Home away from home

The Glands expand to new horizons

In this story: 'Somebody else' Tracks of his tears Easy livin' Homecoming RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Jamie Allen
CNN.com Senior Writer

ATHENS, Georgia (CNN) -- Downtown Athens is like any other college town. The streets are lined with young people, late-teen and early-20s, wearing the slouching, shambling attire that would shame an unmade bed.

On some nights, their rumpled ranks are joined by Ross Shapiro and Sadie, his small terrier mutt with "an ugly-to-the-point-of-cute face." Sure, he's clad in the same sort of clothes that make casual Fridays look formal. But his graying hair betrays Shapiro, 37, as someone who knows the streets far better than these recent arrivals.

He also knows good bands when he hears their music spilling out of the clubs that line Athens' narrow streets.

"Sometimes, if I look pitiful enough, they'll let me in the club for free," he says.

	AUDIO
'Livin' Was Easy' 413KWAV sound 'When I Laugh' 616KWAV sound 'I Can See My House From Here' 469KWAV sound 'Fortress' 319KWAV sound

This might not sound like the life of a guy who created an LP that has been called "an indie-rock masterpiece." But Ross Shapiro isn't your average guy.

Shapiro heads up a band called the Glands, which put out its second LP earlier this year. They won't be mistaken for world-famous Athens bands REM or the B-52s anytime soon. But since the release of the self-titled CD, Shapiro & Co. have received enough critical raves to fill their publicist's press package to overflowing. Rolling Stone, Spin, and NPR are just some of the national media outlets that have extolled the Glands' sound.

Casual CD listeners might agree. "The Glands" has a quality best described as familiar originality; the disc sounds like it sat out in the sun for a few seconds too long, but in a good way. From Shapiro's falsetto, off-center vocals to the loose harmonies, instrumentation and percussion, "The Glands" has a warped-on-purpose feel.

'Somebody else'

Shapiro was born and raised in Atlanta, just 70 miles down the road. Growing up, he listened to everything from the Beatles to Sly & the Family Stone to Elvis Costello. In 1981, he moved here to attend the University of Georgia. He majored in painting, something he casually regrets. "I mean, what can you do with a degree in painting?"

Shapiro has yet to leave Athens for a new home; perhaps he doesn't know where he would go. He's reticent to talk about his newfound success, because he simply doesn't see himself in that light. He characterizes as "surreal" a Glands review in Rolling Stone.

"It's almost like reading about somebody else," he says. "It doesn't change anything. I still go to work and drink coffee."

Tracks of his tears

Following college, Shapiro pursued his artistic muse in solitude, forcing dark renderings onto blank canvases. It was not a happy time, the former painter admits now.

"I used to listen to a lot of really depressing music when I painted," he says. "I listened to Joni Mitchell's 'Clouds' and I would just keep flipping the tape. Tears would be streaming down my face."

At some point in the mid-'90s, he decided to express himself through another medium -- music. And he found others in Athens' tight-knit artistic community who were willing to play along, including Joe Rowe, a colleague at the restaurant where Shapiro worked.

"We started it just as something to do, just fooling around," he says.

In spare time, Shapiro and company would use available recording equipment to lay down tracks as Shapiro wrote them.

Soon, Shapiro and his buddies -- a contingent which grew and shrank depending on the day -- realized they had more than enough songs for an album. They didn't have a band name in 1996, but had to come up with one, quick, when the group planned the release of "Double Thriller," a two-CD set.

And thus began the Glands.

"We put it out just to give to friends or whatever," he says.

"Whatever" happened.

Easy livin'

Bar/None Records in Hoboken, New Jersey, picked up "Double Thriller," rereleasing it in 1998. The disc reached Capricorn Records, which signed the band to its Atlanta label. Suddenly, the Glands were a serious band.

Band members Shapiro, Rowe (drums), Doug Stanley (multi-instrumentalist), Neil Golden (keyboards) and Andy Baker (bass) hustled to put out a second CD. That eponymous effort hit record stores this past summer.

The first song, "Livin' Was Easy," a lackadaisical recollection of how things used to be, is pure Shapiro. On it, the singer laments, "Why did I go/ I had it so easy/ I had a room of my own/ I had the afternoon sun." Sure, it sounds like slacker nostalgia, says Shapiro, who notes that all his songs also are about "getting screwed over by somebody, love and loss."

He sings it in that trademark high whine, a voice he apparently saves for the stage and recording studios. Shapiro's real voice is deep, with a thick drawl. How does he sing with such a chirp, and why?

Blame Buddy, his other dog, Shapiro says.

"He tries to imitate the birds outside," he says. "When he sees me he starts giving whistling sounds like birds. Maybe that's like me singing to Joni Mitchell records."

Whatever, it's working. College radio has given the Glands regular play.

Homecoming

Meantime, Shapiro's parents are proud as can be. Dad, a retired toy salesman, has a new hobby: following his son's success in the media and sending e-mail updates to his pals.

Some family members still hear about the Glands by accident -- Shapiro's cousin, for instance. She didn't even know Shapiro was playing music until she happened to tune into NPR one day and caught a story about this popular Athens band. Cousin Ross! She reached for the phone.

The idea, of course, is to spread word about the Glands beyond family members and critics. That's why the band started its second short tour -- between day jobs -- to promote its sound. The itinerary includes a stop in New York on November 19, this Sunday.

The Glands already played a show in Shapiro's hometown two weekends ago. Shapiro's mother, father, and big brother joined the throng at the smokey, packed East Atlanta joint where the band played, staying until the lights came up and the moon went down.

Capricorn Records

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