CRACKER-ZEWTOPIA 2006

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Maybe the video for Cracker’s song “Low” was prescient in some way. Not that David Lowery would eventually go on to really get into a boxing match with Sandra Bernhardt, but looking at things now, it suggests the members of the band might have always have been game for a fight.

Certainly their former record label found out the boys from Cracker were ready to roll. When that label, Virgin Records, decided to put out a greatest hits disk using the masters it owned without so much as a “By your leave” to the band, the members of Cracker counterpunched by swiftly putting out their own greatest hits disk, “Greatest Hits Redux.” That’s pronounced “Re-do” for those of us who flunked French I in high school.

“We got wind of them planning to produce a greatest hits without even asking us,” guitarist Johnny Hickman said. “We told them if there was something in it for us, we’d do it, but they didn’t want to do that. They own the masters, but we own the rights to the songs.”

So Cracker recorded hits like “Low,” “Eurotrash Girl,” “Teen Angst” and all the others that were staples for both alternative radio stations and college students in the ‘90s. And since they could, the band sweetened the pot by tossing a new song onto “Redux,” making it the clear choice for fans. “Something You Ain’t Got” sounds like vintage Cracker and fit nicely onto the collection.

“It was a lot of fun. The technology has changed so much, and we were able to re-record them with the new technologies. We were pretty faithful to the originals as you heard them on the radio,” Hickman said.

The greatest hits battle caused Cracker to delay release of its new CD “Greenland” until this summer, Hickman said. It focuses on the band’s newfound fascination with Greenland, its history and geography. Hickman said the album has both upbeat, rockin’ songs and more introspective arrangements.

“David’s songwriting is some of his best,” Hickman said. “And the sound is something between Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. We were sort of influenced with the history of Greenland. It’s kind of melancholy in some places. We became obsessed with the history of the Viking tribes and then the Danes who came over there.”

“Redux” and “Greenland” are both on Cracker’s new label, Cooking Vinyl, out of Great Britain. Hickman said one of the other advantages of re-recording the old songs is now they are free to license them for movies, commercials, etc. Before, since their old label owned the masters, that would have been up to the Virgin, he said. And while fans may be tempted to buy the other greatest hits album, he wants to make one thing clear.

“I don’t begrudge anyone for buying theirs, but ours is better,” he said laughing.

Cracker got its start in San Francisco in the early ‘90s after frontman Lowery left Camper Van Beethoven. The group was a staple of college radio at that time and issued its best-known album in 1993, “Kerosene Hat.”

The current Cracker lineup has been in place for quite some time, Hickman said. He and Lowery, both military brats, have known each other since they were kids. He says the experience of travelling with the military exposed both of them to various kinds of music, which he believes bleeds through in Cracker’s sound.

Though Cracker hasn’t played Mobile in quite some time, Hickman says the band has fond memories of playing in the Azalea City, and around the South in general.

“People in the South like their songs peppered with humor,” he said.

For that reason, he said, songs like “Sweet Thistle Pie” and “Eurotrash Girl” are must-plays when wooing a Southern audience. Hickman says the band goes into each gig without a playlist, but acknowledges there are some songs that must be played or the crowd may feel gypped.

“We never do a play list, we just play,” he said. “But there are some songs we always do. We’re not lofty artists who won’t play their hits. There are some songs the fans expect to hear. I imagine the people in Mobile can expect to hear a little of everything. And I would proudly say we’re one of the better live bands out there.”

Cracker is set to take the stage, Saturday, April 15 at 4:55 p.m. on the main stage.

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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