Milwaukee's most popular export since "Happy Days" is finally returning to Central Illinois. The Bodeans will play at Illinois Wesleyan University on Sunday, and the concert couldn't have come at a more perfect time for the band.
Currently, a song that it actually released in 1993, "Closer to Free," is at No. 7 on the Billboard charts, and it's still climbing. The amazing fervor over the song has been raised because Fox's hit show, "Party of Five," which adopted the song as its theme. This has only meant success for the band, and it is reaping all the benefits it can.
The Bodeans, who played at Bradley about three years ago, consist of Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas, who share the guitar and vocal duties, Bob Griffin on bass and Nick Kitsos on drums.
Griffin had a lot to say about the current situation the band is in. Speaking from an auditorium in the band members' hometown of Milwaukee, he talked about the band's current explosion and its future plans, as well. The band is kicking off its latest tour in Milwaukee, in support of "Closer to Free," as well as a new album that currently is being completed.
Griffin said the band members think "the success is great," and they are enjoying this latest wave of fanfare. For those that don't remember, the band had a major radio hit with the song "Good Things," which has become a staple for modern rock radio ever since.
This actually is the Bodeans' second brush with fame, although this time it is on a much larger scale.
Due to the renewed interest, the Bodeans were able to reshoot the video for the song. The bonus for the band was that they got to shoot on the set of the show, and cast members took part, as well.
"This is the first time we've actually used four cameras," Griffin said of the extra expenses the band was able to use. "It was taped on the same set that was used for 'Gone With the Wind' and 'The Wizard of Oz,'" so he felt as though "there was a little piece of history there."
For those of you who are curious, the band members do try to watch the show, "whenever we can," Griffin said. He added that the entire band likes the members of the show.
The inevitable question had to follow, though.
"No, it's not going to be a Rembrandts thing," he said, referring to the band that achieved huge success with the theme song to the show "Friends" and has since disappeared.
He insists that the renewed interest in the song "kind of shocked us." Griffin said the song started getting resurgence of airplay on a radio station in San Diego, and it slowly spread throughout California.
"Party of Five" producers then heard the song on the radio, Griffin said, and they decided to go with the song. They were using other songs before "Closer to Free," but the song managed to pull the interest toward the Bodeans.
Now is a key time in the career of the band, with the song in the top 10 and a new album being completed. The new album, as yet untitled, is being mastered in Los Angeles. They are looking at a mid-summer release date, and Griffin said he believes it is going to be worth the wait. Although Griffin insists the band does not feel any more pressure because of the success of the song, one can only expect a lot of people to be looking carefully at the new album.
"I think that it is the best album we've done yet, although I said the same thing about 'Go Slow Down,'" Griffin joked.
He said the band's goal has never been to write a No. 1 single, although it looks like that just might happen anyway. Griffin also said that the band is going to be featuring a lot of its new material at the concert this weekend.
"We've been off for a while (from touring) ... but we're really excited about this tour," Griffin said.
He added that they are spending plenty of time practicing in their hometown right now, and they're even "trying to remember our own songs."
The band's most recent release was the live double album, "Joe Dirt Car." Moderately successful, it presented live material predominantly recorded in the Midwest, which has the strongest fan base. Griffin said he doesn't know why the band is so popular in the Midwest compared to the rest of the country, but he only attributes it to the fact that the band is from Milwaukee.
Griffin said the band really didn't have any particular reason for releasing the double live album, which usually marks the height of a band's arrogance peak.
"We just said, 'Why not?' and released it," he said.
Griffin added that the band "had plenty of tapes" of its lives shows, so it decided to put the album together.
In the near future the band will be making an appearance on the show "Friday Night Videos," which can be seen on NBC.
"We did the song on Leno's stage, so that was kind of cool," Griffin said.
He said he isn't sure about when the appearance is going to be broadcast, but he guessed it would be tonight.
He also hinted that the band would be playing a three-night stand at one of the smaller venues in the Chicagoland area. The details were not definite, but he said it would be at a much more intimate venue than the Riviera Theatre, where the group most often plays.