THE SEATTLE TIMES

Whoo-hoo! Our CD was delayed!
By Tom Scanlon
Seattle Times staff reporter

Sunday, February 5, 2006

In "The Third Policeman," the hilarious and transcendent novel by Irish writer Flann O'Brien, the nameless protagonist commits a murder and theft with a conspirator named John Divney. After the crime, Divney puts off telling the narrator where the loot is, leading to a unique situation:

"...Divney and I never parted company for more than one minute either night or day...If Divney went for a walk on Sunday to a neighbour's house I went with him and came home with him again, never before or after...."

Similarly, the Lashes — partners in various rock 'n' roll crimes, such as stealing from the Beatles, mugging on stage, forging a career, etc. — spend a tremendous amount of time on the run together, something of a six-headed music beast.

"When we're up, we're all up," singer Ben Clark said the other day. "We kind of move together — we feed off each other's excitement."

If one Lash is happy, it seems all Lashes are happy — and lately, all Lashes have been very happy. The Seattle garage-glam band (Clark is from Spokane and started the band here in 2000) signed to Columbia Records last year, and now its big-label debut "Get It" is finally about to be released. Potential hit: "Sometimes the Sun."

On a recent late Wednesday afternoon, the sun was still shining on Los Angeles. The Lashes were in a van, whooping it up, laughing. Having a ball. Connected at the hip, as usual. Full of energy and optimism and youthful exuberance and ... alcohol.

They were, in a word, drunk.

"We just did a TV interview," Clark related breathlessly, his mouth always struggling to keep up with his wildly optimistic thoughts. "There was this gorgeous girl — she could have been on any TV show — doing the interview, and there was a bar in the studio. There was this hot, hot girl serving us drinks ... Tequila, whiskey, beer — they got us all drunk and tried to get information out of us."

After taping the cable show, Clark felt he held strong, and didn't give up too much dirt.

So singer Ben is drunk — but not just on booze. He's drunk on signing to a big label, drunk on finally having his Lashes Columbia record coming out, inebriated by people actually caring about the band. "This is exactly what I've been asking for since I was 16 ... this is the dream."

"Get It" has been finished for more than a year and originally was to come out last summer. That was delayed to the fall — not unusual for a first-time band, though frustrating.

"That kind of has been the worst thing, but it also has been the best thing. So much has happened in the last year that we've really gotten ready for this album to come out — the curse was kind of a blessing. We got pushed back, but things are better now."

Asked how that made things better specifically, Clark started laughing, losing his train of thought.

To give him a little help, perhaps he was thinking of all the nice press the Lashes have been getting in recent months, surely with the prodding of Columbia's P.R. department and an L.A.-based publicist (Ken Phillips, who has worked with Joan Jett and Lit). It has been building in the weeks before the Feb. 21 release date.

Entertainment Weekly praised the album's "infectious Strokes-y vibe." Maxim magazine gave the CD a 4-star review ("Get it? You should").

And alternative publications, such as L.A. Weekly, talk of how, "The treats peak with the pleading single 'Sometimes the Sun,' but the Lashes' worst effort would be the pride of many peers."

On the other hand, popmatters.com dissed the Lashes as "no personality" Hot Hot Heat clones.

Clark and his mates — Scotty Rickard, Nate Mooter, Eric Howk, Jacob Hoffman and Michael Loggins are scheduled for CBS' "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on Feb. 23. The next night, they have an official CD release show at Neumo's.

A final prophesy from the bombastic Clark: "Everyone is going to love or hate our album, and love or hate our band."

He'd probably say the same thing, cold sober.