tommy lee, u.s. politics

TOMMY LEE AND U.S. POLITICS UPSET USHER

Author: Sarah Rowland
Source: Vancouver Straight
URL: www.straight.com
Date: August 25, 2005

Two things you can be sure of when it comes to David Usher: he's never going to get rid of that bob, and he's never going to pump out an album that's drastically different from his previous work. Boasting smooth, effeminate vocals and Zen-like melodies, his latest LP, If God Had Curves, is no exception to these contentions. But as banal as he is musically, lyrically the soft-spoken Canada AM regular is raging. So don't be fooled by the title of his current hit, Love Will Save the Day. The former Moist frontman is quick to point out that the first single off his fourth studio effort was never meant to come across as hopelessly optimistic.

"If you have an open mind to different styles of music, a song can be produced a million different ways," says Usher, calling from a park outside his New York apartment. "And with Love Will Save the Day, the production totally changed the mood and made it a bit happier than what I had originally intended."

His original goal, it turns out, was to go all political on our asses by addressing the hypocrisy of the religious right in America. Most of the verses, for example, are based on Frank Rich's 2004 New York Times article "It Was the Porn That Made Them Do It" and the samples are borrowed from Gloria Steinem's 1971 speech "Address to the Women of America".

"I'm just blown away by how politicians can sit up there and pretend to be these pure beings," Usher says. "I mean, there is no such thing as pure beings anymore. We all do drugs, we all have sex, and we all fuck up. I don't know-who do they think they're fooling?"

Sexually repressed warmongers south of the border aren't the only people Usher chooses to quietly vent about during our brief phone interview.

"I find things like Dave Navarro on Rock Star and Tommy Lee going back to college so nauseating," he says. "The public persona has become such a disgusting thing that everyone has to be bigger, louder, and uglier. That's why with my own public persona, I just try to be as relaxed as possible."

So don't expect to hear any Navarro guitar solos or any Lee beats on If God Had Curves. But do expect to hear Canadian folk legends young and old popping up throughout, including Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara, who provides sweet harmonies on the playful head-bopper Hey Kids. Also featured on the album is Bruce Cockburn, who lent some acoustics to the mellow coffeehouse number Long Goodbye.

"I've always been a huge fan of Bruce, and I had never actually met him before I called and invited him to play on the album," says Usher, who plays the Commodore on Friday (August 26). "I did stand in line behind him at Starbucks once, but I didn't actually say hello. I was too embarrassed. I was like, 'Oh I can't - that would just be too ridiculous.' So when I actually realized that I had Bruce Cockburn coming to the studio, there was definitely an intimidation factor that I had to get over. But it was worth it."

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