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HI /I I \T THEY SAID IT Page 9 VI I through a desert." Wednesday, October 6, 2004 ▼ -I-1 ^ -A- • southern wrI^I SHOW PREVIEWS Let the PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Southern California band Ten Mile Tide brings their tour to Columbia on Thursday. The six-man band will play their "harmony-driven acoustic rock” at Minglewood on Harden Street at 9 p.m. Ten Mile Tide mix classic rock with jam band improvisation By CARRIE GIVENS THE GAMECOCK Combine the musical talents of identical twins Jason and Justin Munning with those of their Stanford roommates, add in a bassist and drummer and the return product is Southern California band Ten Mile Tide. Drawing on their knowledge of Bob Dylan and Neil Young classics, Ten Mile Tide has developed a keen focus on songwriting: Influenced by Cat Stevens, Tom Petty and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, the band has concentrated its musical efforts on further defining what band member Jason Munning calls “harmony-driven acoustic rock.” The Tide mutes their love for rock ‘n’ roll with an affinity for live jams. The result sounds like a musical cross between The Who and the Allman Brothers. “We’re working on bridging the gap between mainstream and jam band music,” Jason Munning said. This six-member San Francisco based band has toured extensively, sharing the stage with Dispatch, moe., The Wailers and Railroad Earth. Last year the band was one of the busiest independent bands, playing more than 140 shows. In August, the band began its second nationwide tour. On Thursday, Ten Mile Tide will return to Columbia to play at Minglewood. The show will feature original songs from their latest album “Midnight is Early” and their 2001 release, “Flow.” The band has previously played at Columbia’s 3 Rivers Music Festival and at the Sundance Bar and Grill. Ten Mile Tide has a strong Street Team presence in Columbia, which has helped to get the word out about the Tide. “We really depend on this kind of grass-roots support,” Jason Munning said. Ten Mile Tide promises to put on a fun-filled show. “Our vibe is about good times, hanging with friends, throwing back some beers and getting your groove on,” Jason Munning said. “We probably have more fun than any other band on the road.” Their carefree spirit has only heightened the band’s recent tide of nationwide success. Ten Mile Tide was honored in April as one of 10 finalists in Relix magazine’s Jamoff competition, which featured more than 200 bands. They have received attention from CNN, The Denver Post and the Canadian Broadcasting Channel. Recently, the band members were able to hit the road full time, touring in ♦ Please see TIDE, page 10 Linger members Cregg, Stevie and Jeremy will perform at the Art Bar’s Bavarian Bash on Sunday. The last time they played in Columbia was last year’s St. Patrick’s Day Bash. PHOTOS SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK -i ’ Atlanta natives combine array of sounds into onstage onslaught By LINDSAY FLOWERS THE GAMECOCK Any band compared to Radiohead, Muse and Nine Inch Nails while being described as an “electronic Nirvana” deserves a listen. With Atlanta-based group Linger, such attention turns out to be warranted. While the band itself has been around for about seven years in one form or another, the lineup of Cregg, Stevie and Jeremy has been together for about four years. After their start in Adanta and a brief period in Nashville, Linger has returned to Adanta. They have kept busy touring through 15 states, from the Midwest to the Southeast, playing about 150 shows per year. The thing that sets the group apart, according to lead guitarist/vocalist Cregg Gibson, is their live performances; the band supposedly gives one of the best live shows around. ' “People leave saying they didn’t realize three guys could make so much noise ... they think there’s background tracks, but there’s never a loop. What you hear on the stage is music made by us,” Gibson said. Considering that similar bands, such 1 as Radiohead, have additional members 1 and use background loops to supplement the music, such a comment is significant. i According to Gibson, the band realizes i that they “have no choice but to give it ^ our all; people feed off that ... (our < music) is very emotional, melodic, filling i ... we give 110 percent on stage.” I The band performed at the St. Patrick’s Day Bash in Columbia in ; March, and will return to the Midlands < for the Art Bar’s Bavarian Bash on i Sunday. That same day WUSC will I I-L2S&-1 14___-__I PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Linger is on tour to promote their new album, “Black Selefane.” i roadcast a live interview with the nembers of Linger. “Over the years we’ve learned