Dummies frontman explains band’s ‘Hand’ in its latest set

Larry LeBlanc

Friday, April 30, 1999 | 9:46 a.m.

TORONTO -- The Crash Test Dummies once again chart a new sonic course with their latest release, the rhythmically and sexually charged album "Give Yourself A Hand."

Kicked off by a funky lowdown single, "Keep A Lid On Things," featuring lead singer Brad Roberts' celebrated baritone voice, the album was released worldwide March 23 by Arista Records.

The group performs today at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues.

Each of the Crash Test Dummies' albums have been markedly different and have had varying degrees of success. Their quirky 1991 debut, "Ghosts That Haunt Me," playfully skewered country and folk/rock genres and featured the hit single "Superman's Song."

The pop-based "God Shuffled His Feet," released in 1994, was propelled by its single "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" and sold 8 million records worldwide, according to the label. "A Worm's Life," released in 1996, turned to a guitar-laden sound and failed to ignite much interest with buyers.

"Give Yourself A Hand" has the benefit of being "both well-rounded and having the hit singles we need to impact the group globally," Lisa Zbitnew, president of BMG Music Canada, says.

"It's a really cool record," Adam Sexton, vice president of product management at Arista Records in New York, adds. "Brad has moved into a new musical direction and taken a sizable step forward in his songwriting. Also, Ellen Reid's three songs are great. Six months into this project, we're going to have an Ellen hit on our hands."

The Winnipeg, Manitoba, natives, who signed with BMG Canada in 1991, first made their mark in the U.S. with "Ghosts That Haunt Me," which reached No. 4 on Billboard's Heatseekers album chart. "Superman's Song" peaked at No. 56 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 199l. The album has sold 479,000 units in the U.S., according to SoundScan.

But it wasn't until "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" became a crossover U.S. hit -- peaking at No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart in March 1994 and No. 4 on the Hot 100 in April of that year -- that the act gained momentum in the U.S. According to SoundScan, "God Shuffled His Feet" sold 1.7 million units in the U.S., Zbitnew says.

Sales of the follow-up, "A Worm's Life," slipped to 128,000 units in the U.S., according to SoundScan, and reached platinum status in Canada.

Some observers note that significant changes have occurred in the market in the five years since the group's last hit.

"They haven't been around in ages," Frank Lucas, a buyer with the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco, says. "... The way alternative radio is nowadays, I don't know if there's room for them. When they first came out, alternative radio wasn't as hard as it is now. There's ska, punk, and swing on alternative radio these days. Alternative radio was where they broke. Now I don't know if they'll get played."

Arista is seeking to re-energize the act's core fans in the U.S. while also looking for a younger audience, possibly one that is unaware of the band's history.

Earlier this year, Roberts embarked on a 12-market American radio promotion swing to such key Dummies fan spots as Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Los Angeles.

Roberts says the album's funky, layered approach was far from his mind when he began writing and working on demos while living in England. In all, he scrapped 25 songs that he says were written before he found the album's course.

Roberts came to collaborate with Los Angeles-based producer Greg Wells, a Canadian originally from Peterborough, Ontario, who had played keyboards with Kim Mitchell and k.d. lang before relocating to Los Angeles a decade ago.

The two met at Miles Copeland's 1996 songwriting retreat at Chateau de Maroutte in the south of France. Although none of their collaborations from that period landed on the Dummies' set, Roberts was so impressed with Wells that he asked him to produce it.

Roberts, meanwhile, decided to move from England to New York's Harlem. "New York really rubbed off on me," Roberts says. "One morning I wrote (the album cut) 'I Love Your Goo' at the subway stop in my head, with falsetto parts in it and all. After I wrote that song, it was clear to me I had a direction I could go in. I decided to start from scratch and disregard the first 25 songs."

The album's lyrics were primarily written in New York, and the music was done in two spurts in Wells' demo studio in Los Angeles. Roberts would sing the lyrics, and Wells would play guitar, drums, piano, or bass. The Dummies -- Reid, Mitch Dorge (drums), Ben Darvill (harp, mandolin), and Dan Roberts (bass) -- joined in at the One to One studio in Los Angeles to flesh out the album.

There's ska, punk, and swing on alternative radio these days. Alternative radio was where they broke. Now I don't know if they'll get played."Frank LucasA BUYER WITH VIRGIN MEGASTORE