“Stay the course. Keep on trying.” So sings Glenn Mercer on the Feelies’ In Between, their sixth album and second since rebooting in 2008. Last year, the Haledon, N.J., band founded by guitarists Mercer and Bill Million celebrated its 40th anniversary. Crazy Rhythms, their frenetic, classic debut, arrived in 1980, but they waited six years for their second, the comparatively sedate The Good Earth. That was the first Feelies album with the band’s current lineup of Mercer, Million, bassist Brenda Sauter, drummer Stan Demeski and percussionist Dave Weckerman. After the (relatively) quick run of three albums between 1986 and 1991, the band retired until Sonic Youth coaxed a reunion in 2008 that led to sporadic touring and to 2011’s Here Before. The Feelies will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on them.
Demeski: This is my favorite VU LP, and while I have a Banana LP signed by four out of five members, this one is a bit neater. Lou signed it directly to me. Anyway, 1988 was a pretty big year for the band and me personally. We released our first A&M LP, did extensive (for us at least) touring and got Lou to come up and play a few songs with us at a radio-station party at a weird venue on Long Island. Add to this that my wife and I got married a week before this event and you get the picture. Lou showed up late, I introduced myself and gave him a run down on what we were going to do and then asked him if he played on the All Night Workers’ “Why Don’t You Smile.” His response was a predictable, “I can’t remember.” Then I got him to sign the LP.