to nalce music appeal to everyone. There’s 10 one crowd we try to play for, because rfien you start tapping into people’s motions it doesn’t matter what race or eligion or background you are,” jibson said. The band hopes one day to sign with n international record label, like the omparable Australian-based band Muse it some similar American groups that lave gone global. As an up-and-coming and unique local band, Linger has a lot of potential with a devotion to their music and an engaging stage presence. The three guys in Linger live together with a fourth roommate who tours with them as a road tech, and Gibson said that people leave the shows “either hyped up, or not knowing what to take away from the mix of styles, or just wanting to go to bed because it’s so energetic.” As for the band members themselves, “We walk away bleeding,” Gibson said. “It really is blood, sweat and tears that go into it.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc. edu BOOK REVIEW Alabama football road trip delights in fan mentality “Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania” Warren St. John ★★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ By WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK Warren St. John’s book on his travels with a cadre of RV-driving Alabama football fans had a ready-made readership — the fans themselves. However, St. John didn’t write the book for money. It was more a cathartic exercise to allow the former Birmingham native to find out why he cares so much about the fortunes of Bama football and what makes fans, in general, act so fanatic. This purpose is best exhibited in a passage in the introduction to the book in which St. John relates what he did as a junior at Columbia University when he couldn’t see or hear the Alabama-Auburn game anywhere in New York City. He called his mother in Birmingham, who placed the receiver next to the radio. The following events transpired: “When an undefeated Alabama team lost to Auburn my junior year, I anesthetized myself with a steady drip of keg Budweiser. The next morning I woke up on my dorm-room bed, fully clothed and in the fetal position. My roommates reported that I’d taken refuge there at some point in the fourth quarter and had wept myself to sleep. I wasn’t in any shape to dispute this version of events, but again, was it so strange?” Some would say it isn’t so strange. St. John realized something didn’t seem right about such things, though, and took leave from his job writing for a magazine in New York to follow the Tide and its fans through the 1999 season. Through contacts and e-mail lists, St. John gets in touch with Chris and Paula Bice, a couple from Simpsonville who own an RV and allow St. John to come with them, and their dog Larry, for the first game of the season at Vanderbilt. Depending on the team and depending on the condition of a decrepit RV St. John buys later in the season, he stays with the Bices, in his own RV, or in a local hotel for each of Alabama’s regular season games. In the course of his travels, St. John’s love of the Tide allows him to talk to and hang out with people who’d otherwise be very wary of a writer from New York. St. John tells the stories of each weekend and the events in-between in such an engaging, entertaining and funny way, the book should be able to pull any football-mad college student away from their PlayStation 2 and get them to read for a while. For instance, St. John recounts the trip to Oxford, Miss. The Ole Miss fraternity brothers staged a raid on the RVs, stealing flags off many flag poles, and the near-riot that occurred when Alabama beat Auburn for the first time at Auburn. “The book is a fen book, not an Alabama book,” St. John said in an interview with The Gamecock. “The point of the book is not that fans of other teams are wrong, but picking one’s team is a totally arbitrary act. And most people have their teams picked for them.” Indeed, any die-hard Carolina or any other SEC fan should be able to see themselves in the actions of the Bama fans in the book. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockfeatures@givm.sc. edu MOVIE REVIEW ‘Shark’ lacks bite of animated predecessors “SHARK TALE” ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ By LESLIE DENNIS the gamecock Ever since the Academy Awards added the category “Best Animated Film,” animated films have blossomed in Hollywood. “Shark Tale” attempts to capitalize on the craze, aiming to receive, at least, a nomination for an Oscar. The directors of “Shrek” and “The Road to Eldorado” teamed up to create tlje vivid world of “Shark TSale,” hoping to parlay their own successes into another box-office and critical smash. “Shark Tale” provides an all-star vocal cast that includes Will Smith, Renee Zellweger, Robert