American indie-rock band Spoon, now legendary in the genre, will bring its catchy, eclectic tunes to the Rialto Theatre on Monday.
The band was formed in 1993, kicking off a long career. Guitarist, singer and mastermind Britt Daniel started writing music as a coping method after his college-bound girlfriend ended their relationship. He was a student at the University of Texas at Austin when he met future Spoon drummer Jim Eno while playing in Alien Beats, a rockabilly band.
The pair left Alien Beats to start a rock band that tipped its hat to more experimental stuff, from post punk to krautrock. Their name itself is an ode to German legend Can, which wrote and performed a song titled "Spoon" as the theme to the film "Das Messer."
Spoon's first recorded effort was "Nefarious." The 1994 EP secured enough fan support and buzz to get the band signed to indie-rock powerhouse Matador Records, a label responsible for releasing Guided by Voices and Yo La Tengo.
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Matador released Spoon's first full-length album, "Telephono," in 1996. It was met with mostly mixed reviews.
Less than a year later, a second EP, "Soft Effects," marked Spoon's transition to the band we are more familiar with today. It revealed a less noisy, more polished sound.
"Soft Effects" was a success for the band and led to its signing by a major label, Elektra records. Elektra released the album "A Series of Sneaks" in 1998, but it sold poorly, and the band was dropped from the label a mere four months after it had been signed.
Spoon decided on another indie label to get its career back on track, signing with Merge in 2000. After one EP, the band released "Girls Can Tell" in 2001. It was a critical and commercial hit - arguably, a classic.
The band quickly released a follow-up, "Kill the Moonlight," which included "The Way We Get By," a track that became a huge hit when it was featured on the television series "The O.C."
It was the beginning of a hot streak for Spoon, which has continuously released well-received records since then.
Despite numerous lineup changes in its bass and second-guitar positions (currently filled by Rob Pope and Eric Harvey), the core of the band - guitarist-singer Daniel and drummer Eno - has remained intact. Spoon's seventh studio album, "Transference," was released in January.
"Spoon's critical acclaim is almost comically universal," Melena Ryzik wrote in The New York Times. She pointed out that online review aggregator Metacritic named Spoon the best artist of the decade in December.
Spoon proves with musical audacity that integrity and financial success need not be mutually exclusive.
If you go
• What: Spoon in concert, with opener Dale Watson.
• When: 8 p.m. Monday.
• Where: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.
• Tickets: $28 in advance, through www. rialtotheatre.com; $30-$35 the day of the show.
Adam Lehrer is a UA journalism student who is apprenticing at the Star. Contact him at starapprentice@azstarnet.com
