Whether they admit it or not, every band wants to be cool.  The standard
method applied by today's alterna-hipsters is to give in to a huge labels
whims by selling out and selling big and then using every interview, video
and sound clip to prove they're definitely still cool.

Better Than Ezra, Third Eye Blind, Tonic and Garbage have become masters of
this method.  Then there's the smaller label studs, who really don't need
to prove their coolness because their labels are cool already.  Matador
Records staple Yo La Tengo is so uncool, the band transcends coolness.
Nirvana burst through on Sub Pop, exploded in a second on Geffen and died
just as fast.  Subsequently, any band on Sub Pop has to be cool.  Right?

But then there's Sub Pop's Sunny Day Real Estate.  During the band's first
reign of coolness, after its inception in 1992, vocalist Jeremy Enigk,
guitarist Dan Hoerner, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith
were so cool they refused to do more than one interview and released only
one photo of themselves to the media.  That's pretty cool.  But since the
band reunited in 1997, with Goldsmith back in the fold (after a stint with
the definitely uncool but successful Foo Fighters) and Jeff Palmer
replacing Mendel on bass, Sunny Day Real Estate has taken cool to another
level.

As a result of the band's undying coolness, Sunny Day Real Estate long --
and in particular Goldsmith-flaked out on an interview with Rockpile.

Even after the band was sent a stack of issues. Even after the members were
told the author completely dug their new album, How It Feels To Be
Something On. Furthermore, Sunny Day Real Estate still declined after it
was told the band would be on the cover.

Sunny Day's first output came not long after its formation. The band
released two seven-inches-Flatland Spider in 1993 and Thief, Steal Me A
Peach in 1994-off its own label, One Day I Stopped Breathing. But 1994's
spiraling Diary put Sunny Day Real Estate on the map. With string-laden
songs swinging from dreamy, emotional and melodic drifts to quick-hit
blasts of light in the same breath, the album sucked in critics and
established for the band a small but strong following. Sunny Day gave its
faithful more in '95, releasing the self-titled second album on Sub Pop.
But then, just as fast as Enigk could sloop from an Alex Chilton-like
screech to an angry growl, the band broke up. Hoerner bought the farm-or
better yet left for a farm and a bit of rural life in Washington. Goldsmith
and Mendel joined Dave Grohl for the tour following the release of 1995's
Foofighters album and recorded 1997's The Colour And The Shape with the
ex-Nirvana drummer. Enigk decided to push the orchestral envelope a little
further, releasing a solo record, Return of the Frog Queen, with a 21-piece
ensemble.

Goldsmith returned to Sunny Day in 1997, and Palmer stepped in for Mendel,
still with the Foos. The new-and-improved Sunny Day Real Estate recorded
How It Feels, due in stores Sept. 22, at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle.

It seems odd Goldsmith would be the one to shy away from the spotlight.
Wasn't it Goldsmith hamming it up with Grohl, Mendel and Pat Smear in the
Mentos-inspired "Big Me" video? Wasn't it Goldsmith pounding the skins when
the Foos played outside the MTV Music Awards and Smear all-of-the-sudden
decided-right then and there before a mammoth television audience-to resign
from the band like some kind of twisted Nixon? Too cool for publicity?

Back to Sunny Day's Victory Tour. The new album kicks with some serious
intensity. "100 Million" stretches out the emotional barriers music
reaches, slowing down for Enigk's waver- ing pronunciation of the distance
between him and whatever it is he longs for, then speeding back up to rock.
"Guitar And Video Games" is an ode to two very cool pastimes, whether
you're talking about Fenders and Atari 2600 or Gibson and Sony Playstation.
In all likelihood, it's the former rather than the latter. Mendel's bass
work will be missed, but Palmer fills in nicely, his lines pulling up short
of the top of the mix but lurking somewhere just below the fire. But the
new Sunny Day Real Estate pulls together well and achieves the same
cohesiveness as the old unit. And judging by its continued alleged insis-
tence to refuse interviews, Sunny Day Real Estate is still cooler than you.