Waiting for the Next Big Thing

'All my favorite bands keep putting out albums that I can barely listen to," says Russell Logan, singer for San Diego band Sliver. "It feels like a sad market where one-hit wonders exist because of the Internet and bands that should have barely been one-hit wonders get three hits off a CD because it's shoved down our throats. I'm wondering if there will be an epic band again, one that survives for a long time, like some bands used to."

"I expected current music to keep going to crap until we actually find the Next Big Thing," says Mark Miller, the guitarist. "The same way everyone keeps waiting around for the next Nirvana. I can't even fathom the long run of music. I can't imagine what things will be like 50 years from now. Maybe it'll be like Demolition Man, where censorship has limited us to only listening to radio jingles."

Sliver's other members include Jon Shimmin on drums and Theresa Miller on bass.

TRICKIEST PROBLEM PLAYING LIVE?

Jon "This has to be the most popular among musicians: not being able to hear what you want to hear during a live performance. That and not being able to read the set list with tons of sweat and hair products in your eyes."

Russell "Making sure everyone gets heard. I'm fairly dynamic when I sing, so a lot of the soft parts get drowned out. The other problem is making sure that I'm not just singing but performing."

Theresa "Avoiding wardrobe malfunctions."

YOUR AXE?

Jon "I play a Yamaha Rock Tour Custom set. It has what they call square drums -- they're as long as they are in diameter and have a sweet tone when all miked up. I purchased this set in around 1992, and it has seen many, many shows...Zildjian, Sabian, Wuhan cymbals. DW double pedals."

Mark "Gibson Les Paul Standards. The Gibson Les Paul signature model is among the most recognized solid-body electric-guitar designs. It was developed in the early 1950s and has become one of the most enduring and popular musical instrument models in the world. Its design has been left virtually untouched for nearly 50 years."

Theresa "Tobias Growler four-string bass. Mike Tobias began making custom guitars and basses in his music store in Orlando, Florida, in 1977."

WHAT'S IN YOUR CD PLAYER RIGHT NOW?

Jon "I've had a hard time prying the new Tool CD out of my CD player. I think it's a permanent fit! Also been listening to this kick-ass progressive stuff, Planet X."

Russell "30 Seconds to Mars, A Beautiful Lie. I got into them on their last album and picked this one up the other day while buying Requiem for a Dream. There's a couple songs on it that I really dig, but every song on the CD follows the same pattern and formula, so it's getting a little annoying."

Mark "How to Speak Chinese in 30 Days. With all of the outsourcing of jobs I figure we will all have to move there, so I am getting a head start."

EARLIEST MEMORY?

Russell "I remember walking with my sister and her being mad at some kid. She said she was going to give him a piece of her mind. She's eight years older than I am. I was holding some plastic play knife and responded, 'I'm going to give him a piece of my knife.' I couldn't have been older than three or four."

Mark "My mother untangling me from my sheets in the crib. I had these really cool airplanes above my crib, and I would always get tangled up in the sheets trying to grab them."

RECURRING DREAMS?

Theresa "Someone is chasing me, trying to hurt me. It usually gets pretty scary before I am able to wake myself up."

Russell "I used to have a recurring dream that I was hiding in the ventilation ducts of a gazebo. I know gazebos don't have ventilation ducts, but I was looking out through an air-conditioning vent, so where else could I have been? The gazebo was on a clearing on a hill in the middle of a forest. There were three witches there, and they were going to kill this kid named Eric. He was some kid that lived in that apartment complex that I left when I was around four."

Mark "I hear a dog whimpering somewhere in an abandoned house...I run to the dog and realize it is my childhood pet. It knows who I am and asks me why I didn't save it from my parents, who had it put to 'sleep.' It tells me of the pain it is in and begs me to help. All I can do is cradle it in my arms and cry."