Friday, July 8, 2005 | 5:01 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
July 9-10, 2005
Who: Hootie & The Blowfish.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Silverton's Hideaway Theater.
Tickets: $50.
Information: 914-9557.
Pop quiz time: Which band holds the record for the top-selling debut album of all-time in the United States?
Must be the Beatles, right? Or maybe Boston? How about Guns 'N Roses? Or Alanis Morissette?
Wrong on all counts. Hootie & The Blowfish's "Cracked Rear View" actually holds that distinction, having sold more than 16 million copies in this country since its 1994 release.
That disc topped the Billboard 200 album chart for eight weeks and yielded four top 10 singles: "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry," "Only Wanna Be With You" and "Time."
It also left the four members of the band -- frontman Darius Rucker, guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld -- with an awfully tough act to follow.
Hootie's next two albums reached Nos. 1 and 4, respectively, but by the time an eponymous fourth studio release hit stores in 2003, the public's fondness for the quartet's rootsy brand of American rock had cooled, with that CD barely nipping the top 50.
The South Carolina-based outfit remains a popular live draw, however, with a loyal base of fans. Hootie & The Blowfish brings its tour to the Silverton's Hideaway Theater to Las Vegas for an 8 p.m. show Saturday.
The band will also be back in Southern Nevada on New Year's Eve for another concert at the same venue.
Hootie & The Blowfish recently split with longtime label Atlantic Records, and are preparing to release their first album for their own Sneaky Long Records imprint, titled "Looking For Lucky," on Aug. 9.
The disc, which reunited the band with "Cracked Rear View" producer Don Gehman, will be distributed by Vanguard Records.
On Wednesday, the 39-year-old Rucker took time for a phone interview with the Las Vegas Sun from his South Carolina home.
Las Vegas Sun: So has it been much different not being on one of the so-called major record labels thus far?
Darius Rucker: It's been positive, very positive. The sad thing about (majors) is once you get on one, you have a hit with something and that's what they're always listening for.
Sun: Sounds like the band was eager to break free from Atlantic ...
DR: (Laughs) I don't know how much of that we can really talk about. I think it was a mutual thing. We were ready to go, and I'm pretty sure they might have been ready to get rid of us.
It was a nice run with Atlantic. And more power to them.
Sun: Even though you have your own label, it sounds like Vanguard will be pretty involved with the band as its distributor.
DR: Vanguard is a great label, because they're really excited, and they're really busting their butts and doing as much as they can for us. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.
Vanguard has a lot of artists, but we really seem important to them, and it's great to feel important to your label again.
Sun: How much do you guys think about potential airplay when you write and record these days?
DR: I think that might be one of our big problems ... we never really sit around and think about airplay.
I'm sure Don Gehman probably is when he's making it, and our management and the record company are thinking that way, but we're really thinking, "Let's get the best one that we love and make the best record we can."
We all seemed to be so refreshed this time ... I think it had a lot to do with bringing in outside writers to work with. We had never done that before, and we were lucky to write with some cool people. It was such a fresh feeling and such a fresh hang with those guys, and some great music came out of it.
Sun: What made you decide to bring in additional songwriters?
DR: We recorded in Nashville, and before I got to Nashville I wrote (new song) "Autumn Jones" with Keith Burns from Trick Pony. I just popped in to visit with him, and we wrote a song that ended up on the record.
Then we got to Nashville and starting meeting more people, and we'd say, "Let's write with her; let's write with him." It turned out pretty cool.
Sun: With about a month to go until the album comes out, how pleased with it are you?
DR: I'm very happy with the record, very, very happy. Going into this record and getting off Atlantic and going to a new label ... the last 20 years of being in the band was getting ... I can't say stagnant, but there are so many other things you want to do.
So I was like, "Let's see what happens with this record," and afterwards I was just blown away by it. I think it's the best record we've made in a long time, if not ever.
Sun: So have there ever been days you've wished Hootie's debut album didn't sell 15 million-plus copies?
DR: I wouldn't ever say there were things I wish hadn't happened. Everything in our career happened for a reason. You want it to happen.
But it's tough competing with yourself. If this record were to come out and sell 8 million records, sure it would be a hit, but people would still be going, "It's no 'Cracked Rear View'."
That's an amazing thing to have, you know? Our second record comes out and sells 4 million or 5 million, whatever it did, and it's not a success. For any other artist in the world that's a success, but for us it's not.
It's so funny ... I think a lot of people look at our career and think, "What are they doing (now)?" We always sell records. It's just that if we sell a million it's not a big deal. If almost any other artist sells a million it's a huge deal.
Sun: Does the criticism for not matching that early success get you down?
DR: It's tough to take because criticism is always tough to take. People who say it doesn't bother them ... that's (expletive). That's human nature. That's always tough to hear.
But then you get a perspective. I think we realized a long time ago that we're really making records for ourselves and selling records for ourselves, because we're never gonna sell 15 million again. If you look at the history of music, only 10 records have ever done that.
Sun: Did you have much of a sense of the extent of Hootie mania during that mid-'90s era?
DR: The only thing we ever saw was that the shows were getting bigger. We were in the middle of a tour -- a nonstop tour -- and the shows were getting bigger and bigger and bigger and we were opening up for some people and realizing we weren't gonna be opening up for them much longer.
It's not like we ever saw a check for a million dollars. You just had a million dollars in the bank and you didn't even know it.
Sun: Did you make any silly purchases that make you wince now?
DR: Nah, I grew up in a Southern household, and we didn't have a lot of money. So when we got it, all I really wanted was a car and a house. I bought a truck and I bought a house.
Sun: So you didn't even go (MC) Hammer for a few weeks?
DR: No, because I decided a long time ago if I ever got (money), when I'm 55 and 65 I want to still be able to buy whatever car I want. So why throw it away?
Sun: You've probably been called Hootie more times than I could imagine. Ever wished the band had called itself something else?
DR: I think we didn't take it too seriously when we first started, and then we started playing out, playing clubs and stuff. And even if you're only playing to 50 people in four towns, that's still 50 people that know you as Hootie & The Blowfish.
We started thinking about changing it, but it was too late. We were doing so well on the East Coast, and you can't change it or it's like starting all over.
But the great thing is, whether you love the name or you hate the name, you never forget it.
Sun: You put on a cowboy hat and sang a parody of folk tune "Big Rock Candy Mountain" in a David LaChapelle-directed Burger King commercial this year and took a lot of flak for it from some of your hardcore fans on your official Web site. Were you surprised by that response?
DR: Nah. I knew when I signed on I was gonna take tons and tons of (expletive). I said to my friends, "Those of you who don't give me (expletive), you're not my friends."
I did it making fun of myself. I knew when it was brought to me and I talked to David, that it would be over the top, and that's what I wanted to do.
When I did it I didn't think it was gonna be seen all that much, because so many commercials come out and go by and you never think about it. And then I'm watching the Daytona 500 and I realized that everybody was gonna see it. It was the first commercial (of the broadcast). That was funny.
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