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Photograph: Stew Milne
dipping Daisy members Mitch Marine,Wes Berggren, Phil Karnats, Tim DeLaughter and Mark Pirro perform at Marooned Records in Northgate.
Tripping Along
Vocalist discusses new album, importance of honesty in music
By April Towery
The Battalion
T hose life-altering teen-age experiences —
being rejected by a friend, losing lunch
money on the bus, being the last one
picked for the softball game — can often turn out
to be blessings in disguise. And Tripping Daisy
vocalist Tim DeLaughter is living proof.
DeLaughter began his musical career as a
drummer. At three years old, he was beating on
black and white ice cream buckets. As he got old
er,hebegan playing seriously. One day, he walked
up to the garage where his band practiced and
heard the members rehearsing with another
drummer. DeLaughter was kicked out of the band,
but his friends suggested he try singing.
“Itcmshed me,” he said. “I became a singer on
my(Mmct drum playing, and I fell in love with it.”
Since that day, many others have fallen in love
wtfiDeLaughter’s voice.
Chris Myers, a student at Stephen F. Austin
University, attended his 10th Tripping Daisy
show Friday night at Bryan’s Dixie Theatre. My-
erssaid the last time he saw the band perform at
Bullwinkle’s in Nacogdoches, the atmosphere of
the club changed.
“Nothing else mattered — it was just total
happiness,” he said. “Even the frat boys chilled
out. The shows are real relaxed and goofy, but
there’s also a serious side. It’s high energy.”
The road to a record label was not easy, but
DeLaughter said he learned important lessons
along the way.
"We embraced the opportunity to play when-
everwe could,” he said. “Perseverance and hon
esty gets you anywhere.”
DeLaughter, who has been known to wear a
wig and a bathrobe onstage, said the band places
emphasis on the live performance.
“It’s always a lot more interesting to visual
ly pick things up,” he said. “To cross-reference
the two — audio and visual — helps people to
get stimulated.”
Junior microbiology major Josh Munson has
seen Tripping Daisy perform four times and
said DeLaughter makes each show an experi
ence to remember.
“I like the way he involves the audience and
gets everyone enthused,” Munson said.
Although band members enjoy involving the
audience in the show, the moshing has gotten
out of hand, DeLaughter said.
“I did it when I saw Red Hot Chili Peppers
at the Bronco Bowl a long time ago,” he said.
“My friend and I snuck down there and got
onstage and jumped off. But it was different
back then. Now we’ll be playing a show, and
look out and there’s bloody heads and girls
falling down.”
The band has made some changes with the
release of Time Capsule, a five-song extended
play album, this month. The most drastic change
was picking up guitarist Phil Karnats, whom De
Laughter said has proved to be a worthwhile ad
dition to the band.
“It’s awesome — I love writing with him,” De
Laughter said. “It allows Wes (Berggren, another
band member) to be able to play piano, and he’s
a lot more fluid on piano than on guitar.”
Time Capsule is a collection of unreleased
tracks with the sound Tripping Daisy original
ly exuded.
“It’s for the people who have been with us
since day one,” DeLaughter said, “Not the
people who picked us up after T Got A Girl’
came out.”
DeLaughter said the name Tripping Daisy has
no literal meaning.
“It never meant anything until now,” he said.
He compared naming a band to naming a baby.
“At the beginning, it’s just a name. It has to
grow into its name and become worthy of it. Oth
er people could tell you more than I could what
it means to them.”
The band, which originated in Dallas,
toured last summer with Def Leppard, a band
that DeLaughter had been a fan of for years.
Although the tour was one of his greatest ex
periences, DeLaughter said, he doesn’t have a
band he dreams of performing with.
“It’s almost better to be a fan and watch,” he
said. “It takes away the innocence to see how one
of your favorite bands acts offstage.”
Shelton Kelsey, a fan from Lufkin, said he
saw Tripping Daisy perform with Def Lep
pard. He said he sees DeLaughter as a real
person, not someone who has let his fame go
to his head.
“He’s not just up there putting on a show,”
Kelsey said. “He’s always been friendly.”
DeLaughter said music can be “kinda political,”
but his band is trying to steer clear of that image.
“I’d like for fans to realize the honesty and the
genuineness of this band and not take it for
granted,” he said. “It’s about inner feelings and
being sparked by emotion.”
Performing in Bryan-College Station is special to
the members of Tripping Daisy, DeLaughter said.
“Fans we’ve made here have come back here
to see us after they’ve moved away,” he said.
“There’s something kinda spiritual about it, and
definitely the people have made it that way.”
DeLaughter said he had a few words of advice
to fans and friends in Aggieland.
“Take care of each other, and whenever you
feel like being a jerk, don’t,” he said.
HOWDY, AGGIES!
