Back after a five-year lull, the Sundays have a hit single titled "Summertime." But rather than extol the season, the characteristically lilting song examines the burdensome ideal of romantic bliss. Sundays principals Harriet Wheeler and David Gavurin were inspired after a couple of their friends enrolled in a dating service.
"As society offers fewer and fewer opportunities for people to meet,the idea of going to dating services, joining lonely hearts" clubs, and placing singles adverts has become increasingly "respectable," at least in the U.K.," Gavurin says. And, Wheeler adds, "the trend of busy people ordering everything over the phone or your computer seems to contribute to that sort of made-to-measure mentality.
"But the idea that you have to crystallize everything that"s attractive about yourself into a short ad is really so tragic and funny," Wheeler continues. Gavurin says, "And people can really oppress themselves with that mythic picture of romance, so we just wanted to address in a tongue-in-cheek way that the easily gained perfect partnership is indeed a myth."
No. 21 on Modern Rock Tracks, "Summertime" comes from the Sundays" third DGC album, "Static & Silence" (the previous two, "Reading, Writing & Arithmetic," from 1990, and "Blind," from "92, are both certified gold in the U.S.). Wheeler and Gavurin met in "83 in their hometown of Bristol, England, moving to London a few years later to form the band with bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan. Wheeler and Gavurin also eventually formed Billie, now a little girl of 2 1/2.
The couple originally met through mutual friends, "back in the days when that was possible," Wheeler says. And they courted in the time-honored tradition. "Oh, I"m sure we annoyed our neighbors, sitting on garden walls talking about all the absurd things you talk about when you"re 20 and drinking too much and smoking an inordinate amount of rollups."