Articles and Reviews

• Billboard Magazine Album Review
• Gavin Report Album Review
• Detroit Journal - Canada's Sal's Birdland mixes humor and hit songs
• Hollywood Reporter - Ottawa is suddenly becoming a pretty happening rock scene

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Billboard Magazine
October 21,1995

Debut album from this Ottawa-based five-piece is catchy, entertaining, and often amusing, with a tone set by the folkishly rough-hewn, multitracked vocals of lead singer known simply as Sal. Highlights of a consistently engaging set include the post-punk psychedelia of "Love Is Groovy," the lush starry-eyed waltz of "Crumble," the smooth pop groove of "Beating Up Myself," and the infectious, unavoidable hooks of "I'm Not Like Madonna" and "Wonderful World."

By GAVIN's Editorial Staff.
Singles
by Dave Sholin

Sal's Birdland
"Love Is Groovy" (Discovery)

Naming an album Nude Photos Inside is one sure way to get attention, and though some may be disappointed with the photos, the music is another case entirely. Look for these Canadian rockers to begin to fly Stateside real soon.

Detroit Journal News
Friday, November 3, 1995

Canada's Sal's Birdland mixes humor and hit songs

By GARY GRAFF
Detroit Journal Music Writer

The name of the group is Sal's Birdland, taken from a friend's chicken shop in Rochester, N.Y.

But these days you could call the Canadian quintet Alannis' First Stop.

That would be Alannis Morissette, the songstress who's topping Billboard charts, singing her hits on "Saturday Night Live" and simultaneously gracing the covers of Rolling Stone and Spin. The members of Sal's Birdland know Morissette well; they were early mentors for the future star.

"I met her when she was 12," says singer Louise Reny, aka Sal. Seems that even then, Morissette knew she wanted to be a rock 'n' roll star, and in Ottawa, Sal was already something of a legend. So Morissette sought her out, invited Sal to her house, and began picking her brain.

"My advice to her was to stay out of the music business," Sal recalls with a laugh. "Good one, eh?"

Morissette quickly fell in with Sal and guitarist Leslie Howe, who produced, co-wrote and released Morissette's first two albums on his own Ghetto Records label. These days they're still friends, and the duo is thrilled for Morissette's success.

"It's hard to believe or imagine that our buddy is like this huge star," says Sal, who knows the target of Morissette's scathing hit "You Oughta Know" but refuses to divulge his identity.

"If ever I met anybody who deserves to be a star, it's her. She's worked really hard; it's not like it's fallen into her lap or anything. But don't get me wrong, there's a little part of me that's envious. I wish it was me, also."

That's why Sal and the rest of the Birdland — Howe, guitarist Mike Goyette, bassist Tim Dupont, and drummer Andrew Lamarche — are singing "I Wanna Be a Star" on their U.S. debut album. "Nude Photos Inside" — they're baby pictures — was recently released on Discovery Records; the label run by Jac Holzman, who lists The Doors, Queen, Carly Simon, the MC5 and the Stooges among his discoveries.

Sal and Howe, who are both in their early 30s, began playing in Led Zeppelin cover bands when they were in high school. The bar band experiences, she says, were helpful; "Once I started writing my own songs and going into a recording studio, I could draw on all these other styles I used to copy."

The duo's own sound is delightfully tuneful — an energetic but smooth sort of pop that recalls late '70s and early '80s new wave bands such as Blondie and Missing Persons.

Their songs are marked by spiky, sarcastic humor, as well as some poignant ironies. Images of emotional and physical abuse counter the titles of "Love is Groovy," "So . . . Happy" and "Wonderful World." On the other hand, "I'm Not Like Madonna" is screaming, with Sal singing deadpan observations such as "I keep all my clothes on/It must disappoint you/I like my religion."

"We're a sarcastic bunch of idiots," Sal explains with a laugh. "That's why we named the album 'Nude Photos Inside' — for a joke. People can see that we have a sense of humor, that we're not all that depressed and that I'm not the bitter, man-hating kind of woman I may appear to be in some of the songs."

Any mention of Madonna, however, brings Sal back to Morissette, who records for Madonna's label, Maverick Records. And she remembers a call from her former protege, shortly after Morissette's first lunch with Madonna.

"We had just finished doing that song," Sal recalls, "and Alannis calls me up and says 'Sal, you wouldn't believe it; you're just like Madonna!'

"That was too ironic. She just said our personalities are pretty similar. Even the guys in the band have said that; when we watch that movie, 'Truth or Dare,' they're like, 'God, Sal, that's you.' Except I won't take my clothes off — for now. I haven't been offered the big bucks to do it yet."

Ottawa is suddenly becoming a pretty happening rock scene

Hollywood Reporter
Dec. 1995

Ottawa is the capital city of Canada, but it's also suddenly a rock hot spot. Its export of the moment is Alanis Morissette, the empowering female who may be the most volcanic new singer of the year. She represents quite a departure from the days when Ottawa's leading homegrown figures were Paul Anka and Rich Little — talented guys, but not exactly rock heros.

The record industry is now checking out Ottawa for more rock acts sprinkled amid the city's many government bureaucrats. The most exciting new act is Sal's Birdland, a hard-rock/alt-rock band that sounds like a latter-day version of the Pretenders and Concrete Blonde.

"Ottawa is a pretty happening scene," says Birdland guitarist Leslie Howe. "Ottawa is an upper-middle-class city that doesn't have a lot of places to play, but has a lot of talent. Another band, the Barstool Prophets, is starting to break out."

As you might expect of a small city, the musicians know one another — and Sal's Birdland has been quite friendly with Morissette. Howe and the tersely named Sal (real name: Louise Reny) once wrote songs for Morissette.

"We met Alanis when she was a little kid who wanted to be Janet Jackson," says Sal, who wrote a couple of long-forgotten dance-pop songs for Morissette, while Howe even co-produced and engineered two dance-pop albums for Morisette.

"I started working with Alanis when she was 13," Howe says of a time period that was eight years ago. "I made two albums with her, then she was a star in Canada at age 14. After that, I wanted to do my own thing."

Howe and Sal, who have known each other since high school, later formed the pop group One to One, which made two albums for Warner Bros. and one for A&M before being rudely dropped. It's an experience that feeds into a bitter new Birdland tune, "California Au Revoir," taken from the group's solid debut disc, "Nude Photos Inside."

The band's well-earned sarcasm is exemplified by the "Nude Photos Inside" title. There are nude photos inside the record sleeve, but they're pictures of the band as infants. And another song, "I'm Not Like Madonna," further slams the record industry's preoccupation with sex.

"The record companies are always saying, 'Show more skin,'" notes Howe. "But we're saying: 'I'm not like Madonna. I don't need to do that to sell records.'" Adds Sal: "There's definitely some anger on the record."

Sal's Birdland records for the Discovery label headed by Jac Holzman, a rock legend who has worked with the Doors and Carly Simon.