DRH in The State (Columbia, SC), 1991

SOUND OF FOLLOW FOR NOW - MAY BE MORE USER FRIENDLY

by MICHAEL MILLER


Here it comes, that inevitable question, the one that slithers into almost every interview Follow For Now's David Ryan-Harris does.

"What about all those comparisons between your band and Living Colour? How do you feel about that?," queries the intrepid journalist.

You can hear Ryan-Harris sigh into the phone, having been forced to deal once again with the "Black Rock Coalition thing."

"The whole visual thing has very little to do with the actual music," he says. "But I guess it's just indicative of the times, what people look at and what they perceive, that whole deal.

"I think some of those comparisons are ill-founded. Living Colour has been an inspiration, but they weren't necessarily an influence. We were together before we even knew there was a Living Colour."

Having that out of the way, Ryan-Harris gets down to business and talks about the real influences that have given Follow For Now, an Atlanta-based quintet, its powerful rock 'n' roll presence.

"Steely Dan, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Parliament/Funkadelic, Frank Zappa," he rolls them off like a funk, pop and rock who's who.

"Our sound is really sort of pure. Nothing was really thought out or planned. Everybody in the band has lots and lots of influences and they just sort of naturally came together in a composite."

It's a wild and wonderful composite, too, drawing one moment on heavy- metal crunch, then surprising everyone a second later with some serious, George Clinton-style funk. Follow For Now wears its influences well, but it's also forged an identity that's richer and more accessible than Living Colour, Fishbone, Urban Dance Squad or any other band that's been plugged into the funk/rock pigeonhole.

"I believe that's true," Ryan-Harris says. "We have a little more of an organic sort of sound. The sound is a little more round, to put it in geometrical terms. It's, like, more user-friendly."

Ryan-Harris was born in Evanston, Illinois, but moved to Atlanta with his family when he was seven. He met a kid named Enrique in second grade, but they went their separate ways in high school.

The two young men were reunited a few years later when they happened to participate in the same local talent show. They formed a band and eventually guitarist Chris Tinsley, bassist Jamie Turner and keyboardist Billy Fields came on board. The unit gelled as Follow For Now in April 1988.

After becoming one of the hottest acts on the Deep South club scene, Follow For Now raised music industry eyebrows with high-powered sets at showcases like Nashville Extravaganza and South By Southwest. Chrysalis Records signed the band in January 1991, and four months later Follow For Now's debut was being mixed by noted engineer Thom Panunzio.

Ryan-Harris says he hopes that someday his group and others like it will transcend labels like "black rock 'n' roll band" and be judged solely on their music. When that happens, Follow For Now will move to the head of the modern rock class.


***Thanks to Furious Rose for submitting this interview.