Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508140125
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SALVATORE CAPUTO THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The single has been No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart for the past nine weeks, by far the most radio exposure the band has received since it debuted with a self-titled album in 1990.
But the band had never meant it to be a full song.
The song was commissioned by the NBC sitcom ``Friends''as its theme. There was no complete song, just 42 seconds of verse and chorus, because that was all the show needed.
``What happened was that some radio stations looped it three or four times to make a three-minute song,'' says Danny Wilde, who leads The Rembrandts with songwriting partner Phil Solem.
``It became a top-five request at a handful of stations.''
So the record company asked them to flesh out the song into a single, and the group held up its then-completed third album, ``L.P.,'' for two months to add the song.
Wilde, calling in from a tour stop in New York, said the airplay definitely is helping the group's box office.
``Sales have been really good. We've picked up a few friends, if you'll pardon the pun.''
Solem and Wilde became friends in Los Angeles at the height of its late '70s ``power pop'' phase, when bands such as The Motels and Plimsouls ruled that scene.
They worked together in a band called Great Buildings. Then, they split up but kept in touch.
What bound them together was a songwriting aesthetic directly opposed to the production-driven hits of the mid- to late-'80s, where studio tricks dressed up weak songs.
``The foundation of anything worthwhile should be in the melody and the chords,'' Wilde says. ``All those traditional values.''
Wilde put out three solo albums in the late '80s, and then the duo reunited in 1990 as The Rembrandts.
``We meant it [the name] to be sort of pretentious and comical and tongue-in-cheek at the same time,'' he says.
``We wanted to stick out like a sore thumb.''
And the band did, wearing matching suits along the lines of British invasion bands of the '60s, which lined up with the group's sound.
The Rembrandts formed at a time when everything in the Los Angeles music scene was leather jackets, screaming guitars and record productions dominated by a big drum sound.
The Rembrandts decided to get small.
``We cranked the vocals way loud, which was against the grain at the time, went for a small guitar sound, and it paid off big-time,'' he says.
``We wanted to prove to ourselves that you don't have to spend $300,000 to make a record that people will like.''
The duo produced a demo tape in a garage for $5,000, and that tape became the group's first album. Armed with a successful single, ``That's Just the Way It Is Baby,'' the duo hired backup musicians and went on the road.
They went back to the garage and produced ``Untitled'' in 1992, and it spawned the hit ``Johnny Have You Seen Her.''
Dominated by sweet harmonies, swirling guitars and strong melodies, all of The Rembrandts' efforts seem to hark back to another era of pop-rock.
``You definitely are what you eat,'' Wilde says. ``We've always loved that whole British invasion, Merseybeat sound - and harmonies. We love the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline, classical music, a whole mixed bag of sounds. ...
``We don't try to deny our influences, that would be the kiss of death, but we definitely feel we have something new and original to bring to the table. We're not a retro band.''
by CNB