Good times

Memories of the '80s: A conversation with Flock of Seagulls, Information Society& When in Rome

When I heard When in Rome, A Flock of Seagulls, Information Society, and Animotion were coming to Stereo Live, I reached for my hairspray and black eyeliner and hit the door running.

Upon meeting with When in Rome (now When in Rome UK with Rob Juarez and original members Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann), Christopher Anton of Information Society (the lead singer from 2006-2008 and from 2009-present) and Mike Score of A Flock of Seagulls, the first thing I noticed was that they are a group of laid back and accessible guys — the type with whom you want to kick up your feet, have a few beers, and shoot the breeze.

Score has a great sense of humor, so it is easy to see why Flock of Seagulls’ hits like “I Ran” and “Space Age Love Song” are so fun. His personality shines through in the music.

The second thing I noticed was, the backcombed big hair of the '80s is long gone. I was bummed because I was looking forward to seeing Score's Flock of Seagulls waterfall coif that is almost as famous as the band itself. Score is now balding and a long blond pony tail in back is all that remains of his once signature look. CultureMap caught up with the band members backstage before their concert a couple of weeks ago.

CultureMap: Welcome to Houston! Have you spent much time here? Any favorite memories?

Andrew Mann (When in Rome): The first time we toured we got on a plane, did a sound check, and didn’t have much of a chance to see it. But now that we’re back, we had a bit of a chance today so we’ve had a look around and we love Houston!

Christopher Anton: I live in Houston now. My wife is from Texas and we got married a few years ago. She was running an independent booking agency and we met at one of my shows.

Mike Score: Walking away with the money! No, but to me personally, doing shows anywhere as long as it’s a good show, works and you don’t have particular memories unless it’s a historical gig or it’s the biggest gig you’ve ever done.

CM: Is there anything you're looking forward to seeing or eating?

AM (WIR): We went downtown and saw all the shops and had brisket and sausage.

Rob Juarez (WIR): And the Tex Mex here – it is insane!

MS: My bed, the television and the stage (laughing).

CM: What are some of your favorite new bands? What's on your iPod?

Clive Farrington (WIR): Janelle Monae. She is a soul sort of singer with a stage presence very similar to Prince.

MS: A Flock of Seagulls!

CM: Do you have any advice for the aspiring musicians out there?

AM (WIR): You have to keep working at it. You might not think it is going to be a hit record, but keep working on it. It will come eventually. We were in the studio 24 hours a day until we got the hit, "The Promise." So it all comes down to work, really.

CA: You have to have a love for it and you have to want to do this because you have to be willing to put up with a lot of sacrifices.

MS: Stick with it, but have a good time with it because you never know if it’s going to take off or not, so why don’t you just enjoy it? True success comes from that.

CM: Has a company ever approached you to use a song for an advertisement that you thought was an odd request or that was noteworthy?

AM (WIR): It is always used before we’ve been told. While on vacation in Greece once, there was a peach ad (on television) and “The Promise” was playing in the background. The company was promising to deliver the peach on time.

RJ (WIR): A lot of times they (the companies) just do it and then you get the publishing check. It is like, what’s this check from? Oh, Sears used “The Promise” for a lawnmower ad – “I Promise” your lawn will be clean. And then of course, there is Napoleon Dynamite. “The Promise” played in the closing scene. Now that was fantastic!

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Movie Review

Spielberg-inspired movie The End of Oak Street is a dino-snore

Photo by Daniel McFadden

Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway in The End of Oak Street.

Steven Spielberg is the iconic director of the last 50 years, so it’s no surprise that many other filmmakers have borrowed from his classic films. But most of the time those come in the form of references or homages, not straight up theft, which is what it feels like watching The End of Oak Street play out in front of your eyes.

Set in the early 1980s in an idyllic suburban neighborhood of an unnamed city, Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) are parents to two teenagers, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery). They’re also possibly heading toward divorce, as Audrey is secretly writing a novel with a thinly-veiled plot about their life, and Brian is cagey about having to earn extra money with a pizza delivery job.

That all gets put on the backburner when a mysterious event takes their entire neighborhood back to the time of dinosaurs. Armed with little more than a shotgun and sledgehammer, Audrey and Brian do their best to keep the family safe in their house. But the longer the ordeal goes on, circumstances force them out onto the streets and into the increasing danger that’s all around them.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, the film tries immensely hard to be like the Spielberg movies its filmmaker clearly adores, but fails at almost every turn. It never earns the broken family in ‘80s suburbia vibes that were prevalent in E.T., going all in right away in the opening scene with a neighborhood block party that feels forced. Other elements like a bully who has it out for Brian, the family dog that disappears, and an angry neighbor come across as the tropes they are and not as organic parts of the plot.

When it finally gets to its dinosaur sequences, they pale in comparison to those found in Jurassic Park. The strange manner in which the dinosaurs appear is a big part of that, but the action involving them forgoes ominous moments that could build tension for those that play up gore in an unexpected way for a PG-13 movie. Many of the attacks have so little emotional meaning that they come off as comical, which is entertaining but in a hollow way.

As if those weren’t enough, Mitchell — perhaps at the behest of producer J.J. Abrams (who made his own Spielbergian film, Super 8) — tries to honor Spielberg in other ways. Just like in Jaws, he employs the use of a split diopter lens, which keeps characters in both the foreground and background in focus. But instead of using it judiciously, it’s brought out in three separate scenes, including a laughable one with the four family members where it turns into overkill.

Hathaway, coming off of a role in The Odyssey that could earn her an Oscar nomination, is the best part of this film. But even her evident skills are dragged down by the ridiculousness of the story, which requires hysterics that even she can’t sell. McGregor can normally be counted on for a good performance, but he gives several line readings with strange cadences that make his already-underwritten character come off worse. Stella and Convery are okay, but their roles are unmemorable overall.

Mitchell and his team can never settle on exactly what type of film they were trying to make, and so even though The End of Oak Street has a few moments that work, they’re surrounded by many others that don’t. In trying to emulate Spielberg — there’s even a blatant Back to the Future (produced by Spielberg) rip-off towards the end — all Mitchell has done is show how difficult it is to be the master.

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The End of Oak Street opens in theaters on August 14.