Talk about difficult second album syndrome.
When it came time for Sandbox to follow up its 1995 debut,
Bionic, the Halifax quintet launched no less ambitious a
project than A Murder In The Glee Club -- a
quasi-"concept" album revolving around a murder mystery
and its aftermath
"You know yourself how many CDs get released every
friggin' day," says guitarist Mike Smith, quick to deflate any
notions of the band's artistic pretensions. "I just wanted to
do something to set the CD apart from the others coming
out as much as possible."
Actually, Murder -- a slice of likeable Can-pop, very much
in the Sloan/Odds vein -- is anything but a difficult listen. In
fact, Smith admits the mystery concept only developed after
the songs were written and sequenced and he noticed they
loosely fit together as a story.
"It was never intended to be this big, deep thing," he says.
"It was just something to make it a lot more interesting."
Sandbox -- at Barrymore's tonight with Calgary's
Zuckerbaby -- recently emancipated itself from its record
deal with EMI, and went independent because it felt the
label wasn't giving the new album the push it deserved.
Although "creative differences" sparked the split, Smith says
being with a major wasn't all bad for the band.
"To be able to make two records and tour for three years
for free, build up a name for ourselves, which is basically
what we did ... I don't think any band out there gets an
opportunity like that," he says.