DEAD HOT AND RIPE BUT WILL THE TALENTED TEMPE BAND MISS ITS HARVEST SEASON?

It's no surprise that the CD is bogged down in delays. So far, the drum tracks, a portion of the guitar work and a few of the vocals are done. The musicians' day jobs--Griffith delivers pizzas, Grippe works at Blue Jean Buyer, Babb is a cook at Gentle Strength Co-op & Deli and Larson is a carpenter--have cut into studio time.

"Working 60 hours a week and trying to make it to recording sessions is nearly impossible," says Larson, who rises before dawn.

The project will be further delayed now that the band is about to embark on its first-ever tour. Booked by Grippe, the tour is scheduled to begin on Halloween and stretch to Seattle. The band should be back in the Valley by Thanksgiving, and hopes to have the CD completed by January.

If the band ever finishes it, the untitled CD will be available for sale at local record stores and from the stage. But its most important use will be as a marketing tool for record labels, press, out-of-state clubs, management companies. If it's good enough, an economy-minded label might even release it as a first album, although no one in the band is counting on that. The plan at this point is to get the disc out, shop it and see if anything develops.

"I feel it coming now," Grippe says. "I've been very optimistic, but I never felt it until now. We know it's time for us to fulfill our potential."
As usual, Babb's outlook is a mixture of savvy and naivet‚.
"It would be really cool if we could make this CD, pay for it and make enough money to do it again. And then tour.

"We want to do as much as we can without involving a corporation that also sells cheese and toilet paper. . . . You can limit your exposure to it and your being hurt by it.

"To us the record is a product, and to them, we are a product. That's wrong, I think. Or at least it's too bad. It's not evil people, it's just the nature of their business.

"The music business can easily destroy a band and destroy people. There's no chance of that happening here.