Jakob's Ladder-When Singer quits, Wallflowers called in friends to help

9.19.96 for The San Diego Union-Tribune

The Wallflowers latest album, "Bringing Down the Horse," almost didn't make it out of the studio. When the Wallflowers rythym guitarist and background singer quit in the midst of recording, producer T-Bone Burnett and the band enlisted the help of some of their musically proficient friends, including Sam Phillips, Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz, and guitarist Mike Campbell of Tom Petty's band, Heartbreakers.   Wallflowers singer-guitarist Jakob Dylan (son of Bob Dylan) said he simply tried to make the best of the situation:  

"All the guests on the album either sung harmony or played guitar. We just tried to have fun with it," he said. "We didn't just want to have one person play all the guitar or sing all the parts. T-Bone was great working with everyone. He really knows what he's doing." "Bringing Down The Horse" has a rich folk-rock flavor, which recalls the work of Robbie Robertson, Jules Shear, and Daniel Lanois. Although "6th Avenue Heartache," the first single, is already a hit on adult alternative radio and on VH-1, success has not come easily for the Los Angeles-based band.   Nearly five years ago, the Wallflowers coalesced during jam sessions at a Los Angeles deli and released their self-titled debut in 1992. Even without the benefit of radio airplay, the album generated enough interest that the group opened for the likes of 10,000 Maniacs, the Spin Doctors and Cracker.   

But the debut didn't live up to record company expectations, and the band was dropped by it's label, Virgin Records. It took four years for it to re-sign and record a follow-up. "I suppose our first album wasn't very memorable," Dylan said. "But it was successful for what I and the band were trying to do at the time. We did get to play on the road a lot. Now, we've played more, and the new people in the band are playing better. I've also been writing better songs. It's typical for bands to learn from their mistakes..."The video for "6th Avenue Heartache" directed by David Fincher (who directed the feature film "Seven"), has also helped increase the bands popularity. "Doing a video is like acting and trying to appeal to people," said Dylan. "We simply went for a walk and had a sandwich, and he made a great video out of it." When asked about how his father, known for his reticence, raised him, Dylan proved just as private.

"My childhood was probably a lot more normal than people would like to expect," he said. "That's about as much as I want to say. He has kept that part of his life to himself for 30 years, and when people want me to talk about it, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. People always want to know information about him and not me, like what he was like with his kids and not what I was like with him. It's interviewing him through me, so I shy away from that."

Dylan, who attended art school in New York for a few weeks after he graduated from high school, admitted that, although he is familiar with his father's music, punk rock really inspired him to want to in a rock band.  

"I know my dad's music, but it was the music I grew up with that inspired me," he said. "I got into rock   music when I was 12 and 13 and saw bands like the Clash play. I would tag along with my brother and friends. That music had a pretty significant impact on me. Going to the shows and seeing those people stage looked like the coolest thing to do. It was like being in a gang."