A Relationship Started at the Drive-In Is Kindled Again at New Universal Label

At the Drive-In broke up last year just as the edgy band was ascending the rock ladder. Then the record label and management team it had been working with, Gary Gersh and John Silva, split up in late 2001.

But it’s a cozy affair again: the Mars Volta, a new band featuring ATDI singer Cedric Bixler and guitarist Omar Rodriguez, is managed by Silva and has become the first signing to a new record label headed by Gersh.

“It’s just great because it’s all still in the family,” says Gersh, whose yet-unnamed label is being funded and distributed by Universal Records. “I couldn’t think of a better way to start the new label.... Omar and Cedric are two people I believe in immensely, and I believe they have the potential to do something that not only will a lot of kids want to hear, but will be important and stand the test of time.”

Gersh and Silva have been closely associated since the former signed Nirvana at Geffen Records in 1991 and the latter came on as the band’s manager. Later, Gersh was president of Capitol Records, with a roster including Silva clients the Beastie Boys and Foo Fighters. In the late ‘90s, they teamed to form their G.A.S. management and record label firm.

The label’s first signing was ATDI, with the album eventually released after G.A.S. merged with the Beasties’ Grand Royal label, which in turn made a distribution deal with Virgin Records. The partnership ended when Gersh wanted to get back into the major-label world.

A lot of credit is being given to Universal Music Group Chairman Doug Morris and Universal Records President Monte Lipman for making the Mars Volta deal with Gersh’s label happen. Several other labels had been in the bidding, with Warner Bros. Records apparently the main rival.

Morris, though, stepped in and sweetened the deal, including funding for Rodriguez’s independent GSL Records.

The new band, showing influences ranging from Bob Marley to King Crimson, will begin work on an album in the spring.

Gersh says that the signing is the perfect tone-setter for the label as he begins to hire staff.

“The opportunity that has been presented for us is incredible,” he says. “Doug and Monte would really like to have a young, stealth kind of A&R; staff that finds great artists and focuses on the record-making process, and then it’s our job to run them through the Universal system.”

NEW ASYLUM: As the leader of Minneapolis alt-rock quartet Soul Asylum, Dave Pirner emerged from the ‘80s indie scene to become a breakthrough mainstream success in the early ‘90s. Now he’s returning to the indie world--this time as a solo artist. His first album will be released in June by Los Angeles-based Ultimatum Music.

“It feels really good to be outside all that whatever it is going on in the music industry,” say Pirner, 37. “It’s really good to be back in the world of people who are music fans. It has a coming-home feeling.”

The album was recorded during the past three years in New Orleans, where Pirner has lived since the mid-’90s.

“It came together slowly,” he says. “I wanted to do everything myself and pay for everything myself, and after having made those big-budget records, I wanted to come to grips with making a record that was up to my standards. But we worked very hard to make it in an organic and homespun way.”

The sound of the music, he says, is distinct from his group work, reflecting some of the styles of his adopted home.

“The thing that makes it different than what I do with Soul Asylum is it doesn’t rely on the loud, loud, loud guitars, but kind of explores the ‘R’ in R&B;, I guess,” he says.

Meanwhile, Pirner and Soul Asylum are still a going concern. The band, which hasn’t made an album since 1998’s “Candy From a Stranger,” recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a Minneapolis club show, is playing occasional concerts, working on new songs and will soon be looking for a new record deal.

FREE AGENT: Joe Henry’s ambitious “Scar” was among the best-reviewed albums of 2001. But now, for the first time in a decade, he’s without a record contract.

It’s his choice. The L.A. singer-songwriter terminated his deal with Walt Disney Co.-owned Mammoth Records and is taking time to assess his options, ranging from major-label interest to self-release avenues.

“With a lot of music, 50,000 people can hear it and it should still make money,” he says. “My friend T Bone Burnett says that if a new band comes out and sells 75,000 records, everyone should be celebrating.”

Instead, as escalating costs make many million-selling albums unprofitable, the industry has increasingly focused on the search for mega-hits, squeezing out moderate-selling acts.

Henry points to the experiences of other friends as developments that point the way for him, including Tom Waits’ deal with L.A. punk label Epitaph Records, and the Aimee Mann-Michael Penn independent release venture United Musicians.

While waiting to sort out his situation, Henry’s been working on a movie score and has just produced an album by R&B; great Solomon Burke, which will be released by the Fat Possum label. The album features Burke with a small combo, and songs written for the project by Van Morrison and Elvis Costello, plus previously unrecorded songs by Waits, Bob Dylan and Brian Wilson.

SMALL FACES: Chuck D., who did the theme song for the Fox TV series “Dark Angel,” is serving as executive producer for a soundtrack album from the show. Featured will be an extended version of the theme--teaming him with MC Lyte--and new tracks from John Forte featuring Tricky, MC Lyte, Samantha Cole and Niki Harris, plus previously released songs by Foxy Brown, Q-Tip and Mystic. It’s due in late April or early May from D.’s SlamJamz label via Artemis Records....

English electronica label Ministry of Sound is close to a U.S. distribution deal with MCA Records. It may include recordings by Fischerspooner, a New York act generating a buzz for its retro electro-pop music and its elaborately staged, hedonistic performances....

Frank Black has done a version of Waits’ “The Black Rider” for his next album, “Black Letter Days.” Recorded live in the studio to two-track tape with his band the Catholics, the album is due from the What Are Records label in late summer.... The Pet Shop Boys have signed with U.S. independent label Sanctuary Records, with a new album, “Release,” due April 23 and a tour to follow....

After six albums on Virgin Records, English singer Julia Fordham is on her second label in less than a year. Atlantic’s Division One folded late last year shortly before the scheduled release of her “Concrete Love” album. She’s now signed with Vanguard, which will release the soul-laced album, produced by Larry Klein, on June 18. India.Arie contributes a vocal to the collection.

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Steve Hochman is a regular contributor to Calendar.