NET MAGAZINE

NOVEMBER 1993

IDAHO

If you’re in a band from a place with a long list of bands all having common sonic threads, sounding like where you’re from can be quite a handicap. As urban sociologists have discovered, living in a big city provides the individual with enough space to disappear and focus on where you’re at. As Jeff Martin and John Berry of Idaho have found, the sprawl of Los Angeles provides them with the right environment to follow their own musical ideas. “L.A. is a good place for us,” explains Berry, “because we’re isolated, studio- oriented kind of guys. There’s a lot of music going on in L.A. but there’s nothing really cohesive happening anymore.”

The music on Idaho’s Caroline debut, Year After Year, creates it’s own landscape, one that’s filled with wide open spaces, dusty winds and haunting, solitary vistas of the band’s own design. As Martin explains. “We’re uncolored by what other bands are doing there. It’s kind of a void, though there’s a lot to feel that we’re revolting against. There’s this insidious-ness with things like the music industry being there and heavy metal. We feel like we have this escape module in the recording studio and we just do what we “like.”