By David Sprague
-- taken from Artist Developments in Billboard Magazine, September 25, 1993 --
Soundtrack work is normally several rungs up the ladder of pop success. But for the Toronto-based dance-rock quintet Acid Test, an appearance on the soundtrack to the acclaimed, independently released film "Highway 61" proved a fortuitous first step.
Singer/bassist Lucy Di Santo and guitarist Steve Fall, Acid Test's creative core, had been writing together since leaving another local band. They hadn't ventured out of the basement, but when director Bruce McDonald contacted Fall to play the part of a corpse in his film, the duo made the most of the chance.
"We thought it would be a good vehicle to get our music off the ground" Di Santo recalls. "We wrote the song 'Dance' first, and the director liked it and asked us to write a dance track that revolved around 'Mr. Skin', a character in the movie".
"Mr. Skin", the first single from the band's recently released Sire debut "Drop", went on to sell more than 8,000 copies in it's initial Canadian indie-label pressing. But it wasn't until after its release that Di Santo and Fall put together a "proper" band - including turntable manipulator DJ Jus-Rite.
"We started with pretty much a roots sound, but we never had any real preconceptions" Di Santo says. "These are basically tight, guitar-oriented songs, but I don't think the DJ and samples take away from that. If anything, they add to the wall of sound.
Acid Test's next step was a traditional one for young bands - a date at the New Music Seminar. Yet again, the bands fortunes improved thanks to a man with a camera. "We ran into an MTV crew, who took note and asked where we were playing," Di Santo says. "They came down, and we were on 'The Day In Rock' for a week, highlighting bands that were looking to get signed."
One of the viewers they hooked was Sire A & R manager Risa Morley, who cites Di Santo's strikingly charismatic presence as one of the bands biggest assets. "She's like a female Chris Robinson," Morley says. "Lucy is the kind of performer that really demands attention."
Morley says Di Santo can elicit notice from a wide variety of markets as well. To that end, Acid Test has been touring with performers as diverse as Snow (with whom they recently completed some Canadian dates) and Grace Jones.
"That's a notoriously difficult audience," Morley says. "And while the band went over really well, I didn't realize just how well until the next band got booed off the stage almost immediately."
Having made dance club inroads with the house-flavoured "Mr. Skin", Acid test will try to crack the alternative market with a second single, the guitar-driven "Blown".
"I don't really like categories," Di Santo says. "But I think we can play to pretty much anyone, because it's psychedelic, it's funky, and it's loud."
-- taken from Artist Developments in Billboard Magazine, September 25, 1993 --
Soundtrack work is normally several rungs up the ladder of pop success. But for the Toronto-based dance-rock quintet Acid Test, an appearance on the soundtrack to the acclaimed, independently released film "Highway 61" proved a fortuitous first step.
Singer/bassist Lucy Di Santo and guitarist Steve Fall, Acid Test's creative core, had been writing together since leaving another local band. They hadn't ventured out of the basement, but when director Bruce McDonald contacted Fall to play the part of a corpse in his film, the duo made the most of the chance.
"We thought it would be a good vehicle to get our music off the ground" Di Santo recalls. "We wrote the song 'Dance' first, and the director liked it and asked us to write a dance track that revolved around 'Mr. Skin', a character in the movie".
"Mr. Skin", the first single from the band's recently released Sire debut "Drop", went on to sell more than 8,000 copies in it's initial Canadian indie-label pressing. But it wasn't until after its release that Di Santo and Fall put together a "proper" band - including turntable manipulator DJ Jus-Rite.
"We started with pretty much a roots sound, but we never had any real preconceptions" Di Santo says. "These are basically tight, guitar-oriented songs, but I don't think the DJ and samples take away from that. If anything, they add to the wall of sound.
Acid Test's next step was a traditional one for young bands - a date at the New Music Seminar. Yet again, the bands fortunes improved thanks to a man with a camera. "We ran into an MTV crew, who took note and asked where we were playing," Di Santo says. "They came down, and we were on 'The Day In Rock' for a week, highlighting bands that were looking to get signed."
One of the viewers they hooked was Sire A & R manager Risa Morley, who cites Di Santo's strikingly charismatic presence as one of the bands biggest assets. "She's like a female Chris Robinson," Morley says. "Lucy is the kind of performer that really demands attention."
Morley says Di Santo can elicit notice from a wide variety of markets as well. To that end, Acid Test has been touring with performers as diverse as Snow (with whom they recently completed some Canadian dates) and Grace Jones.
"That's a notoriously difficult audience," Morley says. "And while the band went over really well, I didn't realize just how well until the next band got booed off the stage almost immediately."
Having made dance club inroads with the house-flavoured "Mr. Skin", Acid test will try to crack the alternative market with a second single, the guitar-driven "Blown".
"I don't really like categories," Di Santo says. "But I think we can play to pretty much anyone, because it's psychedelic, it's funky, and it's loud."
