Six By Seven's Chris Olley calls from Hamburg, Germany, to regale us with a tale of his band's recent near-death escape. Supporting Manic Street Preachers during a tour of Europe and Scandinavia, the U.K. quintet found themselves in a precarious position. "We were going up this mountain in the snow and our sleeper coach started to slip and slide backwards. It was a sheer drop on one side of the road, so we all got scared and jumped out," shivers Olley. "Eventually, some Norwegians came along and gave us some snow chains and we got to the top of the hill and slid all the way back down the other side."

Knowing Olley, he'll probably pen some raunchy song about that episode, for the singer/guitarist has a decidedly mischievous streak in both his lyrics and his attitude about music. On the track "Oh, Dear!" from their Beggar's Banquet/Interscope debut, The Things We Make, he sings, "You're all that I need/You lie between my belly and my knees." Laughing at his cleverly penned words, he readily admits, "Oh, yeah. It's a song about blowjobs. But it's a love song."

Further teasing can be found in the track "A Beautiful Shape," specially designed to build to a chorus that never appears. "It's great when we play it live and people are just getting into it and it stops. But then they're left with nothing and they just have to applaud it!" he giggles. Though it breaks every rule of songwriting, he merely shrugs, "that's what rules are there for."

Clearly self-effacing humor is Olley's forte. On "88-92-96," he sings, "I'm just a white singer with no tone in my voice" and happily confirms, "the lyrics are totally autobiographical."

Well, they may be autobiographical, but they're not necessarily true. His voice, like Chris Davis' drumming, Paul Douglas' bass playing, Sam Hempton's guitar playing and James Flower's organ/sax work, displays a refreshing experimental streak. In fact, Flower's sax is sometimes so subtle -- except on the haunting "Spy Song" -- that it's barely distinguishable. "That's 'cause he plays the sax more like a guitar on the other [songs]," explains Olley. "Kind of a droney sort of sound that layers into what the guitars are doing."

As for Olley's singing career, he just sort of fell into it. Growing up on a British army base in Germany, he became smitten with the guitar after being inspired by Neil Young. He met up with Davis and Hempton at England's Nottingham University, with Flower and Douglas joining up later. Chosen to sing by default, Olley rose to the occasion. "I'd never sung a beat in my life before. And about three weeks later, I was standing on a stage in front of about 200 people, singing. And I was thinking, 'What the fuck am I doing here?'" he laughs.

Two years later, he could answer that question: They've had three big hits in the U.K. and have an eye toward touring the U.S., possibly this winter. This time, however, they'll make sure they have snow tires.

ADRIANNE STONE
(November 9, 1998)