--------------- Defying Gravity --------------- by Diane Toroian St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 12, 1998, p. 4-5 Gravity Kills' keyboardist Douglas Firley is stretching. Guitarist Matt Dudenhoeffer is pacing. Drummer Kurt Kerns is drinking. And Lead singer Jeff Scheel is, of all things, flossing. In the past two years, the St. Louis industrial rock act has performed this pre-show ritual more than 300 times in 16 countries - at Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheater, opening for legendary punk act the Sex Pistols; At London's wee Splash Club; and now, for the third time, at Riverport Amphitheater. In 15 minutes, the band will introduce its' new material for 20,000 concert- goers at Pointfest 9, an all-day concert sponsored by modern rock station 105.7 FM, The Point. "This show is like any other", said Firley. "I still feel like I'm going to throw up." They have reason to be nervous. Gravity Kills' new recording, "Perversion," hit the stores three days ago, and a lot is riding on it's success - not just the band's reputation, but also the future of New York-basted TVT Records. "You feel the pressure. You know they are banking on us," Kerns says. The alternative band is the most successful one to spring from St. Louis ever. Purists may argue that Uncle Tupelo, the insurgent country act that split into Wilco and Son Volt, is St. Louis' greatest contribution to modern rock. The most influential, perhaps, but not the most popular. Uncle Tupelo's hottest release sold 70,000 albums; Gravity Kills' self-titled debut sold almost half a million. TVT is hoping "Perversion" will sell several times that number. Aggressive, but not abrasive, the album is dominated by thumping techno beats, heavy guitars and Scheel's menacing screams - the perfect soundtrack for either dancing or fighting, depending on your mood. The label touts the album as an indictment of "society's fascination with the perverse." Most listeners, however, will just hear vengeful threats and self- loathing. If the lyrics were autobiographical, the band would be put under a suicide watch. But they're not. Kerns, Scheel, Firley and Dudenhoeffer grew up in Jefferson City, "home of polyester, all-you-can-eat buffets and good roads," according to Kerns. Their moms and dads love them and see them in concert. On stage Firley, who likes big hats and black eyeliner, and Scheel, with his bleached blonde hair and metallic pants, are convincing rock stars. Dudenhoeffer and Kerns, less skilled at faking rage, seem a little out of place. But off stage all four are, well, actually sweet; nothing like the "monsters" they claim to be in their lyrics. "We're not coming from the depths of hell," Scheel once told Billboard magazine. "I'm not the happiest person in the world, but I'm not the most miserable either." Fans marvel at the band's overnight success, but Firley, Dudenhoeffer and Kerns started jamming together more than a decade ago in high school. Years later, they were playing cheesy new wave covers at the local Hilton under names like About Face and Lemonade Guru. They went to different colleges and landed in different cities, but would still hook up to trade licks. During one of those sessions, the trio composed "Guilty" a four- minute guitar rant with an irresistible chorus. What happened next is one of St. Louis' greatest Cinderella stories: Gravity Kills wanted to submit "Guilty" to "Pointessential Vol. 1," the first in a series of local music compilations put out buy 105.7 The Point, but they needed a singer. Kerns called his cousin, Scheel, who was living in Dallas. He caught a plane here and, just hours before the deadline, penned the lyrics and recorded the vocals. Not only did The Point pick "Guilty" to lead the album, it became the station's most requested song. Soon radio programmers and record label execs across the country were courting Gravity Kills - a band with no live experience, no other material and no reputation. Firley, the band's optimist, sensed that things were going to happen for Gravity Kills. Scheel, who had fronted other bands between stints as a bus driver and delivery man, told him not to be naive. "I had been down this road before, where everyone is telling you how great you are and that things are going to happen, and then nothing," said Scheel. "I wasn't even sure if I liked the song. My attitude was, 'Let's all keep our jobs.'" They did, although during their lunch hours they would scoot to Firley's studio to record new material. Meanwhile, Gravity Kills signed with TVT Records, a medium-sized label that got its start releasing compilations of TV theme songs. Before rushing the band's debut to stores in early 1996, the label placed "Guilty" on the soundtrack for the movie "Seven" (the song appears in the scene in which Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman enter an S&M shop) and a demo of "Blame" (actually, it was "Goodbye" - webmaster) on the "Mortal Kombat" soundtrack. "Picking a label is like deciding what college to go to and we basically went with a smaller, private school," said Kerns. "They (TVT) were the only label that didn't ask us how many more songs we had like 'Guilty'.'" Don't think