‘OUR SONGS ARE MELANCHOLY’ : CANNIBALS--HEADHUNTERS WITH SOUL

By its own admission, the Fine Young Cannibals is a somber rock group.

“I can’t deny that our songs are melancholy,” said Cannibal singer-lyricist Roland Gift, whose band opened for UB40 at the Greek Theatre on Tuesday and will play Saturday at the Pacific Amphitheatre. “But it’s a wicked world. We just reflect what’s around us.”

Gift’s often plaintive lyrics and the British trio’s usually dark-hued tales of economic and romantic woes are far from the cheery approach that often translates into best-selling albums.

In England, however, the Cannibals have proven that you don’t have to be uncompromising party boys to have a hit. The London-based group’s enticingly reflective “Johnny Come Home” single--which deals with a guilt-ridden father reaching out to his son--was a Top 10 success last year in England, and the band hopes it can now find similar success in the United States.

If the trio (which includes ex-English Beat members David Steele on bass and Andy Cox on guitar) does break through here, much of the credit will undoubtedly go to Gift. His soulful vocals on such songs as the heartbreak ballad “Funny How Love Is” and the uncharacteristically lively (for these guys) remake of Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” give the music a unique quality. Gift already has been compared by some critics to soul great Otis Redding and reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff.

“I try to be a good singer,” Gift answered wearily, as if he had been confronted with the Redding-Cliff comparisons many times before. “That’s all I can do. I can’t try to emulate other people. I’ve never thought to myself that I’ve got to sound like so-and-so, because that’s silly--you just end up sounding stupid.

“I’m really the last person to appreciate my own voice. It’s so close to me that it’s not special to me at all.”

Despite the band’s morose musical textures, Gift believes his band does have a very saleable sound.

“We have quite a good situation,” he said confidently. “We’re a commercial band, but we’re also well respected. People don’t think that because we’re selling lots of records (in England) that we’re not any good.”

After the breakup of the English Beat in 1983, Cox and Steele began a lengthy search for a lead singer for their new group, even advertising on MTV for a front man. The pair spotted Gift singing in a musical revue on British TV.

“There wasn’t an audition,” he recalled. “I just took a tape with their music and lyrics on it . . . and worked with it. When we got together it was obvious we were onto a good thing.”

Gift’s lyrics tend to be melancholy partly because Cox and Steele use a lot of minor chords, which tend to create a more somber mood, Gift said.

“I always write what the music suggests,” added Gift, who said his lyrics come after the music. “It really depends on how many minor chords there are. The more minor chords, the sadder it’s going to be.”

Despite his teary-eyed lyrical musings, he readily acknowledges that his life has improved greatly since he joined Fine Young Cannibals (a name taken from the 1960 film, “All the Fine Young Cannibals”).

“(Now) I think life isn’t as bad, after all,” said Gift, who grew up in Birmingham, England. “But I’ve also been incredibly lucky. And that’s the thing to remember. With (a popular band) you live a very extreme life style. When you’re on tour, people in bands get driven everywhere and you’re quite closeted. You have to make sure you remember what real life is like.”