Chicago Sun Times
June 25, 2000
"Sunny Day shines
brightly: Group keeps bright outlook"
By Kevin M. Williams (staff reporter)
Sometimes where a band is matters less than where its been.
This is quite true
of SDRE, on the road for what many would consider a
rather unlikely tour behind an even more unlikely new recording, "The
Rising
Tide."
In a scant eight years,
SDRE have gone through a breakup, with two members
leaving to join the Foo Fighters, frontman Jeremy Enigk finding religion,
a
reunion that seems to have stuck and the death of their "genre,"
emocore.
"We've definitely
been together longer this time than we were the first
time," says guitarist-singer Dan Hoerner. "When you go through shifts
and
suffer and struggle to do something, you're stronger than you've ever been."
And unlike most bands
who are trying to sign with a major label, Sunny Day
battled to get away from Sub Pop Records. A recent live recording, "a
way to
milk more money from our fans," said Hoerner, completed their Sub Pop
era.
"Tide" on
Time Bomb recordings is their most polished, confident effort, a
logical big brother to 1994's "Diary." Delicate instrumental fillagrees
couple with Enigks sweet soprano to contrast with hard hitting distorted
bombast. Together, they make for an alluring recording.
"Diary" was
dynamics and bash, a product of the Seattle scene. "Tide" is
unafraid of silence, beauty and that evil word for a rock band, emotion.
Emocore might be over,
but SDRE is still dealing with the heart.
"Television" is an unabashed love song, while in "Faces in
Disguise," they
"long to take you to a secret place/Where we could lay aside our past."
"We definitely
took a lot of time with this one," Hoerner said. "We just
tried to learn how it feels, just kind of trying to figure out how to be
again.
"We just wanted
to make the best record that we could make. But it's not
perfect, and I know that we want to make a better record next time."
The lucky thing for
Sunny Day is their devoted, almost rabid fan base. They
almost became more famous after their breakup, with fans clamoring for more
on message boards rife with rumors of rarities and B-sides.
Their following helps
to keep Sunny Day in a decidedly non-music freindly
rock climate. There's an almost blind acceptance that builds confidence.
"You can't worry
about what other people are going to say,' Hoerner said.
"Or the fact that other people are being duped into buying this horrible
shit. I can't tell you how much those boy bands make me want to commit
homicide, and those plastic blond girl singers are just horrible."
And the future of Sunny Day? Is there an end in sight?
"That's one of
those things where it's kind of like . . . you're gonna die,"
Hoerner said. "We've gone through some crap in the past, and wanting
to do
the band and persisting.
"We're definitely
a lot stronger than we've ever been. I guess as long as
it's interesting, we'll keep going."