by Jim Harrington
Republica's self-titled debut recording starts off deceivingly. The first sound one hears is that of an acoustic guitar being softly strummed. You won't confuse it with Joan Baez-esque folk, but still it's a pretty mellow start for a band that is in the process of creating a new musical niche, deemed "techno-pop punk rock."
But keep listening. It doesn't take long for the fire to ignite. Saffron--the latest in the long line of one-name rock stars--breathes the song's title, "Ready to Go," and before she finishes the third word, the drums hit. Again. "Ready to Go," she breathes. Seconds pass, and a dance-crazed chaos finally erupts in a whirl of keyboard-produced thumps and grooves.
That's the song that has catapulted the British-band into the pages of Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times and Billboard magazine. And it's the song that is sure to strike a note of familiarity with the fans that will fill The Edge in Palo Alto to see the band on Sunday, Nov. 24.
Band members, having recently completed a two-month tour that primarily hit the East Coast, say their time in the states has been educational.
"We've never seen crowd-surfing and moshing (before)," said keyboardist Tim Dorney, during a recent telephone conversation from his home in England. "The mosh pit is something that you could never have in Britain."
Dorney explains that unlike the festive sweaty dance circles in America, if someone were to purposely bump into another person in England, "off it would go into a full-on fight."
This is the bands' first tour of the western states, and members are leaving the pre-recorded tapes behind this time.
"There is not a tape in sight," Dorney boasts.
When the band first started playing live about two years ago, it would use a lot of tape work to augment the trio's sound. But members never liked that approach. To make up for it, they've added drummer Dave Barborossa and guitarist Johnny Male to the band (which also includes keyboardist Andy Todd).
"It just gives it an added dynamic that you don't get (with the tape)," Dorney said. "It just gives you more room to grow."
The band got its start about three years ago, when Dorney went to France to help work on a friend's album. He met up with Todd, and the two began working together. They realized that they needed a vocalist and, as luck would have it, along came Saffron.
"She was looking for a band, and we were looking for a singer," Dorney explained, "so it was a match made in Heaven."
The Nigeria-born vocalist was not the first to audition--"We tried two other people before her, on the track we were working on," Dorney said--but she was the one that fit with the hard-hitting dance and pop mix that Dorney and Todd wanted.
"She took to it like a duck to water," Dorney stated.
Not only was she at home in the techno world--she was the most hard-core of the group.
"She likes it good, dark and hard," Dorney said. "She likes it up front and pumpin'."
With her exotic blend of Portuguese, Chinese and English ancestry, this attractive vocalist could turn out to be rock's next poster girl. But don't expect Saffron to be a popular-music boy toy. She doesn't take any nonsense from men, Dorney said, and she's not all that rock 'n' roll.
"She couldn't be too rock 'n' roll--she doesn't even drink," the keyboardist reasoned.
What: Republica in concert (Love In Reverse and Thin Lizard Dawn open)
When: Music starts at 9 p.m., Nov. 24
Where: The Edge, 260 California Ave., Palo Alto
How much: $7 in advance; $8 at the door
Information: 324-EDGE
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