Republica/Cake

  By Gerry Galipault

im Dorney can't believe it. There it is, the cover of Republica's debut album basking in the floodlights outside the Virgin Megastore in New York's Times Square.

All the keyboardist and his band mates, lead singer Saffron and keyboardist Andy Todd, can do is stare.

"I never, ever in my wildest dreams believed I would be standing in the middle of Times Square and there's the cover of our album up in lights," Dorney said recently from RCA Records' Broadway office. "It's incredible. The first time we saw it, we were in just absolute fits of laughter. We couldn't believe we have come this far."

Reality has sunk in now that the British alternative-dance quintet's first single, the hook-savvy "Ready to Go," is at No. 68 and climbing on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Dorney has come a long way from his stint in Flowered Up, a U.K. "flavor of the month" in the early '90s. He is taking nothing for granted with Republica.

"Flowered Up fell to pieces, basically," he said. "We ran out of money and things, and things just got harder and harder to work. A few lineup changes lost the edge of what the band was about.

In the end, the singer quit. He was having a lot of personal problems himself, and he couldn't take the pressure."

Poor management didn't help matters either.

"What we went through, I learned a lot of lessons that would help put another band together," Dorney said. "I wasn't nervous about (starting Republica) at all. I had already seen the pitfalls of what a band could go through. I wasn't about to let that happen again."

Dorney teamed with Todd, who had produced tracks for acts ranging from Bjork to Barbra Streisand, to form an upbeat, techno-oriented dance group. They wanted to add some vocals, and after a few auditions, they picked Saffron, whose resume included backup work for The Shamen, N-Joi and Jah Wobble.

"She's a fiery animal," Dorney said. "We wanted somebody with a bit of a personality, rather than just a dance diva. And she already had a track record as well. She's a consummate performer. She amazes me every day."

They added guitarist Johnny Male and former Bow Wow Wow/Adam Ant drummer Dave Barborossa to solidify its live sound.

After finishing their first song, "Out of This World," they already had a label itching to sign them. For the U.K. indie Deconstruction, there was only one problem: The band needed a name. "They had this deal on the table, ready to pay us loads of money," Dorney said, "and they said, 'Look, this is a legal document. You've got to have a name on it.' We tried for ages to try to think of a name, but eventually our managers just locked us in a room and said, 'You are not coming out until you come up with a name for this band.'

"About three and a half hours later, after some complete soul searching and some completely ridiculous ideas, we eventually came up with Republica. It's been great ever since."

BWF (before we forget): Check out Republica on the Web - http://www.deconstruction.co.uk/

CAKE BAKES A 'FASHION NUGGET': There is no fear of a sophomore slump for Cake, the witty rock quintet from Sacramento, Calif., that mocked the music industry last year with the modern- rock favorite "Rock 'N' Roll Lifestyle." Singer-guitarist John McCrea wouldn't have it any other way.

"A lot of times, sophomore albums are difficult because the first album was recorded within one sort of context of perhaps the studio or power dynamics or producing," he said recently. "Then with the second album, suddenly everything's different. You're in a more expensive studio or maybe you have a strange producer.

"I don't think it was difficult for us because we kind of went ahead and did the same thing, self- producing and recording in our hometown of Sacramento, the almond capital of the entire world. We didn't fly somewhere like New York or have some fancy-pants producer impose his production stylings on us."

The simple, economical approach works wonders on Cake's second Capricorn disc, "Fashion Nugget," released Sept. 17. In many ways, it outshines the group's '95 debut, "Motorcade of Generosity," incorporating vivid lyrics and sublime melodies with odd musical hybrids on cuts such as "The Distance" (the first single), "Daria," "Race Car Ya-Ya's" and "Italian Leather Sofa."

McCrea says he and band members Greg Brown (guitar), Victor Damiani (bass), Vince di Fiore (trumpet) and drummer Todd Roper put a lot of sweat into this one.

"It's a little nerve-wracking when you don't know whether you're going to have a good album or not," he said. "For me, I have a lot to do with producing our records, like the others in the band. I don't dream normal dreams when we're in the process of recording. I dream about notes, I dream about what tones we use.

"If I do have other people in my dreams during this period, it's only to ask them what they think of a certain song. 'Is the guitar too loud?' It leaves you kind of tired, but it's sort of a good tired." Even a foray into cover versions (Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and Willie Nelson's "Sad Songs and Waltzes") doesn't distract from the album's adventurous routes.

Not bad for a group that McCrea admits feared becoming a one-hit wonder last year.

"That was on our mind all the time," he said. "That's why we didn't want to release ('Rock 'N' Roll Lifestyle') as a single. We caused ourselves a lot of stress by letting that happen. By the same token, a lot of people who like our band have come up to me and have said that that's their least favorite song.

"I would like to think our band puts out some CDs that are pretty solid. You can listen to them from start to finish and enjoy yourself all the way through. That's the way this album feels."

RECOMMENDABLES (a weekly Top-5 list of sure-fire new releases worthy of airplay on your stereo system): "Pinkerton," Weezer (DGC/Geffen); "Dance Hall at Louse Point," John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey (Island); "Sing Monkey Sing," Raging Slab (American); "True to Myself," Eric Benet (Warner); "Acid Bubblegum," Graham Parker (Razor & Tie).

Best reissue/hits package - "Fishbone 101: Nuttasaurusmeg Fossil Fuelin' the Fonkay," Fishbone (Legacy; two-disc greatest hits).

Best compilation - "Masters of Jazz, Vols. 5- 7," various artists (Rhino; discs tackle male and female vocal classics and jazz singles, from Billie Holiday's "The Man I Love" to John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things (Part 1)".)

Queue-it-up single of the week (hey, DJ, play this one!) - "California," Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise (RCA).

P&P VAULT OF FAME (songs inducted into a Pause & Play time capsule for posterity's sake, one track at a time): This week's entry - "Love Me Do," The Beatles (Tollie, 1964).

AS IT WERE (a rock history moment, Sept. 29- Oct. 5): It was the case of the missing infamous glove. The white, crystal-beaded glove worn by Michael Jackson in his "Thriller" days was stolen from the Motown Museum in Detroit five years ago on Oct. 1, 1991. An anonymous tip a few days later led police to a Flint, Mich., man, who then led officers to the unharmed glove hidden in a videotape case. Museum officials were so happy to have it back, they didn't press charges.

R.I.P.: Ray Coleman, former editor of the U.K. music weekly Melody Maker and author of comprehensive biographies of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton, died Sept. 10 of cancer at his London home. He was 59.

JUST SAY NO TO JUNK E-MAIL.

(Copyright 1996 by Pause, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Pause & Play is a syndicated weekly music column. Any questions, comments, suggestions? Send e-mail to 74170.471@compuserve.com or PausePlay@aol.com, and please include your hometown.)