Cold Call

Showbiz
October 25, 1998
by Amy Schmidt

Chris Isaak is cold. Sitting inside a conference room in Warner Bros. New York office, Isaak is on the phone for the umpteenth time today chatting up his new album "Speak of the Devil", while trying not to freeze to death.

"I don't know what it is with people and air conditioning," he said, momentarily putting down the receiver in search of warmth. "Yo, hey! Anybody home?" No answer. "Anybody?"

Being on the other end, it's hard to imagine Isaak in a situation where he can't attract someone's, anyone's attention.

Since the mid-'80s, the California crooner's retro-rockabilly sound, Paul Newmanesque baby blues and well-coiffed sandy blond pompadour have charmed the likes of such artists as Madonna and Paula Abdul, as well as Hollywood hotshots like Jonathan Demme, David Lynch and Tom Hanks. In fact, Lynch's inclusion of Isaak's "Wicked Game" on the soundtrack to his film pantheon to love, "Wild at Heart', propelled the singer-songwriter into the stratosphere. (Isaak's 'Heart Shaped World', which contained the hit single, went double platinum.) And that's not to mention the swells of female fans who swoon over every note, every look, every breath the artist takes during live shows. Isaak will melt hearts at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, Oct. 30.

He is the romantic's romantic, whose songs about love lost rival much of what Shakespeare put down on parchment centuries ago. Yet, except for a brief brush with superstardom after the release of 'Heart Shaped World,' Isaak continues to skirt the edges.

"A lot of what I do, I guess, is not press worthy," he said. "I've never been in rehab. I've never destroyed a hotel room, and I'm not dating some famous super model. Because of that people say, 'What's the story I don't get it.'"

What's not to get?

Isaak's straight-ahead rock 'n' roll ditties and bona fide ballads are as catchy as anything transmitting over the airwaves today. On 'Speak of the Devil,' Isaak, backed by longtime band Silvertone, runs the retro-rock gamut on such songs as "Please," "Flying" and "Don't Get So Down on Yourself."

"I think it's a little harder-hitting," said Isaak of 'Devil.' "The last album I did ('Baja Sessions', 1996) was the quietest record I've done. It was very quiet and mellow and made for that reason. This is probably the most rockin' album I've done, which doesn't seem odd to me because my live band rocks and when we play live, we hit it pretty hard."

Shifting his attention for a moment to the warm body that entered the now-artic conference room Isaak said, "Hey, it's freezing in here. All I can think of in this room is that I want it to be warmer, and I with there was a urinal."

It is, after all, the little things that make Isaak the happiest.

"When I made 'From the Earth to the Moon' with Tom [Hanks], I went to Disneyland every day," he said of his burgeoning film career, which has included small parts in 'Married to the Mob,' 'Silence of the Lambs,' 'That Thing You Do' and a larger role in the upcoming 'Shepherd,' where Isaak portrays a Southern sheriff in a small town.

"I had cotton candy every day, and I loved it. Real simple things like that just make me totally happy."

As does writing. When he went into the studio in San Francisco to record 'Devil,' Isaak had about 50 songs. He recorded 30, 14 of which made it onto the album.

"I write a lot-way more than people would think," he said. "How do you catch a lot of fish? You keep your hook in the water."

And while 'Speak of the Devil' still yearns a bit for lost love, it's considerably more hopeful than the tortured 'Forever Blue' (1995), penned after the painful breakup of a three-year relationship.

"Nothing to me is as dark as 'Forever Blue,' because at the time that was written I was in hell. No, hell would actually be suffering. I was in some kind of place where you don't feel," said Isaak, laughing nervously at its mention.

"There are bits and pieces on this album that are hopeful, like 'Don't Get So Down on Yourself.' That's a nice little thing to say to somebody-'Don't get so down on yourself.' I like the idea that somebody would say that to me, or that I'd say that to someone."

"Don't get me wrong, there is some really dark stuff on this record. But there are moments of levity that I think will cause you to turn the volume up and set down your razor blades."

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