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(Aug. 7, 1997)
Aug. 12 is an important day for Atlanta-based rock quartet Cool For August. Not only is "Trials," the second single off their Warner Bros. debut album "Grand World," scheduled for release, they will make their network TV debut on NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."
Bassist Andrew Shives said he and band mates Gordon Vaughn (vocals), guitarist Trevor Kustiak and drummer Shane Hills aren't sweating it.
"I'm not nervous, really," Shives said recently, "because we're kind of, sort of not new at this now. We got a chance to do some live and some prerecorded TV shows in Australia when we went there in July, so now we're over that.
"Thinking about playing to a few million people on Conan doesn't become a big issue because you're really just playing in front of a studio audience anyway. And I love it, I think we do great under pressure. I'm not worried about it, I know we're going to do fine."
If its tour of Australia is any indication, Cool For August is in store for some big things in America.
"We would come into an airport and people would know what flight we were on and they'd take pictures and ask for autographs," Shives said. "It was very strange. We were only there for like 12 days, and in 12 days we went from being a hot new band to being some kind of weird, bizarre national phenomenon. We were on huge posters everywhere.
"It was very amusing to us, because we didn't know what to think about it. We're like, 'Hey, we're a new band, what's all the hoopla about?' America seems pretty conservative, while Australians tend to like quirky, offbeat stuff. They're more open about what they like and don't like, and I guess we're just quirky and different enough for them to get attached to us."
"Grand World" was released stateside on April 23, and the leadoff single, "Don't Wanna Be Here," peaked at No. 15 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in late June. Shives said he hopes "Trials" will take them to the next level.
"We're not modern rock, we're not punk, we're not ska," he said. "We're kind of in that rock area that takes a while to break. It's weird to think of mainstream rock as being underground, but when you first start out, like we're touring with Naked right now, it feels like an underground vibe. We're playing small clubs and radio shows. We feel like we're the underground now.
"But after three months, I think we're in a better position than I thought we'd ever possibly be. I mean, to be able to go on Conan three months after your record comes out, do these big radio festivals in front of 50,000 people and go to Australia and be totally unheard of beforehand, it's just a dream come true."
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