CNN - Hootie and the Blowfish aim for an encore

Hootie and the Blowfish: 'on a roll'

April 23, 1996
Web posted at: 6:45 a.m. EDT

NEW YORK (CNN) -- After a decade of hard road work as a bar-band and frat-party favorite, Hootie and the Blowfish became a phenomenon, selling more than 8 million copies of their debut album and winning two Grammys. (1.3MB QuickTime movie)

How do they follow that up and avoid the sophomore jinx?

"We don't worry about avoiding it. We made the best record we could make. So now, just put it out and go on tour. You can't really worry about it," says lead singer Darius Rucker.

"This is like the 'Rumours' of this generation. You know, Fleetwood Mac sold 15 million once. They never did again, and no one expected them to. So, in a way, they don't have to worry about hitting that mark again, because no one expects them to," says Melinda Newman, talent editor for Billboard Magazine.

"Old Man & Me" is the first single from the new album, "Fairweather Johnson."

"We were on a roll. We were motivated and we went straight from the tour to do a new album," says drummer Soni Sonefeld. "Because of that, it sounds fresh."

"The directions that we touched on with "Cracked Rear View" we've been able to kind of actually go in, on this album," says band member Mark Bryan.

Hootie fans are going to say 'Hooray, it's more of the Blowfish music we love.' Hootie haters are going to say 'Yuck, it's just more of the Blowfish music we love to hate.'

"Hootie and the Blowfish is an easy target," says Rucker. "There are a lot of people with a lot of time on their hands, and just you know, we're their target."

As for the album title, "Fairweather Johnson," it's their derogatory term for a front-runner, a sports fan who jumps on the bandwagon.

Sports, especially golf, are big with the Blowfish, who got ESPN to participate in one of their videos.

"We're all equally bad," says Rucker.

"It's amazing how out of the spotlight ... and people knowing that we play golf, how bad we have become. We've learned that we are poor golfers through all this," says Sonefeld.

Despite their "handicap" of seemingly having as many detractors as fans, Hootie and the Blowfish will play through, thank you.
From Correspondent Mark Scheerer

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Hootie and the Blowfish: 'on a roll'

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