Bards of rock
The Hindu : Inspired as they were by The Beatles, the members of America also seem to have retained the late Beatle George Harrison’s Indian fascination. “It’s an unbelievable pleasure after 37 years of touring and performing to find our way here,” says Dewey Bunnell, who with Gerry Beckley and former member Dan Peek first shot to fame in 1972 with the song “A Horse With No Name”.“Of course, the reality is that we have to go where we’re asked. If we could pick where we could go, we would have been here long ago,” adds Beckley.The duo, in Bangalore for a concert, might not ring many bells for younger generations here. As after their meteoric success in the ’70s, the band faded from the scene. All that changed last year when Dewey and Beckley found respect and support from Adam Schlesinger of the band Fountains of Wayne and James Iha, former guitarist of Smashing Pumpkins.It started off when Beckley, who liked the music of Fountains of Wayne, got in touch with Schlesinger through a friend. It turned out that Schlesinger was a huge fan himself and wanted to produce America’s next album with Iha. “It all happened in a real organic way, and we just decided to try it out and see how it goes,” says Beckley. Sony, who happened to be in touch with Schlesinger showed interest in the project and the result was this year’s “Here and Now”. “From start to finish it was a good project, completely natural and not in the least bit calculated,” says Beckley. The album, he adds, is an America album: not a compilation of special guest appearances, a comeback album or an “America for the new millennium”. “We’re comfortable in not reinventing ourselves, just letting the audience know we are here in case they want our music rather than chasing after the audience,” says Bunnel.In fact, explains Bunnel, in…More

