The Nields survive the collapse of its guardian

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., May 1, 1998) -- You've heard the story: Fresh- faced young rock band gets signed to a major label which promises them the world: a big advance, videos, tour support, a slot on a major national tour opening for a superstar act.

The band's record is released, and then...nothing. None of the promises materialize. Back at the home office, the formerly enthusiastic record executives are curiously tight-lipped.

Then comes the real shocker. The record label itself is shut down. Everyone is laid off. And the band's record is now the property of a company that no longer exists.

It's the stuff of entire books -- the dirty side of the music business. And, with only a little variation, it's basically the story of what happened to The Nields in the last year.

Usually, the story ends with the band itself dissolving in tears and acrimony. Perhaps the group's chief singer/songwriter goes on to garner a solo deal with another label, leaving the rest of the members behind and embittered, while the group itself is consigned to the ash-heap of rock history.

Fortunately, that is entirely not the case this time around, according to Nerissa Nields, the main songwriter of The Nields, which shares the bill with 10,000 Maniacs -- another group that has defied the cliche -- tonight at The Studio in downtown Pittsfield. Doors open at 7; music begins at 9.

The Nields' brief flirtation with major-labelhood ended in January, when Guardian Records -- an imprint of EMI that re-released The Nields' great album, "Gotta Get Over Greta" last September -- fell victim to a major, corporate-wide shake-up.

While the loss of its record deal was hardly a matter for celebration, there was in fact a silver lining for the group, according to Nerissa Nields, who co-founded The Nields in the early-'90s in Williamstown with her sister, Katryna Nields, and her husband, David, who took his wife's last name.

In a phone interview from her home in Hatfield, Nerissa Nields said the events of the last year "made us really look at ourselves and ask what we are about and what we want."

"We're a scrappy little band that just barely makes ends meet enough to keep us all paying our rents, based on the money we make at gigs and album sales," said Nields.

"We came out of this realizing that we have the opportunity to be an historic folk-rock band that lasts forever -- not through having a Top- Forty hit, not through selling millions of tickets or albums, but just through the sheer love of the music and the love of our fans."

It was in large part those incredibly loyal fans that helped see the group through what could have been very dark days.

"The thing that was driving us nuts about being on a record label is they have control over the album-release schedule," she said. "Our fans kept coming up to us at shows asking when we were going to make a new record, but Guardian wanted us to keep working `Greta.'"

Being released from the deal with Guardian freed the band to take control of its recorded output. As a result, the group has not one but two albums planned for release in coming months.

In June the group plans to self-release "'Mousse," an archival collection of live cuts, outtakes and assorted rarities -- 18 tracks in all, including a live version of "Einstein's Daughter" and a previously-unreleased song called "I Hate MCI."

Then, at some point between this summer and the end of the year, the group hopes to have available for release its next album of all-new material, "Tomorrowland." Nields describes the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed "Gotta Get Over Greta" as "a happier album."

"`Greta' was about struggling -- about being on one side of the mountain -- and to me these songs are about climbing the mountain and turning around and looking back," said Nields.

Nields says "Tomorrowland" contains a wider array of styles than "Greta," with more "pure pop songs." The title track of the album -- which was recorded in bassist Dave Chalfant's studio and is being mixed at Longview Farm, where "Greta" was recorded -- is the band's "theme song," said Nields.

"It's about us, it's the most autobiographical song we've ever written," she said. "And it's sort of a love song to our fans."

CONCERT WATCH: Amidst all the hoopla of this weekend's musical activity, including tonight's 10,000 Maniacs/Nields co-bill, which is curiously not being billed as part of this weekend's Berkshire Music Festival -- go figure -- don't forget about the free MusicFest '98 at Williams College, tomorrow from noon to 8 at the Berkshire Quad off Main Street, featuring Bernice Lewis, Star Ghost Dog, Jack Drag, Veronica Black Morpheus Nipple and Drew Bunting....

In other concert news, the Saratoga (N.Y.) Performing Arts Center has announced its June lineup of pop concerts, including Beck on June 6 and a double-bill of early-'80s nostalgia featuring The B-52s and The Pretenders on June 21. Also coming to SPAC are The Other Ones, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, bringing their Furthur Festival on July 4, also featuring Hot Tuna and Rusted Root, the all-female Lilith Fair on July 12, and a reunited Culture Club with Boy George on Aug. 10....

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on May 1, 1998. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1998. All rights reserved.]