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It looks like I’m never gonna know for sure
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But after months of fruitless negotiations, what originally seemed like a sure thing has finally fallen through. Freakwater is back where it started-the sole country band on an indie-rock label that doesn’t have the resources or connections to break into the country market. “All in all I think it’s good that we went through this nasty experience,” says Bean with a wry smile. “Maybe my bitterness will now be understood by the other members of the band.”
Bean’s bitterness comes from previous unsavory entanglements with major labels. She is also a drummer and songwriter with Chicago rock stalwart Eleventh Dream Day, which made three albums for Atlantic amid strained and unsatisfactory label relations before returning to indie land a few years ago. While EDD’s apples were spoiling, Bean’s casual partnership with Irwin, a long-time chum from back home in Louisville, was ripening. In 1988 they released their debut album for the LA indie Amoeba, which had also issued the first Eleventh Dream Day recordings. By last year, with the release of Old Paint (the band’s fourth album and its second on Thrill Jockey), Freakwater had expanded well beyond its original status as a lark, embarking on major U.S. and European tours.
Bean and Irwin say they weren’t entirely hostile to input from the label. Bean claims that they were willing to experiment with outside musicians, outside songwriters, and outside producers (their last three albums were produced by Brad Wood). “I would’ve done pretty much anything they’d asked to a certain degree,” says Bean. “If they wanted us to wear wigs every now and then we probably would have done that–but they presented themselves as one thing and they turned out to be something altogether different.” The label’s refusal to grant Freakwater the ability to make final creative decisions finally ruptured the deal. The group (whose third permanent member is the silent, chain-smoking upright bassist Dave Gay) will record their fifth record, once again for Thrill Jockey, this winter.