TVT wasn't wondering. "TVT hadn't had a record like "Guilty" in a long time. Actually, we were in a real rut," said Gary Jay, TVT's director of national radio promotion. "We had radio stations we couldn't get on the phone for months calling us. We had this bell in the office and every time another station added the song to it's playlist, we would ring it. It was like a deli in here." The band started touring, first with obscure industrial acts and then with big names like No Doubt at radio festival shows like Pointfest. The band criss-crossed the country five times, recruiting fans gradually. According to TVT's research, Gravity Kills had struck a chord with suburban teen-agers who wanted to rebel, but not too much. "They're intrigued by industrial music, but alienated by it's extremes," said Nadine Gelinau, director of artistic development of TVT. Critics were harder to impress. Most considered the band a cheap imitation of Nine Inch Nails, the first industrial act to introduce techno beats and angry lyrics to mainstream radio audiences. Even Gravity Kills' champions call the band "Nine Inch Nails lite." Both acts mix driving beats with pop hooks and sinister vocals. Indeed, the chorus of "Falling" recalls the refrain of NIN's first hit, "Head Like a Hole." As one critic put it: "Gravity Kills is to Nine Inch Nails what Bush is to Nirvana: not totally unappealing, but too sanitized and derivative to be taken seriously." The band bristles at the comparison. "People have been writing this kind of music forever. Trent Reznor didn't invent it, he was just the first one to make money doing it," said Scheel. "We were probably influenced by the same ands that influenced him, but we aren't imitating anyone." On the new "Perversion," the band set out to prove it. "We didn't want to do the same album: "Here's 'Guilty, part 2,' 'Guilty part 3,'" said Dudenhoeffer. "You don't want to do something radically different and alienate your audience, but you want to do something that will make you happy." They opted for more: more guitars, more noise, more speed. "A lot of bands on their second record write about how tough the music business is or how hard they had it on the road," said Scheel. "We didn't want to do that. This isn't the 'poor me' record." What kind of album is it, then? "It's the 'poor you' record." Jason Consoli's job, as publicist for Gravity Kills, is to get that message across. Again, the band Bush serves as a metaphor. "The same year critics said Bush had the worst album of the year in Rolling Stone, readers said it was the year's best. It just shows contempt for the readers," said Consoli. "Critics are sometimes a real pompous bunch and they'll try to destroy you from the start, and when you do well anyway, they hate you even more." Still, Consoli thinks Gravity Kills will be an easier sell this time around. "A lot of people don't like the fact that this band achieved notoriety without having to pay their dues," said Consoli. "On the first record they were four guys who had just come together, but playing live every night has really turned them into a band and you can definitely hear it on this record. They've done their work and they deserve all the fame they get." "This is the biggest launch we've ever had," said TVT's Gelinau. "Everyone is looking to see if a little company can take a big record and make it fly." So far, so good. Three weeks ago, the album's first single, "Falling," nudged it's way onto 100 radio stations nationwide. "I think they're going to meet the high expectations everyone has put in them," said Jim Kerr, alternative editor for Radio and Records, an industry newspaper. "They (TVT) are probably a little nervous right now, but radio seems to agree this is a great album." While the staff at TVT prepares for the album to take off, the band tries to stay grounded. "The trick is not to get sucked into your own rock 'n' roll fantasy. It is the best job, the most rewarding on one extreme and on the other hand you don't want to measure your self-worth in record sales," said Scheel. "All around you, there are people trying to pry your feet off the ground. I want to say, 'I'm just a farm kid from Jefferson City' and people are like, 'No you're the evil, mean singer from Gravity Kills.'" Nowhere does the band feel that pressure more acutely than in St. Louis. It's easier to play in front of 20,000 people you don't know than being under the microscope by all the people who want to see you succeed and all the people who want to see you fail," said Kerns. If there were any critics at last month's Pointfest, their boos were drowned out by cheering supporters. Rearing his head and stamping his feet like a wild horse, Scheel danced on the Riverport stage while the band pounded the opening notes of "Blame." Looking something like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining," Scheel cackled, "Weee're baaack." [All copyrights are property of the owner. This article is reposted on this site because the owner requires payment for this article if you want to access it over the web. Bastards. All typos are original to the version posted (i.e. not caused by me). 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