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Obnumbe* 23, 1994 =
w. a little help from Michael Lorant*
friends, the support of Amy Ray* Daemon
record label, and enough motivation from
both ends of Highway 316, Jesus Christ Su
perstar A Resurrection was bom and is cur
rently available in record stores everywhere
It was inevitable that Lorant and Indigo
Girl Amy Ray would eventually meet Ray
began Daemon Records four years ago as
a national, independent artists' label' show
casing Ray* favorite singer/songwriters and
bands, as well as supporting the mdy folk-
rock scene in Atlanta When Lorant proposed
his idea to her of recording the JC
soundtrack, she agreed wholeheartedly to
perform the role of Jesus and to release it
on her label
Proceeds from sales of the album will go
to Georgians Against Gun Violence. Center
to Prevent Handgun Violence in Washington.
D.C., and the Urban
Training Organization
of Atlanta Lorant has
been working with vari
ous gun control orga
nizations for the last
few years after he was
mugged and shot in
Atlanta* Little Five
Points.
*We wanted to give
money to educational
groups So it* not a
straightforward matter
of us being against
guns — we re just try
ing to cut down on the
violence,’ he ex
plained
Jesus Christ Super-
star had been a favor
ite album of Lorant*
since he was six when
his sister brought home
the brown-cased
oouoie album featuring
Ian Gillan of Deep
PurDle in the vocal role
of Jesus. Lorant dis
counted all other replications — the Broad
way cast ensemoie recordings, the movie
soundtrack — in favor of the raw early 70s
r ock’n roil version Andrew Lloyd Webber and
Tim Rice originated
"Gerard McHugh and I were on tour three
years ago with the indigo Girls In our rent-
a-car we had a tape of Jesus Christ Super-
star and we were groovin' to it. It was some
thing you get reunited with later in life and
you think hey, this is pretty fun And so then
we started daydreaming about When we re
rich and famous we ll do our own version '
and because we were on tour with the In
digo Girls we were all revved up to have Amy
play Jesus and Emily play Mary ’
Lorant. a ’nice Jewish boy," cast himself
as Judas.
Once Lorant began the concrete realiza
tion of his project he discovered many closet
admirers of Superstar and quickly built up a
cast of 75-plus musicians who would even
tually invade Rob Gal* 16 Track
Snack'n*Shack studio m Atlanta from Janu
ary to June 1994 to record the entire
soundtrack In the end. Daemon and Long
Play joined forces and released the album
together.
Ray also looks at her involvement with
the project and especially her role as Jesus,
as an androgynous effort to point out rela
tionships that Jesus* dealings with people
was not baaed on sexuality
•| donl want to make people think that
Jesus is half woman/half man or anything.’
Ray said, laughing a l don't think it* impor
tant with any of the characters. It seems that
the songs are dealing with relationships be
tween Jesus and other people *
’Amy belts out the songs.* Lorant ex
claimed ’She really rocks. I think it was a dif
ficult part to interpret for her She was the first
person to do any vocals She didnl have the
reference of all the other vocals It* a hard
character to get a handle on. because a lot of
the complexities are with Judas and a lot of
the turning points are with him, so I think she
had to go in and kick some ass *
To celebrate the release, the entire ’cast*
will perform a benefit concert at The Variety
Playhouse in Atlanta, a theater that holds ap
proximately 1,000 people. Nov 26 and 27.
‘I have no idea what to expect It* a ben
efit, so we hope to raise, in one night, we think
we can raise a profit of $8,000 that* go m and
be given to the organizations' money right off
the bat ’
Though both shows at the time of this print
ing are soid-out there* still a chance of stand
ing-room-only ticnets available Call 1-404-
521-1786 for more info.
