S., bands influenced by Britain's wooziest have begun treating the term with the same derision emo gets from mopey, floods-wearing arena headliners.

Phaser singer, guitarist, and keyboard player Siayko Skalsky (he and his bass-playing brother, Boris, hail from D.C., but are of Ukrainian heritage) says that it used to annoy him that his band was labeled "shoegazer." "At this point," he says, "I've heard it so much that I just ignore it, and that's the only thing we can do. I personally like the term 'atmospheric rock.' I really don't see us being 'shoegaze.'" The band does consider itself to be influenced by Spiritualized, however, and recently shared some tour dates with its heroes.

Then there's the fact that even though their album Sway was self-released a year and a half ago, and then again in February by Emperor Norton Records, the momentum behind it is due to its, well, shoegaze qualities, which American audiences are finally receptive to. "The first time I heard that kind of music I was sort of thrown off by it," admits Skalsky, "but the more I listened to it, I realized, 'This is honest music, this is the way these people feel, this isn't made by the tastemakers, this isn't something you can be force-fed or listen to every day, and that's the only reason people like it.' Nobody searches out music anymore; they get lazy and listen to what everybody else says is good, and it's a fucking shame."

I ask if he's sought out any older stuff lately, and he answers, "It's funny you should ask that because for the longest time--and I'm 33--but up until maybe three years ago, I never wanted to listen to Pink Floyd. Then I bought the entire catalog and fell in love with them." (Both of us vehemently abhor "Money.") "I never was a Spacemen 3 fan at all," he says, explaining that he couldn't understand them, and that he finds Spiritualized's songs more accessible. He also admits to listening to a lot of Ride and Slowdive lately, and has even become a fan of the Jesus and Mary Chain, a band he stubbornly ignored just because his friends talked about them too much. "Now I'm starting to hear a lot of the comparisons," he admits, "so the only thing is that although we may be compared to a lot of these bands and we're getting the shoegaze tag, we didn't intentionally go out and say, 'Hey, let's become a shoegaze band.'"

Speaking of Sway, Skalsky says the title track is his favorite, and it's an undeniably beautiful tune. And in it the singer prominently tacks his affinity for Spiritualized on his sleeve. Judging from this song alone, I'd guess Pure Phase and Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space to be his favorite albums. (Skalsky confirms that he thinks "Medication" is a great song.) The new album from Spiritualized is a less orchestral, more rocking affair, and I wonder if there's an imminent change for Phaser over the next horizon, but don't count on it just yet. "We're not making any statements like, 'We're changing our sound,'" Skalsky says, "but we have all kinds of different, new influences coming in and we're all a lot better songwriters through experience. But even if it sounds different to someone else's ear, it's just that we've developed a little more. The style won't be all that different from the last record."

kathleen@thestranger.com

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