THEM'S FINE YOUNG CANNIBAL'S THERE!
“We’re the hip uncles, that’s what we’re going for,” says Roland Gift when asked to describe the Fine Young Cannibals’ image. “All the kids can come ’round and talk to us because we can listen with an objective ear. We treat them like human beings and not like sons or daughters.”
THEM'S FINE YOUNG CANNIBAL'S THERE!
FEATURES
Karen Schlosberg
“We’re the hip uncles, that’s what we’re going for,” says Roland Gift when asked to describe the Fine Young Cannibals’ image. “All the kids can come ’round and talk to us because we can listen with an objective ear. We treat them like human beings and not like sons or daughters.”
While vocalist/songwriter Gift is speaking strictly extemporaneously, his casual depiction of the slightly removed, timelessly hip persona does fit the trio, with its smartly thrift-shopped ’50s sartorial style and fresh mix of classic soul and contemporary pop. The band’s eponymous debut LP, a truly mournful collection of emotionally powerful songs dealing with social, political and romantic loss and betrayal, has been a solid success practically everywhere (England, Germany, Australia, Italy, Finland, Yugoslavia, not to mention Canada, France and Japan) except the States— yet. But since the band isn’t too keen on massive touring, they’ll have to make or break the States on their own terms.