The La's, the Liverpool band best known for the 1990 single "There She Goes," are said to be re-forming. Recent reports in the British press have indicated that reclusive lead signer/songwriter Lee Mavers and bassist John Power, who have rarely associated since the band split in the early '90s, are working together once more.
"It is true that they're playing together again," author M.W. Macefield tells Billboard.com. "I'm not surprised -- there are a lot of bonds between these people." Macefield's book about his four-year effort to track down and interview members of the band, "In Search of the La's: A Secret Liverpool," was published in December and maybe be partly responsible for the renewed interest in the group.
"I think there's more hope for gigs than for any kind of recording," he adds. "Lee wants things a certain way -- his criteria is so difficult to meet [for recording]. But it'll be great if two old musical friends are hitting it off again."
Having achieved near-mythical status in British pop, the La's were notoriously fractious. Mavers had contentious dealings with the label Go! Discs, which spent a reported 1 million pounds as the band bobbed between multiple producers (including John Leckie and Steve Lillywhite) over years of production during the late 1980s.
In 1990, Go! released the self-titled effort without the band's final OK, and Mavers went on to trash the record in the press, insisting the songs didn't sound right. Following the band's 1991 North American tour, Power left and formed Cast, then recorded a solo album. Mavers forewent public appearances except for a few live dates in the mid-1990s, and has not released any further recordings.
"He'd gone as far as he could with it, and he couldn't make the physical recordings of the music happen, so he said, 'I'm going to back away and go back to my life,' whatever that is," explains Macefield. "Having talked with him and other members of the band, it was about trying to get this sound, but it wasn't happening. And at some point you have to say, 'I can't do it.'"
Nevertheless, the La's' music has remained popular among a wide variety of bands. "There She Goes" has been covered by the Boo Radleys and Sixpence None The Richer, while "Timeless Melody" (once sneered at by Mavers as "Tuneless Malady") was recorded by the Heavenly States and appears on several of Pearl Jam's official bootlegs from its 2000 tour.
"In Search of the La's: A Secret Liverpool," published by Helter Skelter Publishing, will be distributed in the U.S. in April by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.
"It is true that they're playing together again," author M.W. Macefield tells Billboard.com. "I'm not surprised -- there are a lot of bonds between these people." Macefield's book about his four-year effort to track down and interview members of the band, "In Search of the La's: A Secret Liverpool," was published in December and maybe be partly responsible for the renewed interest in the group.
"I think there's more hope for gigs than for any kind of recording," he adds. "Lee wants things a certain way -- his criteria is so difficult to meet [for recording]. But it'll be great if two old musical friends are hitting it off again."
Having achieved near-mythical status in British pop, the La's were notoriously fractious. Mavers had contentious dealings with the label Go! Discs, which spent a reported 1 million pounds as the band bobbed between multiple producers (including John Leckie and Steve Lillywhite) over years of production during the late 1980s.
In 1990, Go! released the self-titled effort without the band's final OK, and Mavers went on to trash the record in the press, insisting the songs didn't sound right. Following the band's 1991 North American tour, Power left and formed Cast, then recorded a solo album. Mavers forewent public appearances except for a few live dates in the mid-1990s, and has not released any further recordings.
"He'd gone as far as he could with it, and he couldn't make the physical recordings of the music happen, so he said, 'I'm going to back away and go back to my life,' whatever that is," explains Macefield. "Having talked with him and other members of the band, it was about trying to get this sound, but it wasn't happening. And at some point you have to say, 'I can't do it.'"
Nevertheless, the La's' music has remained popular among a wide variety of bands. "There She Goes" has been covered by the Boo Radleys and Sixpence None The Richer, while "Timeless Melody" (once sneered at by Mavers as "Tuneless Malady") was recorded by the Heavenly States and appears on several of Pearl Jam's official bootlegs from its 2000 tour.
"In Search of the La's: A Secret Liverpool," published by Helter Skelter Publishing, will be distributed in the U.S. in April by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.
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