Don Stewart '05 stops a friend walking by the table.
"Hey dude," he says. "Check it out: I'm doing this interview to promote the Wrens. Can you believe that they're coming?"
"Wait, who?" his friend asks.
The question is not without merit. Despite the fact that their 2003 album "The Meadowlands" made it onto most best album lists for the year, winning hipster magazine Magnet's album of the year, the Wrens have always been known as the band that should have been famous.
In 1996, Charles Bissell, Jerry MacDonnell, and Greg and Kevin Whelan were poised to become the next big thing.
Their first album, "Silver," and their new album, "Secaucus," were both extremely well-received and Alan Meltzer, the new owner of their label, made them Grass Records' flagship band. But when the Wrens refused to sign Meltzer's $1 million contract, which would temper their music to make it more single-oriented and radio-friendly, Meltzer was supposedly furious, promising the Wrens that "the next band to walk through that door [would] be made famous -- at any cost."
Grass Records changed its name to Wind Up Records. The next band through the door was Creed.
Without money for promotions or tours, the Wrens faded into obscurity for seven years, working day jobs and making music in the off-hours.
MacDonnell got married in 1996 and is now the father of three. Old fans had to wonder what had happened to the band that had once gotten fired for playing "Debaser" to a crowd of mostly senior citizens.
"I had more trouble selling this band to Friday Night Rock than any other," said Stewart, booking manager for FNR. "Mates of State was easy because everybody likes them instantly because you can play them loudly at a party. Each person I talk to seems to have a different favorite track on ['The Meadowlands']."
Released on a friend's label, "The Meadowlands," their first real album since 1996, was a comeback for the Wrens, but a quiet one.
The Wrens still aren't famous, and, except for Bissell who was fired last summer, still work at their day jobs.
The album was recorded in the dining room of the Secaucus, N.J., house where the band, except MacDonnell, has lived since 1991. Extremely autobiographical, the album begins by admitting "It's been so long since you've heard from meand I'm nowhere near what I thought I'd be."
While "Silver" and "Secaucus" both contain many raw, Pixies-influenced songs, the songs on "The Meadowlands" come from an older band, and even the faster-paced tracks coolly mourn things that might have been: lost girls, lost fame, lost hope.
"The Meadowlands" manages to blend extremely catchy rock chords with devastatingly lonely lyrics ("past clumsy crushes beneath Thrill Pier/ hopes pinned to poses honed in men's room mirrors").
"I wasn't really into them until I heard 'The Meadowlands,' but once I heard it, it became my favorite album that fall," said Nick Ostrow '05, a fan of the band. "When I think about everything I like about alternative music, the Wrens just somehow encapuslate that."
The Wrens are one of many in a series of bigger name independent rock groups brought to the campus by Friday Night Rock, some of the others being Xiu Xiu and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, both tentatively scheduled for Spring term. Stewart is looking forward to having the self-proclaimed "boys you won't remember" visit campus.
"I think with the Wrens' crowd, you reach out to a broad, solid, fanbase that's also sort of private," Stewart said. "You have a lot of people who honestly just enjoy the music, who enjoy listening to it on headphones alone in their room. I've been getting Blitzes from tons of people who normally never come to FNR shows who are extremely excited about this."
The show begins at 9:30 in Fuel, with student band Karenin's Smile opening and the Wrens taking the stage at 10:30.
