Spike Priggen Returns Home For CD-Release Party With Plenty Of Friends

 

 

Former New Havenite Spike Priggen plays a CD-release party Saturday at Cafe Nine and a fund-raiser at Rudy’s. By Patrick Ferrucci Register Entertainment Editor 8/26/05 A sophomore slump? A weird career move? Former New Haven resident Spike Priggen, 41, grew up in the punk-rock era, so his second solo project might take some by surprise. "I never really played covers as a kid," says the songwriter from his New York home. "It was uncool; it just didn’t follow the do-it-yourself aesthetic." But in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Priggen began a residency at a bar, playing every Wednesday and doing a lot of cover songs, interpreting other folks’ tunes in different ways. "All of a sudden, it was fun to do covers," he says. "It was good as a songwriter to learn others’ songs, learn how they’re put together and then break them apart. It was a weird bunch of songs." Priggen began playing music at early age, becoming a New Haven scene fixture by his early teens, taking part in a number of bands like The Excerpts and The Obvious with fellow scenesters including Miracle Legion members Mark Mulcahy and Mr. Ray Neal, multi-instrumentalist Dean Falcone, Dumptruck’s Kirk Swan and now-Los Angeles producer and composer Jon Brion. Once in New York, Priggen formed The Hello Strangers. But even though Priggen took the stage with many bands over the years, 2001’s "The Very Thing That You Treasure" became the first release under his own name. The album scored with critics and fans of power pop, landing a tune on "Felicity" and an iPod commercial. For a sophomore record, the songwriter felt like experimenting. "I wanted to try out some production techniques," he recalls. "I didn’t want to use my songs as guinea pigs because I’m not that prolific. Not that I didn’t have enough songs, but I just didn’t want to. So I started doing covers. I want to show that’s not a big deal, that they’re just as valid, good recordings of good songs." Thus "Stars After Stars After Stars" came into fruition. Priggen’s 11-song covers album will see a local release at Cafe Nine Saturday, where the performer and his band — special for the occasion with a few surprises — will play his versions of tunes from such artists as Alice Cooper, Big Star, Miracle Legion, The Zombies, The Hot Bodies and The Ramones, all bands whose songs he covers on "Stars." With a roster of mostly unknown songs, "Stars" exhibits how artists can completely rework tunes, leaving them with a totally original take on something someone else wrote. Cooper’s "I’m 18" goes from a hard-rock tune to a slightly countrified, early R.E.M.-esque swirl, while Priggen easily improves The Ramones’ "Questioningly," giving it the life the legendary band just could not. "It’s fun to totally rearrange things," Priggen says. "The guys playing on them had mostly never heard (the originals), so making them different was not difficult. I just pretended I wrote them and then arranged them like I would." The record’s guest performers include Cheap Trick’s Bun E. Carlos, Falcone, and contributors to They Might Be Giants, Fountains of Wayne, Jay Farrar and Beat Rodeo. "Everyone who did it," says Priggen, "is a friend of mine." The early response to "Stars" has been interesting, but, Priggen says, exactly what he expected. "People have loved it or wondered why I would make a covers record second. But almost everything has been positive. "One said it was a weird career move. I laughed at it. It’s like, ‘What career? Who am I (really) alienating?’ I wanted to thank him for thinking I had a career."