The album itself is an Atlanta/Athens all-
star production featuring besides Lorant as
judas and Ray as Jesus Emily Sahers as
Mary, Benjamin (formerly of Opal Foxx Quar
tet and currently of Smoke) as Calaphas Mine
Mantione-Hcimes from Five-Eight as Annas
former Jody Grinder and now Rock’A’Teenster
Kelly Hogan as Simon Zealotes and Gerard
McHugh as Pontius Pilate Bands featured on
the album include Dew Lay Quiet Awhile The
Murray Head Experience. Cicada Sings. The
Seed and Feed Marching Abominable. Uncle
Green. Opal Foxx Quartet, Five-Eight, Engine.
Full Stop and Social Insanity
But the biggest star of the album is most
definitely Lorant* co-producer Rob Gal. en
gineer and owner of the recording studio The
overall production features a core group of
musicians — Uncle Green* Bill Decker. Dave
Patterson. Rob Gal. various keyboard players
and John Bigay make up quite a supergroup
of Atlanta all-stars
’Rob was like *What are you doing to me7*
Lorant said *1 think it turned out to be a real
positive thing for him. He held it together wen
He not only engineered the whole thing, he
helped with the whole production. He wasnl
into the album; he didnt know the album, and
it was skghtly mystifying with what the hell was
everyone so excited about He ended up by
playing some great guitar ’
Gal, utilizing 16 tracks, had to move
enough tracks around so there were more
tracks to use Lorant explains that Gal ’re
corded analog onto 8 tracks where he mixed
it down to two to create more room.’ Yet. to
listen to the album you’d never know any dif
ference — crisp, clear production, tight
instrumentals, an ecstatic ’live* sound, espe
cially with the larger choral parts
Lorant points out a favorite track, ’This
Jesus Must Die,' sung by the evil triumvirate
’That* Paul from Big Fish who has a con
niving voce.’ laughed Lorant ’Isn’t that funny?
It* just a motley crew of different vocal styles
and the whole crowd thing in the background
going on really came together well Beniamin
from Opal Foxx — it* really original, quite ongi-
nal if I want to put it nicety'*
Ray describes the musical as ’transcen
dent ’
*1 believe in Jesus
as an historical figure,
but I’ve also got more
of the Islam ideas —
everyone having God
within them Itwasnla
stretch for Jesus to be
part of God But I've
put a lot of things to
gether because I was
a religion major and
have read a lot of stuff
If you go through and
read all the lyrics just
everybody* points of
perspective [Judas is]
dealing with a political
situation that he* afraid
Jesus is screwing up
by becoming too pow
erful. but it* politics
These people have
been enslaved their
whole life and they
think they've got this
hope and then they feel
like the hooe is rocking
the boat so much that
it's going to ruin it It*
important for people to understand it from that
oerspective because that* a real reality that
still happens and it can heip you today un
derstand where you are.’
Lorant adds ’I think it has all the elements
— it* kind of a tribute album; it* kind of a cel
ebration of that rock dinosaur 70s thing; it's
got ail the ail-stars in the local scene ... The
problem with tribute albums m general and
we ve been on a few is that often they re indi
vidually neat performances but as a record
you just kind of listen to it once and you're into
it and maybe you nave a favorite few songs
and that* it Cm hoping .. I could've had each
band do a song but I was hoping to string
people along to be into the whole dramatic ac
tion by having Amy throughout the album bick
ering with Michael and backed with different
bands and have Gerard re-occurnng I thought
the dramatic tension would be enough to make
people listen to H the whole way through That*
the kind of album I would listen to the whole
way through There are not that many albums
that you sit down with headphones ...”
Hillary Merster
Jesus Christ Superstar A Resurrection mil
be performed m its entirety by the Indigo Girls.
Big Fish Ensemble, Five-Eight. Opal Foxx
Quartet/Smoke. Dew. Engine, etc., etc. etc ,
at the Variety Playhouse m Atlanta Nov 26 and
27. The show is sold out. but there * always
the possibility of standmg-room-oNy tickets
Cat 404-521-1786 for more info Otherwise,
buy the abum — you! help worthy causes
and have something to listen to all the way
through,...
28S \i\l. Washington St.
Athens. GA
Call 549-7871 for Show updates
Advance tickets on sale at
Big Shot Records & Wuxtry on Baxter
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