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The Inside Connection
Posted August 2003

Manhattan Sounds
The A&R Report
By Chris M. Junior

INDEPENDENT MINDS
Feathermerchants Find New Singer, Release New Album

Feathermerchants leader Pete Veru describes his career path from longtime Wall Street junk-bond trader to rock musician as "a natural progression." He says this with tongue firmly planted in cheek -- the guitarist-songwriter admits, flashing back to 1997, that he didn't know the first thing about starting a band and was green when it came to music.

The Manhattan-based Veru has acquired a lot of music-related knowledge in the ensuring years, and much has changed in his personal and professional life during that time, too. The end result is Unarmed Against the Dark, the second Feathermerchants album, released July 8 on the band's own Innocent 12th St. Records.

In July 2001, the band was halfway done making the follow-up to its debut album when singer Erin O'Hara -- like Alison Winston before her -- quit to have a baby, Veru recalls. He and the other Feathermerchants decided to find a replacement for O'Hara by running ads in The Village Voice.

The official search didn't get off to a good start -- the first ad ran the week of Sept. 11, 2001. �Nobody even wanted to talk about music (after the terrorist attacks),� says Veru. �There was an immense haze over New York City that caused everybody, including myself, to re-evaluate what they were doing with their lives.�

In the aftermath, Veru lost his Wall Street job; looking back, he views his professional shakeup as a blessing in disguise. �I was seriously considering leaving for a very long time and would have left had they not closed (my) department,� he says.

But having more time to focus on music didn�t make the search for a singer any easier. Several months went by and many candidates came and went before Shannon Kennedy became the �overwhelmingly right choice� as the new lead voice of the band, says Veru. From the beginning, Veru made the conscious choice to have his band be independent. �The last thing I wanted to do was have an approach to this business where I�m walking around with my hat in my hand looking for money from a label,� he says. �It may take longer to make it to the final goal - whatever that is - but when we do get there, it will be worth a lot more to everybody individually than if we did it with a label.�

To achieve that final goal, Veru and his bandmates will have to find a way around the �overwhelming sense of cronyism� he says exists in the music business. �There�s almost a sheep-like mentality,� he explains. ��You get somebody at a radio station to listen to your record, and the response is, �I really like this, but I�m not going to add it to the (playlist) until somebody I respect does it (first).� That statement in itself speaks volumes.�

Veru has nothing but good things to say about pianist-keyboardist Chuck Leavell, the veteran Rolling Stones and Allman Brothers Band sideman who guests on the new Feathermerchants album. �He�s like the anti-rock star,� Veru says of Leavell, whom he met through a mutual friend. Last December, after Leavell expressed interest in playing on the disc, Veru sent him some tapes �with very few instructions� and let Leavell �go to town.�
On their surprising cover of the Psychedelic Furs song �Heartbreak Beat,� the Feathermerchants go to town in their own organic and introspective way. �Part of the attraction of the song was that it was so dated,� says Veru, citing the Furs� use of synthesizer and electronic drums. �It was easy (for us) to add something different to it� Jim (Chapdelaine) played dobro on it, I played tenor guitar and Shannon stepped up and gave this heartfelt performance. Truth be told, that thing came together very fast, and it seemed very natural for us.�

Visit www.feathermerchants.com for more information. Look for a Feathermerchants EP featuring Kennedy fronting remakes of songs from the band�s first album to be issued in the fall.