On Enon

Enon Phenoms: Schmersal and co. flip through the
<i>Society</i> pages.

Enon Phenoms: Schmersal and co. flip through the Society pages.

A band comes together like magic.

by Paul Burress

When John Schmersal’s former band, Brainiac, lost lead singer Tim Taylor in a car accident in 1997, he went into a self-imposed hibernation. During this hiatus Schmersal relocated from Dayton, Ohio to Kentucky and recorded a plaintive, solo acoustic album under the name John Stuart Mill. “I was always making music, but it took like two years to want to be in a band again, and seriously play with people,” he says.

After moving to New York, Schmersal’s reborn desire to be in a band led to a jam session with guitarist/percussionist Rick Lee and drummer Steve Calhoon of Skeleton Key. “The original band got together cause I knew the Skeleton Key guys from touring and when I came to New York I ran into both of them and started playing with them but separately at first. We were just jamming, man, and then like magic, we became a band.” Adopting the name Enon from a small town just outside of Dayton, the band went about recording their debut album, Believo! for See Thru Broadcasting in 2000.

The lineup solidified with the departure of both Lee and Calhoon and the addition of ex-Blonde Redhead and Lapse bassist Toko Yasuda and drummer Matt Schulz. Schmersal had known Yasuda since he moved to New York. “She had just quit her former band the Lapse and I asked if she would be interested in playing and, like magic, she joined the band.” Schmersal has known Schulz for nearly 15 years. “He is Tyler [Trent] from Brainiac’s cousin. He did some touring for us when Steve Calhoon was unable to do shows. And when Steve could no longer support the band again, like magic, Matt joined the band.”

After touring with the Flaming Lips, Dismemberment Plan and Girls Against Boys, Enon was supposed to release their second album in 2001, but the original label went under. High Society was finally put out this year by Touch & Go, Brainiac’s former label. Schmersal isn’t worried about any comparison Enon may get to his former outfit. “It’s natural that people would draw comparisons. There is definitely lineage going on here.” While on tour the band listens to the Dead Kennedys, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, The Winks and Skull Control -- since Schulz is driving more often then not -- and Schmersal is worried about it influencing him. “I can’t really listen to other music when I am thinking and working on music. I don’t reference myself, I think things might sound like something else as it develops, but I honestly can’t concentrate with other noises in my head.”Schmersal may work in a self-imposed vacuum, but High Society does run the gamut from the bizarro-world arena rock of “Old Dominion” to the quaint Blur-isms of the title track. Yasuda’s turns at singing do add a nice counterpoint to Schmersal, though the pleasant bleeps of Moog synthesizer and vocoder tend to be the only obvious Brainiac holdovers. High Society seems to straddle the border between new wave and no wave.

Enon plays on Tue., June 4, 9 p.m., $8, with Natural History and Bloodthirsty Lovers at the Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888.

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January 9, 2003
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