Push Stars Tour Their Way To Fame

Somewhere on the road outside New Jersey, the Push Stars got news that Peter and Bob Farrelly, the directors behind "Me, Myself & Irene," wanted the band to cover the Steely Dan song "Bad Sneakers" for the film's soundtrack.

The Boston trio had been through this before. The directing brothers fell in love with the rock group after the band submitted the song "Everything Shines," from their major label debut "After The Party," for the soundtrack of a little movie called "There's Something About Mary."

The problem? Only one of them was familiar with "Bad Sneakers."

"It's pouring rain out ... we basically couldn't drive anywhere because all the roads were closed," Chris Trapper, the band's lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter, told me before their live set at Long Shots, a club in Hollywood Park, Los Angeles' popular horse racing track.

"We pulled up to this hotel that turned out to be a total love shack; it was a total sex motel. Heart-shaped hot tubs, round beds, see-through glass showers in the bedroom.

"Dan (McLoughlin, the band's bassist and occasional keyboard player) had a CD of that song, and I popped it in and the first thing I thought was 'We can't possibly cover this accurately,' so we kind of butchered it."

In a deadpan voice, McLoughlin said, "It was worked out in a love shack in New Jersey."

On The Road Again, And Again
Finding themselves in a love shack in the middle of a tour is exactly what the Push Stars are all about these days.

They have been on the road since the release of "After the Party" in May 1999. They opened for acts like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Better Than Ezra and Julian Lennon, and currently have hit the road with mellow rockers the Samples.

"When we talk about touring, we gotta start drinking," Trapper joked. "We're not in the burnout factor yet. We've played towns like two or three times and we'll see our audience grow exponentially, which is great."

This respect for playing live comes from the group's roots playing clubs all over Boston.

"We started playing at this one bar," drummer Ryan Macmillan explained, "and we started playing every couple of weeks, and it went from nobody to 50 people to 300 people until we couldn't play there anymore.

"In a city (like Boston), you can do that and you can move to the next venue. In a lot of cities, you really can't do that, you have to get out of the city."

As much as they loved playing in a musical city, getting out of Boston was on Trapper's mind when he wrote the songs on "After the Party."

"It was us in a period of transition where we were going from a local band to become a national touring band," Trapper said.

"We were feeling like 'Wow, we are suddenly leaving town for a while' ... So I brought back some old songs and kind of new songs and blended it and it came out as sort of a theme. Escapism."

Music fans discovering the Push Stars for the first time will find wistful songs about romance, getting out of town and having a good time. Their first album, "Meet Me at the Fair," was released by independent label Imago Records in 1996. Songs like "One Summer Day," a live staple, pulses with a feel-good, fun vibe.

Trapper and the guys mellow out a little on "After the Party," but their energy does not disappear. The infectious optimism in "Everything Shines" and the politically incorrect advice in "Drunk Is Better Than Dead" shows that they are not afraid to be heartfelt and honest at the same time.

These emotions come through in their live shows. Their performance at Long Shots started slowly with "Sinking in It," a meditation on fame.

"I kind of like playing ballads most of all," Trapper said before the show, "because that's when I can see who the true fans are. Casual fans will be like, 'Ballad? Oh! So anyway, I got my grades in school and I passed all my classes!' The true fans will just sit there, completely still, and they'll be into it."

They pick things up with their Dixieland remake of "Bad Sneakers," and move on to a more up-tempo version of "Any Little Town," their first single from "After the Party." At this point, just as Trapper said, the crowd has grown exponentially.

New Album In The Works
None of the guys would talk specifically about what they're working on for their untitled next album, which they will begin recording in August and which will be released in early 2001.

"We're working on some old songs, and mostly new songs," McLoughlin said. "We're not going for any one trend or style, and we're not changing what we do depending on what's popular.

"We're writing classic songs just like the songs that were written in the '40s and '50s ... Hopefully it'll cut somebody's emotions and they'll feel something."

The one thing about which they were very emphatic was working with producer and ex-Cars leader Ric Ocasek on their next album.

"Here's this guy who's a legend, who's written hundreds of hits, and he's really excited to work with us," Macmillan said. "And he's married to a beautiful woman ..."

"And it was a big thing that he was in the Cars," McLoughlin interjected, "and it wasn't because he was in a famous band. He understands artists. He traveled in a band just like we did, he got signed just like we did ..."

"Yeah, he's totally been where we've been and beyond, so it's cool," Trapper added. "And he's a musician. A lot of the time, the producers aren't musicians, and he totally will understand exactly what you're going through when you have to record a song.

"And he's from Boston too, so it's a nice plus."

Win A Push Stars Album:
Take our quiz about the band's hometown of Boston. After the last question, you'll get the e-mail address to send in your name and address.

Nancy will pick one e-mail at random to win a free copy of The Push Stars "After The Party."

Take that quiz here: Bright Lights, Big City: Boston

For More On The Push Stars:

• The Push Stars official Web site

Past Live Wire Stories:

• June 22, 2000: STP, Offspring Liven Up 'Roast'