Wild Truth

Singer/guitarist Sven-Erik Seaholm is known as a solo performer and recording artist and as a member of the long-lived four-piece band the Wild Truth. "I try to split my duties about 50/50 between them and my own stuff. With the band, I do the writing and singing, but everyone contributes to what you'd call a 'greater whole.' It's bigger and in a lot of ways easier than performing and recording solo."

Since 1994, this son of Swedish immigrants has engineered and produced albums by local acts Buddy Blue, Via Satellite, Goodbye Blue Monday, Lowcloudcover, Dave Howard, and the Coyote Problem. For four years he's also written a related technical column in the area folk-music monthly Troubadour.

Seaholm's onetime side band the Ghandi Method recently broke up after releasing their "debut break-up album" entitled Hi. "We did it for a year, and I guess that's how long it was supposed to go." It's been 12 years since the Wild Truth have recorded a new album (1992's Cryptomnesia). "I did a cover of Elvis Costello's 'Alison' on that record; a great song, but I massacred it. We used to do it live a lot; it was an audience favorite." A new Wild Truth CD is in progress with the planned title This Golden Era. "I know it's been a long time, but we never broke up. We just couldn't all get it together in the same place at the same time until recently...we expect to release it sometime this spring."

Seaholm will be performing at Cosmo's Café in La Mesa on Saturday, February 26.

WHAT'S IN YOUR CD PLAYER NOW?

1. U2, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb ("My theory is that it's their Tattoo You [Rolling Stones] with great leftover stuff the Edge dug up while Bono was off doing his political thing.")

2. Michael Tiernan, Jumping In ("He writes solid social-oriented pop songs and has a great voice.")

3. Manuok (self-titled debut) ("Every note he plays comes across very intimate.")

FAVORITE PIECE OF STUDIO EQUIPMENT?

"My Avalon 737 -- it's a three-amp compressor with a combination of tube preamps, an opto-compressor, and a sweep EQ. Everything you put into it sounds better when it comes back out. I choose that for overdubs before I use anything else. I got it for half-price because I did a really nice review of it for the manufacturer. I think it cost in the neighborhood of $2600."

FAVORITE 'ZINES?

1. Electronic Musician ("They have a paper 'zine and they're online.")

2. Tape Op ("Same thing I'm about: home and studio recording.")

3. Recording Magazine ("A really good overview of new products with pictorials on how to mike things a certain way.")

4. The Economis ("I got a free subscription...I heard a lot of politicians get it, but I don't know how people can read that and eat eggs at the same time.")

BEST CELEBRITY ENCOUNTERS?

1. "Sitting poolside at Quincy Jones's Bel Air mansion about two years ago, listening to him talk about his favorite music and how Miles Davis's Kind of Blue affects him. I got to go up there because my friend George Varga of the San Diego Union-Tribune -- he doesn't drive because he had an accident when he was first learning and never got a license. He had me drive him up and it was incredible!"

2. "Meeting Ray Charles a few months earlier. That was set up by George too. We went to Ray's studio in South Central L.A., and he told us his thoughts about the most important thing to pass on to young musicians: to practice, practice, practice. I was just a fly on the wall, but I was one heavy fly."

WORST COVER VERSION OF A GREAT SONG?

"Sprung Monkey, 'Coconut.' I love Harry Nilsson, but if you don't sing his stuff with the right irony, it comes off looking silly."