Monkeying Around

02/01/2002 8:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
David John Farinella

Those in the Cracker inner circle might want to keep an eye on David Lowery. The singer and compatriot Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse are treading the slippery slope of mental health, considering their recent fascination with monkeys. "Mark and I had been talking about how we were always fascinated with records [by artists like] Syd Barrett, Daniel Johnston, and all these sort of people that are nuts who make these records," Lowery explains.

"We said, 'How would you fake doing a record like that?' One of the things we decided was that you'd have to start two or three records in advance, like just start off slowly doing things that would make people think you were insane. What we'd come up with is that if you start two or three records in advance talking about monkeys more often for no apparent reason, then eventually you can do this solo record where you've gone completely crazy."

Alert the ward: Lowery and Linkous are on their way.

Before Lowery begins to enjoy the padded rooms and medication, though, there's this matter of Cracker's latest, Forever. Lowery believes this might be the band's best. "It's hard for me to say, I'll know in like, three or four years," he says. "I know it's definitely one of the good ones, but we'll see." The band has been getting extensive attention in Europe, which has caused them to label Forever the "Euro-Cracker record." "A lot of people have said it sounds more English or something," he reports. "It's actually not English, it's more the kind of rock that French, Swedish, and Dutch bands play."

No matter where it's well received, Forever places the spotlight on Cracker's penchant for diverse alt-rock music and quirky lyrics. The songs "Brides Of Neptune," "Guarded By Monkeys," and "Ain't That Strange" are prime examples, even as the band pushed its sonic talents on the funky "What You're Missing."

In part, "What You're Missing" takes on Uncle Kracker, who had wanted to go by the Kracker moniker. Lowery explains the song with a bit of a laugh: "One of the interns at our studio said, 'Oh, man, cool, Cracker does a comeback song.'" The singer responded, "'Comeback song, that's a little harsh.' After awhile he was like, 'No, man, you know what a comeback song is--you're talking about Uncle Kracker and stuff.'" Though Lowery wasn't down with the lingo, he adds the band was actually aiming for a sound akin to the band War and a singing vibe like **Sly & the Family Stone**'s "Dance To The Music."

"But in the context of today, it came out as a rock/hip-hop hybrid, which is really funny for us," Lowery says. "We understand how funny that is--it's like the credits to the record. That's a deeply divisive song among our fans. People that are into us are into the fact that we are old-school and that we don't do any stuff like that; other people think that's like totally cool."