Spin Doctors Look to Heal Themselves

New York’s Spin Doctors were on a roll. Their 1992 debut album, “Pocket Full of Kryptonite,” sold 7 million copies and spun off a couple of hit singles, both of which are still staples of rock radio.

At the same time, the band’s exuberant retro approach helped open the door for the commercial success of a whole new crop of bands who gave a fresh spin to old rock with enthusiastic jamming, among them Blues Traveler, the Dave Matthews Band and Phish.

But the Spin Doctors’ second album, “Turn It Upside Down,” in 1994 may have been prophetically titled. It stumbled commercially, reaching only No. 28, as opposed to the No. 2 peak of the first album. None of its singles hit the Top 40.

And then, in the middle of a tour, on the eve of a series of South American stadium dates opening for the Rolling Stones, the band’s guitarist quit.

“It was frightening at the time,” the band’s charismatic lead singer, Chris Barron, says by phone from Manhattan. “It was a really big wake-up call, it led to a lot of soul searching and made me grow up a bit and not take things for granted. It was an incredible lesson.”

And a difficult one.

Barron, looking back on “Turn It Upside Down,” called it “a painful album for me. It has a lot of painful personal references to me. It’s hard for me to be objective about it as a work of art.”

Under pressure to deliver another hit, the band scrapped one whole set of tapes and came up with another, full of old songs and ideas. “We weren’t communicating. There wasn’t a dialogue going on,” says Barron, 28.

And that lack of communication led to the sudden departure of guitarist Eric Schenkman before their biggest series of shows.

“We were halfway through an American tour, and had a European tour and a Rolling Stones tour to do,” Barron says. “We didn’t miss a single gig. But believe me, it wasn’t easy.”

Kenny Withrow of Edie Brickell’s New Bohemians played a single gig. Alex Skolnik of Testament came in to do an audition. “The two guys were superb, but the style thing wasn’t at all compatible.”

Then their former talent scout suggested Anthony Krizan, a New Jersey guitarist who had played with David Johansen and Bryan Adams. Krizan’s gig at the time was playing the guitar part in a trio headed by Noel Redding, formerly of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

“After filling in for Jimi Hendrix, it was easier for him to fill in for Eric, who had been an amazing guitar player,” Barron says. “And he was totally in the same vein we were in. He’s got his own thing, but he’s from the same school.”

The result is an album Barron is very enthusiastic about--the new “You’ve Got to Believe in Something.”

Barron sees this album as a test of whether the Spin Doctors have commercial durability at a time many bands do not.

“We’re on the cusp of people deciding whether they want disposable rock ‘n’ roll or if they want to cultivate careers of people they like,” he says. “If you discard band after band, it’s hard to come up with bands that are really good. Especially if all you want to listen to is a new band.”

For the new album, Barron shaved his beard and cut his hair as it hadn’t been cut since publicity photos were taken for the first album. It was in part a reaction to critics, who may have prejudged the band by how it looks.

“I guess I was wondering if people would still call me a hippie if I cut my hair off, you know,” he says. “I never knew where the hippie thing people kept saying came from. And I felt it was from fashion. Also, I really had to do a lot of soul searching to find myself in the process of doing a record. It starts with checking out my face.”