Guitarist Stacy Jones of American Hi-Fi has a happy-go-lucky attitude about his music, and it has carried him to where he is today. This attitude captures the mood of most of the band's albums and their third offering "Hearts on Parade," which comes out March 29, is no exception. With eleven tracks of bad-boy pop brilliance, Hi-Fi appear to be taking their place on the world-stage as the Backstreet Boys of the alternative adolescent world.
The Daily had a chance to chat with Jones as he took a break from the band's current world tour. Cheerful and optimistic, Jones was enthusiastic in promoting the new album. "It's a batch of new songs that we really love. We made this record on our own time and didn't have to answer to anyone else. It's a labor of love, really."
Jones described the making of this 'labor of love' as a triumph after their "bittersweet" split with Island Records, who Jones claims was not promoting them enough. Since moving to Maverick, they've built a studio in what used to be the home of Hole guitarist, Eric Erlandson, and have been given more leeway to do things their own way.
American Hi-Fi has pushed their geeks-turned-rock-stars-take-revenge-on-the-world shtick to great heights. The track "The Geeks Get The Girls," the album's first single, includes the lines: "Even losers can get lucky sometimes/All the freaks on a winning streak/In a perfect world all the geeks get the girls." This song pulls listeners right back into the high-school lunchroom with loud, cheerful guitars, background hand-clapping and that distinct Blink 182-ish adolescent whininess that wins the hearts of many.
The Daily asked Jones what motivated him to write this song, and Jones launched into a story about being at a club and spotting an amazingly beautiful girl at the bar. At his friend's prompting - "Dude, you gotta give it a shot" - he went up to her, made small talk and embarrassed himself, or so he thought. Considering his attempt a failed one, he went home dejectedly.
A few months later, however, he bumped into the same girl, who asked him what had happened to him that night, as she had wanted to give him her phone number. So, quite simply, the song is about what could have been, or what should be - in an ideal world of course.
Does Jones get all the girls now that he is a rock star? "I don't really think of myself as a rock star. And as for the whole groupie thing ... no ... not really ... haven't really been there."
Showbiz has not entirely sucked the band in yet. In fact, Jones still comes across as a record-obsessed teen, rather than as a hotel-trashing rock star. "We wear our influences very proudly on our sleeves," said Jones. "I still listen to stuff like the Beatles, and the Stones, Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac ... our albums are a reflection of what I'm listening to at the moment."
Jones described the band's music as undergoing a 'continual identity crisis.'
On their latest album, the British band Blur provided great inspiration, "but there's always a strand that will make us American Hi-Fi. We make pop so we're not Radiohead."
Well no, they're certainly not Radiohead; their tunes are catchy enough to be sold as ring tones (although Jones seems unwilling to acknowledge this corporate trade-off: "I don't know anything about that...I don't even know how to use my phone properly.")
But never mind that, the band's happy-go-lucky-ness will probably
override any artistic and corporate hurdles that pop up, and leave them smiling on the front page of Spin magazine sometime in the near future.
For the moment, Jones is pumped about how well the tour has been going. "There are no haters in the audience. Everybody's leaving with a smile."
Now that's what we like to hear.
