Wallflowers

Wednesday, October 30 "The key is the people that are there, that they do like the material, and they know the material that you're playing."

Who said this, a 1996 presidential candidate or the singer of a hard-working band enjoying its first hit single? Given the packaged, focus-group-approved rhetoric of this year's campaign, it would be easy to guess the former. That would be wrong, however. The actual utterer is someone who's no stranger to the itinerant lifestyle of the stump. It's Wallflowers vocalist-guitarist-songwriter Jakob Dylan, talking about his newfound fans.

The Wallflowers' poignant "Sixth Avenue Heartache," an unflinching portrait of urban loneliness, recently hit the intellectual void of alt-rock radio and MTV like a freak straight answer at a congressional press conference. Since then, it's been nothing but work for the band; instead of kicking back during a brief break in touring, Dylan (yes, of those Dylans) says they're already shooting another video and preparing for a couple of TV appearances. "There's always more work to do during your time off," he says from his Los Angeles home.

He's not complaining. The Wallflowers nearly dropped off rock & roll's radar after their self-titled 1992 debut raised about as many eyebrows as Ralph Nader's campaign. But in true Bill Clinton comeback kid style, '96 has seen them emerge with a new label (Interscope), three new members (Dylan and keyboardist Rami Jaffee are the only original Wallflowers left), and Bringing Down the Horse, a solid collection of songs that are definitely catchy, but not sugar-coated or dumbed down. "Heartache" is but one of a handful of songs ("One Headlight," "Laughing Out Loud," "God Don't Make Lonely Girls," "The Difference," "Bleeders") that prove the Wallflowers are anything but one-issue candidates.

And since we're being political, what does Dylan think of this year's dog and pony show? "It's entertaining, anyhow," he says. "I'm not sure it matters too much who wears the suit and stands at the podium right now, but it's interesting." -- Christopher Gray