Time Is on Their Side

By NATALIE NICHOLS

March 8, 2001 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

What do artists do when facing changes at their record labels that could affect their careers? If you’re superstar Courtney Love, you vow to bring down the entire industry by filing a lawsuit challenging your contract.

But when you’re mere mortals, like L.A. rock trio Gwenmars, sometimes you just have to wait. That’s what happened when Hollywood Records President Bob Pfeifer, who had personally recruited the band to the Disney-owned label, left the company in 1997.

Gwenmars, which had released its grunge-rock debut album, “Magnosheen,” in 1995, was soon looking to leave too, but, says singer-songwriter-guitarist Mike Thrasher, 28, “we had to wait until [Hollywood Records] got a new president before they would allow us to do anything.”

That explains the long gap between the first album and the second, “Driving a Million,” which has just come out on Brooklyn-based SeeThru Broadcasting. The group celebrates tonight with a record release party at the Troubadour.

A Broader Palette Emerges on New Album

The band’s lineup, which includes bassist Matt Westfield, 29, and drummer John Boutin, 32, hasn’t changed since the beginning. But Gwenmars isn’t the same group it was six years ago. For one thing, its name--inspired by Thrasher’s quirky kindergarten teacher--is now one word instead of two.

“It looks better that way,” Thrasher says. “Plus, we’re in a new era now, so we wanted to have [a new spelling].”

Boutin chimes in with a grin, “It’s more like a band, and not a female folk singer.”

Having pushed the grunge element to the back of its sonic bus (a trace lingers on the new “Train Song”), Gwenmars joins the ever-swelling ranks of young bands rediscovering the joys of power-pop, vocal harmonies and glam flash. Such “Driving a Million” tracks as “She Hung the Moon” reveal more mature songwriting and are painted with a broader, more melodic, palette.

“This time we were inspired by an infinite amount of ideas and bands,” Thrasher says. “I think it sounds that way. Matt and I were very much into early ‘80s, Echo & the Bunnymen, Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Cure, all that stuff. It’s that, mixed with early-’60s mod stuff and ‘70s glam.”

The piquant soundscapes on “Driving a Million” are a far cry from Thrasher’s roots. Back in the his native Birmingham, Ala., his dad led a veteran country-gospel group, the Thrasher Brothers.

Young Mike, who at age 12 received his first electric guitar from his dad, got a taste of the musician’s life as a kid when he went on tours during summer vacations to help sell T-shirts and occasionally play guitar on stage. “Going on the road, being on the bus and just living that life [was great],” Thrasher says. “But I knew I didn’t want to play country music.”

After moving to Los Angeles, Thrasher met Tulsa native Westfield and Woodland Hills’ Boutin when he was recording demos at the studio where the two worked. Formed in 1995, the band played only a handful of gigs before signing to Hollywood Records with a fanfare that scarcely hinted at the frustrating delays to come.

“We did a big show at the Whisky with [Disney CEO] Michael Eisner [attending] and everything,” recalls Thrasher.

The trio doesn’t appear to harbor any resentment over the ensuing events. They made the best of their time on the sidelines, releasing a self-titled EP and continuing to play live, opening for such acts as Filter and the Catherine Wheel as well as headlining their own shows and even performing four concerts in Tokyo for crowds of young kids. “By the last show,” Boutin recalls, “they were trying to sing the words and pumping their fists and everything.”

That was a kick, the members agree. But finally being able to display the results of their own hard-won evolution with “Driving a Million” is an even bigger thrill.

“The songs grew up,” Westfield says. “They’re more organized. The other album is a little rougher-edged.”

“Yeah,” agrees Thrasher. “We kind of got that angrier vibe out of our system.”

* Gwenmars, with Driven and P.J. Smith, at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, tonight at 8. $8. (310) 276-6168.