"Making this record was a confidence booster for everybody," says Kevin Kane of The Grapes of Wrath, referring to These Days, their fourth album (and that's not counting an EP). "The recording process made us realize, 'Oh boy, I guess we are learning how to make records.'"

As usual, Kane is being modest. These Days represents a coming of age for the Vancouver, Canada-based foursome, both in the memorable folk-rock music itself and in the way it was recorded. These Days is vintage Grapes of Wrath -- tuneful yet intensely passionate acoustic/electric offerings buoyed by succulent harmonies -- but also showcases an experimental side of the band. Plus, it's a notably harder-rocking effort than its Anton Fier produced predecessor, Now & Again.

Englishman John Leckie (XTC, the Stone Rose, the Posies) helmed These Days which was recorded in December-January 1990-91 at Vancouver's Mushroom Studios. Then, in February, the band travelled to London and spent three weeks mixing at Abbey Road Studios -- where Leckie had begun his career in the late '60s as a house engineer for the likes of (naturally enough) John Lennon and George Harrison. The Grapes of Wrath were able to indulge their longtime affinity for the Beatles in Abbey Road's congenial surroundings, spending a particularly memorable evening drinking beer and playing Fab Four songs in the Beatles' famed Studio Two.

Despite the band's claim that they "had a slack attitude about demos," toiling for Now & Again under the Golden Palominos' Fier (a stern taskmaster) shaped up the Grapes in a hurry. "Now we work a lot harder in the studio," confirms Kane, "so we won't have to go through the turmoil all over again. The demos for the songs for These Days actually ended up ready to play." In fact, say the band members, Leckie changed very little in transporting the music from demos to final mixes.

The resulting album exhibits the band's experiments with both style and content. "'Travelin' shows a new direction for us," says Chris Hooper. "There's a lot of hamming in it -- most of our previous records tend to be structured verse-chorus-bridge-chorus. 'Through To You' is another departure; it's more syncopaged than anything we've done."

"Miracle" tackles an unusual subject -- severe depression -- and "A Fishing Tale" takes its cue from a surreal short story by Tom Hooper. his brother Chris describes the leadoff cut, "Away" as "Crosby, Stills, Nash & Bonham. It's like Led Zeppelin and Deja Vu rolled into one."

The Grapes of Wrath first took root in small Kelowna, British Columbia, when the teenaged Hoopers and Kane formed a punk band, Kill Pigs. When the group split up, the Hoopers continued to pursue their punk fixation with a group called Gentlemen of Horror, while Kane played in an art-rock outfit, Empty Set. Chris and Kevin also graduated college with degrees in fine arts.

In spring '83, the trio rejoined as a one-night-only cover band, Honda Civic, then rejoined for real. They began rehearsing in a family garage, and chose their name from a movie book supplied by film buff Chris Hooper.

The Vancouver-based Nettwerk label signed the Grapes of Wrath on the strength of a homemade EP (financed through earnings from garage sales and flea markets). In 1984, the newly-transplanted Vancouver residents released a self-titled four-song platter, now out of print. A year later, they issued their debut album September Bowl of Green (taken from a Truman Capote nvoel), and briefly toured Canada. In late '85 Nettwerk signed a distribution deal with Capitol Records, and the album was released worldwide.

Next came Treehouse, produced by Tom Cochrane, which was released in October 1987 and launched the Grapes on an extensive tour that included guest appearances with Guadalcanal Diary, the Woodentops and Robyn Hitchcock. Now & Again, which included quest performances by Chuck Leavell (Allman Brothers) and "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow (Flying Burrito Brothers, the Byrds), came out in the U.S. in October 1989. It went gold in Canada in less than two months of release, and is currently pushing platinum in the Great White North where the Grapes of Wrath have become a major draw.

With These Days, their days as a contender on the contemporary music scene have just begun. In some ways it's an album about "yearning," notes Kane. "It's about being away from someone you want to be with. In fact, the theme of whole album seems to be 'waiting'; having been on the road for 13 month prior to the States, Europe and Canada, we had loved ones we were waiting to see. Now that the album is complete, we're just waiting to see what the rest of the world thinks."

Aug. '91