RECORD
February 1984
By Bill Flanagan

PROVIDENCE, RI—Mitch Easter has his own recording studio (Drive-In, in North Carolina) where the Individuals, Pylon and other bands have recorded. He produces R.E.M.'s acclaimed records. He's touring the country with his own band, Let's Active, whose debut EP, Afoot, was released by I.R.S. in October.

But is the fair-haired southerner satisfied? Heck no: "I think producing is a real cool thing, but I wouldn't want people to think Let's Active is just a side project. A lot of people already think, 'Yeah, he thought it would be cool to play like those bands, so he got a guitar.' That's not true!"

Actually Let's Active—Easter, bassist Faye Hunter and drummer Sara Romweber—began working together about two years ago. The band's sound has some of the same dreamy quality as R.E.M.'s, but with a jangly pop feel a bit like the Monkees' Headquarters. Easter—a tough guy to satisfy—thinks these pop aspects are being exaggerated by the press.

"We've had all these reviews that say, 'Pure '60s Merseybeat revival,' " he sighs. "I don't see that at all."

For one thing, Easter points out, his lyrics tend to be dark and downbeat. "Leader of Men" was inspired by the film Missing, and Hunter describes Afoot's other songs as "all about disastrous love."

"No," Easter corrects, " 'Edge of the World' is about people with dead-end lives."

"Oh," the bassist smiles, "I didn't know."

So what is the deal, Mitch? Easter shrugs. "I don't know. My songs have to have at least a touch of something dark. I like happy songs but I somehow feel stupid writing them. I just saw in an Al Jarreau video and everything in it was happy. I was shocked!" Easter smiles. "I'd forgotten you could write songs like that."

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