Curve: Riding the Crest of the ‘Dream Pop’ Wave

In contrast to the relatively stable American music charts, Britain is known for embracing a new pop sensation every six weeks--generally some unknown band of teen-agers riding the crest of a fashionable new sound.

Curve doesn’t quite fit that profile.

Yes, it is at the forefront of just such a trend--the airy, guitar-heavy sound known as “dream pop” that also includes such hot acts as Ride, My Bloody Valentine and Lush.

But Curve’s two members, bassist Dean Garcia and singer Toni Halliday, are 10 years older--and, they say, 10 years wiser--than the average new British chart sensation.

Curve--which headlines the Variety tonight--isn’t the first time Garcia or Halliday has appeared professionally. In fact, it’s not even the first time they have worked together.

Halliday acknowledges their unique status.

“In England, they tend to like bands with no past and no future,” she quips. “And we have both.”

Even so, the British pop press has embraced Curve, calling such songs as “Horror Head” and “Die Like a Dog” a form of “supersonic sex-powered pop.”

Curve has even been dubbed the new Eurythmics.

“Ha,” Halliday snaps. “ ‘Eurythmics From Hell’ is more like it.”

Actually, Garcia adds, there is a link with the earlier duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, whose recordings he contributed to as a studio musician.

“Dave is a great friend,” he says. “And there is a similarity in the way our bands work. They recorded their first record, ‘Sweet Dreams,’ on an eight-track in their home, which is similar to how we record our records.”

Those “home” recordings include “Doppelganger,” Curve’s just-released U.S. debut album, plus two earlier EPs, “Frozen” and “Cherry.” Recorded for the most part in Halliday’s basement, the EPs cost about $2,500 each to make.

That’s considerably less than the almost $500,000 given Garcia and Halliday by Virgin Records to make their first album back in 1985 when they were with a band known as State of Play.

“We were spoiled, but we learned what to avoid--spending years in the studio being totally unfocused . . . thinking you’re getting away with something,” Garcia says.

Upon that album’s disappointing release, State of Play fell apart amid acrimony, with Halliday and Garcia suing each other for financial damages. Four years later, however, the duo made up.

Garcia and his wife stayed at Halliday’s apartment with her boyfriend, Alan Moulding, producer for such bands as Ride and My Bloody Valentine, where there happened to be an unused, 16-track console conveniently located in the basement.

“Dean’s eyes just lit up when he saw it,” Halliday says. “Every day he’d be tinkering in the basement and I’d hear these melodies floating up through the kitchen floor and I’d be so excited I’d rush down to add vocals.”

Neil’s New Crew: Vince Neil, fired from Motley Crue in February, has put together a new band featuring guitarist Steve Stevens, the former Billy Idol sidekick. Neil has also signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records, though there’s no word yet on when his debut solo album will be recorded.

When Neil parted ways with the Crue it had been expected that he would stay with Elektra, the hard-rock band’s label for a decade, where it sold more than 20 million albums in the United States. The band had signed a new deal with Elektra--reportedly for $35 million--in September.

Neil plans to make a special appearance Monday as part of the weekly Pro-Jam night at the Spice club in Hollywood, though it’s uncertain whether Stevens will be on hand for the jam session. Meanwhile, John Corabi, singer for the Hollywood-based band the Scream, has been rehearsing with the Crue, but no official announcement has been made yet about him joining the group as Neil’s replacement.