On the Road

Local Band on One Magical, Majestic Tour

By Cory Cheney

It’s the chance of a lifetime for a band which has paid it dues. They’re the opening act for Hanson on the North American leg of the group’s world tour.

They’re Admiral Twin, once known as the Mellowdramatic Wallflowers until an upstart group fronted by Bob Dylan’s son Jacob had the audacity to name his band The Wallflowers. But life is that way sometimes. Especially in the music business. Otherwise, things are great on the road with the world’s most popular pop group.

"We basically have a three-day work week," says John Russell, who plays guitar and sings for AT. That week consists of travel day, sight-see day, and concert day. Their gear is being toted and handled by the Hanson crew, so basically all they have to do is show up an play.

Before Hanson.

Before screaming hordes of crazed teenage girls. Admiral Twin isn’t playing to crowds anymore. Crowds are what you see at a club, or waiting in line to get into Cain’s. They’re playing to legions. Devout legions.

So were they intimidated to be opening up for one of the hottest pop acts in years...

Nah. They’re professionals . . . Well, maybe a little.

"Prior to the first show, we had no idea what to expect," says Mark Carr, bassist and vocalist.

"The sound of 20,000 screaming fans is similar to a jet engine. They’re louder than we are," says Jarrod Gollihare, drummer/vocalist for the band and former graphic designer/writer for Urban Tulsa Weekly.

The screaming actually starts long before the concert even begins. Girls camp out all around the venue, hoping to get a glimpse of Hanson flesh, or a scent of someone who’s walked by a Hanson, or someone on the other side of the barricade who’s thought about Hanson... They even scream for whoever is seen bringing out the garbage.

The good thing for Admiral Twin is that the Hanson fans are not only screaming for Hanson. "The crowds have been extremely receptive to us. They really really respond. You should hear the sound when we say, ‘we’re Admiral Twin from Tulsa...’" says Gollihare.

"They go nuts," says Russell. The band says they’ve seen signs like "Tulsa Bands Rule" floating about in the seas of faces.

Already, Admiral Twin’s popularity is beginning to grow. The band sometimes hangs around by the gates before shows, and are not only recognized, but see fans wearing Admiral Twin T-shirts.

"The bootlegging is already starting," says Russell, adding that videos of concerts played in Tulsa prior to the tour have surfaced.

Not a band to rest on their laurels, AT actively promotes itself in true D.I.Y. fashion with their own website, which they created and maintain. "Our website has been slammed with hits," says Gollihare.

"The Internet has been a great source for us to correspond with people both before and after each concert," adds Russell.

"We answer every e-mail," says Gollihare. By their estimate, they’ve gotten thousands. And so far, they are doing a pretty good job keeping up, or close to it, sort of. "We’re not keeping up. We’re trying..." says Carr. They tackle the daunting task via the laptop of Brad Becker, guitarist and vocalist, who’s unfortunately had to bring his real-life job on the road with him.

The site, admiraltwin.com, is a veritable treasure trove of information about the band, including the tour itinerary. But wait online junkies, there’s more... "Our fans, on their own, formed the Admiral Twin newsgroup (alt.fan.admiral-twin)." The newsgroup has had more than 1,000 postings in over a month. The band also uses their site as a distribution point for their cd’s, shirts and other merchandise.

"Our fan base is growing on its own now," says Russell.

And all thanks to the tour.

"I couldn’t ask for a better break into rock‘n’roll than this," says Gollihare. Think about it. They are not getting the kinds of crowds that made Meredith Brooks quit the Rolling Stones tour after two dates. No one’s throwing things at Admiral Twin. The crowd is almost all kids, most of them at their first concert. They’re loving it (the kids and the band).

"We’re blessed to be in this situation," says Carr.

"Hopefully this is a whole new generation of rock‘n’roll fans interested in a good show," says Gollihare. "Hanson’s a real deal."

Gollihare thinks a lot of people don’t realize the Hansons play their own instruments and are quite accomplished musicians and writers. As for Admiral Twin, the members try to catch the Hanson show every time. "We’re getting turned on to a lot of their songs. Once you build up a rapport with someone, you’re more open to their art," says Russell.

"This is more like a pure rock‘n’roll experience than anything else rock‘n’roll has degenerated to," says Gollihare.

And he may have a point. The up and down summer concert tours have been short-circuiting around the country, with few shows making a profit. Even major talent, say Janet Jackson, are having trouble drawing crowds.

Then, there’s Hanson. The day before Hanson and Admiral Twin played Atlanta to a sell-out crowd of 20,000, The Pretenders and the B-52’s played the same venue and drew only 2,500. "There are very few groups that inspire massive crowds," says Gollihare

His take is that there’s a trend toward happy music again. People are looking for a trip to the fun side of rock, so to speak. Luckily for AT, or maybe since it’s his theory, they mesh perfectly with the trend.

"Music that makes you feel good is back," says Russell.

"You can’t ignore the aspect of rock‘n’roll that says ‘let’s feel good and have a good time,’" says Gollihare. "We really enjoy making people happy.

Right now, they are making people happy by standing on stage in matching suits. "We wanted to have an image, and we’ve definitely got an image going now."

And the music to back it up. In Dec. of ’97, the band changed names subsequently with the release of a new album, Unlucky (who’s unlucky now?).

And so they follow their muse, and who can blame them? It’s landed them on tour with the Hansons. However, it presents an interesting predicament, to wit: how does a relatively unknown band follow up a monumental tour like this?

"More than likely this will be (our) only tour of this magnitude. But you never know...," says Carr. To that end, Admiral Twin is quietly collecting business cards, sending out albums to record company contacts, and just generally sowing the seeds of future success.

For now, they are concentrating on the tour itself and mulling around a ton of new material just waiting to be laid out on wax, cd, tape... whatever.

"We’re just going to see what happens when the tour’s over. Then we’ll pursue whatever contracts we have," says Russell.

"We’ve been getting good attention from the record industry," says Gollihare, though tight-lipped about what and from whom.

Hopefully, their new lawyer, Martin Silfer, who has handed various artists like Aerosmith and R.E.M. before, will be able to sort things out. But until things get sorted out, they’ll spend some time resting.

"We’ll need a good couple of good weeks of rest in our home town," says Gollihare.