Old 97's

Revenge of the Chess Club

Writer: Andy Whitman
Features, Issue 11, Published online on 01 Aug 2004 Page 1 of 2 Next >

I remember the high school chess club. Nearsighted guys with thick glasses and bad dandruff sat around the cafeteria tables after seventh period, contemplating their chessboards and the Sicilian Defense. Everybody else studiously avoided them. Members of the chess club didn’t go to the prom, much less talk to girls. They barely spoke at all, preferring the nonverbal precision of a well-conceived Queen’s Gambit to anything approaching normal social interaction. I know. The hair has improved, and perhaps the social skills have improved, too (you’d have to check with my wife). But I still need the thick lenses.

It’s not quite the stuff of classic rock ’n’ roll. But apparently Rhett Miller also remembers the high school chess club, because he’s written a song about it, “Friends Forever.” And I’m currently pumping the Old 97’s frontman for information about this particular standout track on Drag It Up, the band’s first album in three years.

“No, I wasn’t really in the chess club,” he says, laughing. “But I knew those guys and hung out with them. To tell you the truth —and I’m a little embarrassed to admit this —I was more of a Dungeons and Dragons guy in high school. But the message of that song is that it gets better. I’ve seen it again and again. The cheerleaders and the homecoming kings and queens —what happens to those people? A lot of them end up living these very disappointing lives. They peak at 18. And the nerds end up taking over the world. But yes, I was pretty much your basic, brainy high school misfit.”

That future prediction certainly held true for Miller. His heart-on-sleeve songs and charismatic stage presence have long made him a fan favorite (if not a full-fledged rock ’n’ roll sex symbol), and the doe-eyed poster boy cover of his 2002 solo debut, The Instigator, only added to his reputation as the Casanova of alt.country. From high school pawn to king of the world. Not bad for a self-proclaimed high school nerd.

The nerd and his bandmates have been busy. In the three years between 2001’s Satellite Rides and the new Drag It Up, the Dallas-based quartet has seen wholesale changes. The band moved from the mega-label support of Elektra Records to roots-rock upstart New West. Bass player and songwriting collaborator Murry Hammond married singer/songwriter Grey DeLisle and relocated to Los Angeles. Guitarist Ken Bethea and drummer Philip Peoples added a couple of second-generation bangers and screamers to the extended family. And lead singer/songwriter Miller got married, had a son and relocated to upstate New York. Two years ago, many fans saw his aforementioned solo album as an omen of their favorite twangcore band’s impending demise.

“A lot of people thought that,” Miller concedes. “But we never broke up, and we never intended to break up. We took a break from one another and lived our lives. That’s all. And now we’re back.”

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Old 97's

Revenge of the Chess Club

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