HEADING FOR THE SUN | BEING HERE | CREATING AN IMAGE | COVERING PEARL JAM
THINGS GET EVEN BETTER
| Two weeks before they left on tour, Smash
Mouth threw an album-release party at the Usual, on South First Street
in San Jose. In a stifling, smoky bar with 800 people celebrating
with free booze, food and a Smash Mouth concert, the band thought they
had reached the top.
"This is the f---ing best night I've ever had," Harwell said, as he left the stage. "It doesn't get any better than this." Well, yes it does. The guys can't even go to a mall in St. Louis without getting mobbed for autographs. Chicks flirt. Companies give them free equipment. In Cleveland, they partied with their high-school heroes, the guys from Suicidal Tendencies. |
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Even Hollywood is listening to Smash Mouth.
Producers of a new movie featuring Holly Hunter are negotiating to use
45 seconds of "Nervous in the Alley" in the movie's trailer--for $25,000.
So much has happened since that night in July when they were waiting for their video to appear. By the time the guys hit Manhattan on July 31, their single was No. 5 on Billboard's New Artists Chart--high enough for Matt Pinfield, the Matt Pinfield that they have watched since his days hosting Head Bangers Ball a decade ago, to include them to be guests--guests!--on his show.
"It was totally mind-boggling," Camp says. "Here we go walking into the studio and Matt Pinfield says, "I really like your record.' And all I was thinking is that I've been watching him on TV for years. He totally dug us. He even walked us out of the building when we left and said that when he comes to California he wants to hang out with us."
Just when the guys start thinking things can't get any better, the phone rings, and things get even better. The other day the David Letterman show called, booking them for Oct. 10.
"That's pretty cool," Camp says.
TRACIE CONE is a staff writer for West. Her e-mail address is tcone@sjmercury.com