Get Away for A Taste of Summer!
ART IN THE
“REAL WORLD”
A Road Trip to Houston
Thursday, June 26. Leave campus at 1 pm.
Return to campus by 10pm.
Free transportation and museum admission for
A&M students. $20 for non-students. Please
make checks payable to “MSC Visual Arts
Committee.”
On exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science:
SILVER GALLEONS
Mexico: The Heart of the Hispanic-Oceanic World
Weil have dinner at one of Houston’s many fine restaurants.
Bring money for dinner! (Weil keep it around $10 ea.)
Sign up by 5pm Tuesday, June 24 at the MSC Forsyth
Center Galleries (across from the Aggieland Post
Office).
For more information please call 845-9251.
Memorial Student Center
Visual Arts Committee
http .7/wwwmsc. tamu.edu
http://vac.tamu.edu
If you have special needs please call in advance at (409) 845-9251
improvisational comedy
Auditions!
Make us laugh.
Make us cry.
Join the fold.
Tuesday, June 24
8 p.m. @ Rumours Deli
behind the MSC (don’t step on the grass)
Questions call Kyle Lawrence (847-6830).
PROFITABLE NUMBER! 845-0569
The Battalion Classified Advertising
Hot, new music
blazes to B-CS
By Keith McPhail
The Battalion
M usic is hot this summer
with blazing new albums
and blistering tours.
Recently-released albums
from Wu-Tang Clan, George Strait
and Bon Jovi, and much-awaited
releases from Blues Traveler, Ra
diohead, Primus, 311, Prodigy,
Motley Crue, BoneThugs-N-Har-
mony, Wyclef Jean featur
ing Refugee Camp All
Stars, Coolio, Busta
Rhymes, Salt-N-
Pepa, Dwight
Yoakam and Mari-
ah Carey could
keep Aggieland
groovin’
all summer.
Teresa Ma
son, an em
ployee of Ma
rooned Records
and a junior psy
chology major, said
she expects to see an
explosion in the pop
ularity of ska music this
summer as the Mighty
Mighty Bosstones have laid
the groundwork for many other
talented artists.
“Ska would be good for every
one because it is so upbeat and
happy,” Mason said. “Every time
we play (Reel Big Fish), some
body buys it.”
Mason is also expecting big
things from punk band Blink 182,
which is on the H.O.R.D.E. tour
this summer.
Henry Martinez, a music asso
ciate at Hastings and senior in
dustrial distribution major, said
big sellers to date include The
Batman Soundtrack, Spice Girls,
Wu-Tang Clan and Puff Daddy
with Faith Evans.
^ ^ Ska would be
good for everyone
because it is so upbeat
and happy.”
Teresa Mason
Junior psychology major
“We can’t keep Puff Daddy in
the store,” Martinez said.
He further said Pink Floyd’s The
Dark Side of the Moon, has surged
in popularity after someone dis
covered the parallels between the
album and the movie The Wizard
of Oz, which people are watching
while listening to the album. He
also expects renewed interest in
country music, as many artists are
going for a retro sound, a stark
contrast to the popular sounds of
the late '80s and early ’90s.
Other summer releases of in
terest to music fans include En
Vogue, Sarah McLachlan, The
Pharcyde, Comrads (with Mack
Graphic: Chad Mallam
10, Ice Cube and Westside Con
nection), Teenage Fanclub, The
Geraldine Fibbers, The Mr. T Ex
perience, GBH, Lords of Acid, Sis
ter Machine Gun, Morrissey,
Bjork, UB40 and Ziggy Marley.
Although no one is threaten
ing to host any major festivals in
College Station this summer, a
number of great shows are a short
road trip away. Notable festivals
are coming through the Lone Star
State this summer. Lollapalooza,
featuring Tool, Snoop Dogg and
Prodigy will be Aug. 2 in Dallas
Aug. 2 and in Corpus Christi Aug.
3; Smokin’ Grooves, hip-hop’s an
swer to Lollapalooza, featuring
George Clinton, Cypress Hill and
ErykahBadu July 18 in The Wood
lands and July 18 in Dallas; and
Lillith Fair, the all-female tour in
cluding Sarah McLachlan, Jewel,
Indigo Girls, the Cardigans and
Tracy Chapman Aug. 3 in The
Woodlands and Aug. 4 in Dallas.
Other tours of interest include
Phish July 25 in Dallas and July
26 in Austin, Helmet and the
Melvins in late July and Suicidal
Tendencies, who are doing the
mosh across Texas until June 28
supporting their recently re
leased greatest hits album,
Prime Cuts.
The summer of ’97 promises
to be memorable for music fans.
With a number of fresh CDs 0 and
nearby concerts, students
should be busy enjoying the
sounds of summer.
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