Hootie & the Blowfish set release date for new album 'Imperfect Circle'
It’s been 14 years since Hootie & the Blowfish’s last album "Looking For Lucky." And now that the wait is ending, it seems like just yesterday.
There’s something timeless about their sound. From their stupendous 1994 debut “Cracked Rear View,” which is certified 21x Platinum (equivalent to 21 million certified units sold), to their anticipated reunion album, “Imperfect Circle” (set to be released Nov. 1), their music radiates an upbeat feeling that, judging by public response, is just what everyone needs.
“I think a lot of people do use our music as an escape,” muses lead singer Darius Rucker, 53. “We’re not preachers. We’re not gonna come out and tell you what we think is right or that the world is messed up. That’s not us. We might think about it but we’re not gonna sing about it.”
None of this is calculated, he adds.
“I can honestly say to you that we’ve never once said that we need to make anything we do sound like anything. Even way back when we were just a cover band working at frat parties in South Carolina, we just played the songs. That’s one reason why we’ve always split our publishing: No matter who actually writes it, once we get a song into that four-man groove, it becomes what it is.”
The key, then, on "Imperfect Circle" is to do what they’ve always done — only more so. For this reason, Rucker, guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld recruited top producers Jeff Trott and Frank Rogers.
“Mark brought in this song, ‘Turn It Up,’” Rucker recalls. “He wrote it for another project, so I was kind of iffy about it because it was so different for us, with kind of a ska/reggae feel. Then Jeff came in and got these two very subtle ideas about how to play the verse and chorus differently. That really took the vibe to a place where I was like, ‘Man, this is awesome!’ That’s what great producers do.”
Guest artists and collaborators further broadened their palette, with Sheryl Crow singing backup throughout the album. Lucie Silvas and Rucker share the spotlight on “Wild Fire Love,” the product of a writing session with Ed Sheeran.
Rucker approached that collaboration with only one demand.
“I was with Ed at his house in England,” he says. “We came up with this beautiful, crazy opening melody — I can’t wait for people to hear it! Then we got to the chorus. Now, everybody writes love songs, so I wanted this to be different. I told Ed, ‘I do not want the word ‘love’ in the chorus. You can’t say love!’ Ed is sitting right across from me. He picks up his guitar and sings: ‘When it’s love … wild fire love …’ I look him back in the eye and go, ‘That’s perfect! We can’t sing anything else now! (Expletive) you, man!’”
Hootie & the Blowfish appear ready to pick up where they left off as a pop music phenomenon. Yet they haven’t forgotten where they began because, really, they never left that place. Which is why they’ll be closing the American segment of their Group Therapy Tour back in their South Carolina hometown.
“While we’ve done a surprise set in a bar there now and then, we haven’t played an official set in Columbia (South Carolina) in 20 years,” Rucker says. “And now we’ve got three sold-out shows. It’s gonna be a great weekend!”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hootie & the Blowfish set release date for 'Imperfect Circle' new album