DeNiro, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black and even Martin Scorcese. Each of their sea-life characters mimics their respective human’s traits: Don Lino (voiced by DeNiro) has the trademark mole on his cheek, Lola (Jolie) has the voluptuous lips Jolie is famous for and Sykes (Scorcese) has the bushy, uncontrollable eyebrows of the famed director. “Shark Tale” seems more a spoof of mafia monies like “The Godfather” than an actual children’s film. While only those who have seen “The Godfather and other movies of the sort may pick up on the subtle humor of the jokes, there are enough one-liners to leave the audience semi-entertained. In the movie, two individual storylines involving Lenny the shark (Black) and Oscar the fish (Smith' intersect. Lino, the shark godfather struggles with his son Lenny, who ii heir to the mafia throne, over Lenny’; choice to be a vegetarian and refusal tc eat fish. Oscar, a lowly whale washer, feel; trapped in his tower class existence anc wishes to attain the fame and fortune ol fish in the upper reef. Oscar’s best friend and secret admirer, Angie (Zellweger), covers for him when he is late for work and even gives him her grandmother’s pink pearl to get him out of debt. Once Oscar and Lenny meet — under rather unusual circumstances — they bond in their mutual hatred of their own lives. It is only after they begin their new lives that they realize the value of what they had before. While “Shark Tale” has good intentions, it relies on one-liners and big-name stars to support the ) ♦ Please see SHARK TALE, page 10 CD REVIEW Prodigy’s return lacks genius of earlier efforts “ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, NEVER OUTGUNNED’’ The Prodigy ★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ By SHANA TILL THE GAMECOCK With the fast pace of musical trends, artists run the risk of being forgotten amid the influx of pop culture’s impossible-to-weed-through cliches. Lucky for The Prodigy, the music world has yet to let the images of its globally controversial music video slip from its memory. In 2002, The Prodigy gave a feeble attempt to recreate the success of their double-platinum album, “The Fat of the Land,” with the release run _ 1_’_ Z'"* _- _ 'T_» Unfortunately, the damage was done, and laptop beat producer Liam Howlett was faced with the arduous task of redemption. After scrapping the drawing board, Howlett created “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned,” which was released by the Maverick label on Sept. 14. The first noticeable difference in “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” is the absence of Keith Flint. The former frontman of The Prodigy, known as the bad boy Johnny Rotten of the rave scene, was replaced with a motley assortment of well-known artists such as Juliette Lewis, Twista, Kool Keith and the Gallagher brothers. However, what remains the same is the exhausted sound of what was once a broadly accepted, yet kitschy blend of hip-hop and house music. To describe a techno album as having a “tired’ sound is murder because Howlett tries desperately to create a virtual dance floor by pumping super-distorted synth lines over dense bass drum hits. Howlett admitted recently in Q Magazine that the 10th track, “You’ll Be Under My Wheels,” was album filler. This term is apt for the entirety of the album. The only remnants of what made “The Fat of the Land” such mainstream fodder are on the track “Memphis Bells.” It is one of the few breaths of fresh, direct energy instead of the tediousness and unfocused sound found throughout “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.” While the concept of mixing hip hop, punk and electronica is not yet hackneyed, Howlett’s style is a failed attempt to replicate an ‘80s electro clash aura. Stemming from the raw energy of the act’s stage presence, “Hotride” is a track ridden with Dunk rock and acid house flavor. Adding to this conception, actress-turned-femi-punk-singer Lewis provides vocals. Among other sounds found on “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned,” are the hip-hop grooves delivered by Kool Keith and Twista. Tracks “Wake Up Call” and “Get Up Get Off” supply a favorable consistency of hip-hop and dance beats. Proving The Prodigy’s constant endeavors to regain its mainstream adoration, the first track on the album, “Spitfire,” is the most radio-friendly for newbie ravers. The group’s cry of return, “Prodigy is Back,” relies on the rhythmical pounding reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails’ glory. The biggest disappointment found on “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned,” is the sampling on the track, “The Way It Is." The least deft of listeners can spot the bass line from ♦ Please see PRODIGY, page 10