Kelli Dayton
There's no pigeonholing
By John Berger
this British trio
Special to the Star-BulletinThere's very little about Sneaker Pimps that fits neatly into conventional pigeonholes:
The group is from England, but sneakers are "trainers" there. Trainer Pimps? (The original "sneaker pimp" was employed by the Beastie Boys to obtain hard-to-find shoes for the white rap-lite comedians).
"It's actually harder work, but it would be boring to just replicate the album exactly," Corner explained on the phone in his Melbourne hotel room.
Liam Howe
"The live thing is a bit more aggressive and spikier and messier (and) that was an intentional thing to do just to keep us interested. You do get die-hard fans who say, "That was different from the album (and) I'm not very happy about that," but it's nice to have a different experience live, and I think in general the people who listen to our music are quite open-minded."Honolulu meets the Sneaker Pimps tomorrow night at Nimitz Hall. A squad of dance-club disc jockeys -- 4-est, G-Spot, Gary-O, KSM, Mario, Mase, Mike F., Space Cowboy, Spex and Tricky Trevor -- will provide "2 rooms of DJ sounds" as part of the festivities.
Open minds come naturally to Corner and Howe. They grew up outside Manchester and shared an interest in artists as dissimilar as Shirley Bassey and Kraftwerke. They started producing dance music in 1992 and made some "really obscure songs and records." Then they found Dayton singing in a bar.
Chris Corner
Dayton has an arresting vocal presence that can be almost simultaneously sensual and childlike, seductive and eerie, steeped in sexual attitude and yet not blatant. An ambiguous and vaguely ominous ballad titled "6 Underground," topped the English pop charts and earned Sneaker Pimps an American record deal. They've been touring off and on since March and continuing to evolve musically."The first album was basically written by Liam and I and a guy called Ian Pickering. Kelli wasn't really involved with it because it was all before she came. Now we have Kelli and a bassist and a drummer -- it's more like a band really and there's a lot more of a collaborative effort.
"I think there's been a quite natural progression into that. Even the way that Liam and I think about production is going to change through doing the live thing and performing on stage."
The eclectic Pimps are moving on. The mix-and-match approach to songwriting, blends of live and electronic instruments, the "new" sound of drum n' bass, squalling guitar and trip-hop rhythm -- all these things interest them. Corner says writing is the highest priority.
"If you can't write a decent song you really shouldn't be doing music. That's a bit extreme but I think that's where the importance lies. There and production."
"The way we interpret things like youth culture and death and sex is all relevant to our own experiences. In the first album there are a lot of references to personal relationships and people that we know -- not pointing the finger at anyone specific but at that type of person (like) a girl who designs problems and thinks it's cool to be so f---- up. The point is that inspiration comes from all over and the sources of it are always changing."
Sneaker Pimps in concert
John Berger has covered Hawaii's entertainment scene since 1976.
