Every modern rock band, if it lasts long enough, gets to one of those myth-inspiring turning points in its career. It's when a sound goes from unremarkable to instantly marketable, innocent, juvenile mayhem turns volatile, or a key member departs, whether by choice or by that ultimate rock cliché, death.
Excepting fatalities, the members of San Diego's Unwritten Law have experienced all of the above, resulting in not one, but a series of career-changing turning points over their 14 years together. Until March, only one original member, drummer Wade Youman, remained. Frequently hailed as the outfit's most valuable asset, he left the band just as they were beginning work on their new album, Here's to the Mourning. The split wasn't amicable either; he and singer Scott Russo had quarreled for years and his leaving could not have come at a worse time.
"We've been recording for the past eight months," guitarist Steve Morris says. He sounds exasperated, and somewhat guarded, when describing the experience of pulling together their latest project, one which found No Doubt's Adrian Young and the Jealous Sound's Tony Palermo (now a full-timer with Unwritten Law) filling in for Youman.
"Tension is a great tool," Morris continues. "I think Scott's really finding his voice and learning to express himself. You've got five members in this band, and we're like brothers; we bicker. As long as there's that middle ground, in the end we're happy."
The diplomacy in his voice is almost as thick as the hackneyed lines he's laying on me. But somehow it's fitting, considering what these SoCal rockers are up against.
Which, to understand, requires a brief history lesson. Following the release of Unwritten Law's major-label debut Blue Room and follow-up Oz Factor in '95 and '96, respectively, industry heavyweights Epic Records unceremoniously dropped the group. Small wonder, considering their resemblance to other all-ages show-playing punk groups of the time. Interscope immediately picked them up, however, and released their more ambitious, self-titled release in '98, which yielded sort-of hit "Cailin" and elevated the group from recycled newsprint to glossy mag status. But Interscope dumped the boys amid lineup changes (this time from bassist John Bell to Sprung Monkey's Pat Kim), though only after Unwritten Law produced a TRL-approved hit, "Seein' Red," for them.
Now with Atlantic subsidiary Lava Records, the band is readying Here's to the Mourning just as another dilemma is surfacing: Los Angeles flagship rock station KROQ has already released the first single, "Save Me," months before the album's street date. This infinitely radio-friendly group runs the risk of overexposure, ironically, before fans can even buy their new record.
But if "Save Me" is any indication of how the rest of Mourning sounds, the band may not have to worry about overexposure much longer. Though Morris asserts that "music is in dire emergency" and is being "dictated by flavor-of-the-month" bands, this new batch of songs, sadly, does nothing to buck that trend. Well-rehearsed, yet tepid and clawless, Mourning's two released tracks (recently made available at www.purevolume.com/unwrittenlaw) are the result of a three-chord pop-punk group trying desperately to intellectualize a genre of rock that sounds best unpolished. It is music that may sound great in some tank-driving Marine's Discman, but hardly, as Morris suggests, heralds a new direction for rock music.
So for now, raise your devil horns in non-ironic fashion and hold your lighter high. This group may have weathered some pretty formidable transitions throughout its history, but this one, from hopeful MTV standouts to bargain-bin fodder, might be its last.