"You have to have a sense of humor about certain things," a yawning Sean Nelson says. I had jokingly asked if there were a chance his band, Harvey Danger, would play their 1998 hit, "Flagpole Sitta," at tonight's concert in the Memorial Union. "There's always a chance. I mean, we do play it from time to time. Sometimes at our shows, people really want to hear it and are there to hear it. At the same time, at a lot of our shows people really don't want to hear it." Whether or not they play their well-known oldie, Harvey Danger's North American tour, promoting their newest album, Little by Little, will hopefully sever any remaining one-hit-wonder associations.
Yet the band might not be where they are today if it weren't for that innuendo-ridden single. "Flagpole Sitta" was responsible for catapulting the group of University of Washington at Seattle newspaper writers into stardom nearly a decade ago. It made Billboard's Top 40, found a comfortable niche on MTV (probably sandwiched between "Closing Time" and a Third Eye Blind jingle) and was featured in a particularly hair-raising scene in the movie "Disturbing Behavior" (which was admittedly the catalyst for me running out in sixth grade to buy the album). But note: Out of respect for Nelson, I promise no "Flagpole Sitta" puns in this article.
After a series of legal disputes, including a dissolved record label, the band's follow-up, King James Version (which later ended up becoming somewhat of a cult classic), was released to an audience that had long forgotten about the "paranoia, paranoia" band. Feeling disheartened and sick of the music industry, the Seattleites disbanded.
"We didn't like the treadmill of label work and promotion," the eloquent frontman said. "It just wasn't what we were cut out for. Going on tour with bands because they happen to have a song on the radio at the moment, it felt like it didn't have anything to do with us."
After three years — during which the anxious musician spent his time collaborating with the likes of Nada Surf and the Long Wintersan — Nelson finally decided the sabbatical had gone on too long. The original Harveys (save for the old drummer) reconvened in 2004 to record Little by Little and boldly released the album as a free download on their website last September.
"The way my love of music, culture and bands expresses itself is through buying the stuff at the record store and being a part of that transaction. That's a meaningful exchange to me," Nelson says. "But I can't kid myself that we don't live in a world where music is available for free on the Internet, legally or illegally. So it doesn't make sense not to embrace that reality. I think it's likely that in the future a lot more people will be doing it."
Now, one year later, Nelson seems pleased with the strategy.
"I think we might have made a few more dollars [if LBL were released the old-fashioned way], but it's paid for itself; it's been heard by a couple hundred thousand people at least and it has helped us spread the word that we were even back together. I think that it was a total success, a 100 percent," he says.
Regarding content, the album is easily their strongest effort.
The opener, "Wine, Women and Song," sports a staccato piano progression that is oddly but pleasantly reminiscent of the "Habanera" aria in "Carmen." In the much-quoted first line, Nelson confesses: "Wine, women and song/ I tried them all; it did not take me long/ To figure I'd unlocked the door to happiness/ I figured wrong with a capital R." While it's easy to see the narrative as a rock star lamenting on the pitfalls of success, Nelson had a grander vision in mind. He told me it's about "knowing who you are and knowing what you want, as opposed to performing the role of yourself according to what you think you're supposed to be."
Despite a catastrophic guitar solo, which sounds like somebody gave Sid Vicious a Fender Stratocaster and taught him how to do a hammer-on, "Wine, Women and Song" is one of the best album openers of 2005.
Sadly, the proceeding tracks do not quite live up to the standard set by the intro song. However, there are still many parts to look forward to. "Happiness Writes White" is one of the more poignant love songs I've heard in a long time. A paradox in itself, the song is about why the speaker has never written the object of affection a song; but, ironically enough, in doing so he has written her a song! Go figure.
"Little Round Mirrors" boasts a touching chorus of emotive brass band orchestration and is NOT, Nelson assured me, about cocaine.
The refreshing thing about Little by Little is that it is an indie-rock album that finally falls in the genre because of its politics, not because it sounds like some combination of the Strokes and Interpol. The album has been re-released by Kill Rock Stars, giving it a little boost in distribution. If you choose to purchase the album in lieu of getting the free download (or if you like the download so much you think they deserve the money for it), you get a bonus CD that includes alternate recordings and a few B-sides. But at the very least, I urge you to download the album (available at www.harveydanger.com). And if you like what you hear, come see the band and opener So Many Dynamos rock the Memorial Union tonight at 9:30 p.m. — whether you're sick or well (sorry Sean, I couldn't resist).
