The Plain Dealer

                      November 5, 1993 Friday, FINAL / ALL

SECTION: FRIDAY; Pg. MAG 42

LENGTH: 634 words

HEADLINE: BEAT CONTINUES,  STURMER  FINDS VOICE

BYLINE: By TINA MAPLES; ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

 BODY:
   For many years the only thing Andy  Sturmer  wanted to be was a drummer.

   "I only started to sing because I really felt like I wanted to start writing
music and there were no singers around," says the 27-year-old San Franciscan.

   He laughed. "Actually, my singing just started as a really bad Sting
impression because I was really into the Police. I remember my mom saying,
'Andy, just stick to the drums and you'll be fine.'


   To music's good fortune, he didn't follow her advice. Nor did he give up
drums. Now he's having his cake and eating it, too, as both lead singer and
drummer of  Jellyfish,  the pop quartet he fronts with his longtime best friend,
keyboardist Roger Manning, also 27.

    Sturmer's  distinctive lead vocals, delivered while he pounds away on
his stand-up drum kit, are only the beginning of  Jellyfish's  quirky
appeal.

   "Spilt Milk," the band's followup to its critically praised 1990 debut,
"Bellybutton," comes across like a sonic pinball machine running at full
tilt. Giddy references to everything from the Beatles and the Beach Boys to
Queen sweep through "Milk's" dense but deft kitchen-sink production, which
incorporates everything from actual harpsichord and accordion to flutes and
tuba.

   Live, the group pares down its production and relies on its main
strengths: devastatingly sweet melodies and strong vocal harmonies.

   Like a good musician should, the friendly and humble  Sturmer  bristled
slightly at the suggestion that  Jellyfish's  music is derivative, albeit in a
most devilishly clever way.


   "There are certainly bits of what we do that people could go, 'This sounds to
me like that,' but I think that's just a bit of a wank, frankly,'  Sturmer
says. "I think music is supposed to sweep over you and affect you emotionally.
... I think when things are referenced to death, it's like trying to describe
the color blue to a blind person."

   If anyone could do it, it's  Sturmer.  The group's sole lyricist, he packs
every inch of the group's pretty melodies with inventive word play and vivid
imagery.

   "Lyrically, I have a very short attention span,"  Sturmer  says with a laugh.
'I see different puns developing and things, and I start going off in different
tangents. ... You get the face value of the lyrics, plus you get the secret
decoder message and the pun side. So it's just more bang for your buck,
basically.'

   Manning and  Sturmer  first began playing together in high school jazz groups
in Pleasanton, Calif. "Eventually we got into this kind of angry rock phase, or
as angry as you can be being from the suburbs, writing songs about mowing the
lawn on Sunday,"  Sturmer  says, laughing again.


   After being signed to Virgin Records solely on the basis of some
self-produced demo tapes, Manning and  Sturmer  recorded "Bellybutton" as a trio
with guitarist Jason Falkner, whom Manning had met in college. Eager to get that
"band vibe" and avoid the appearance of being a studio project, they taught
Manning's younger brother Chris to play bass.

   All too soon, however, the new quartet found itself pared back to a duo.
Falkner left the band after Manning and  Sturmer  rebuffed his demands for more
artistic input, while the overwhelmed younger Manning bowed out after the group
toured as an opening act for INXS and Black Crowes.

   "Three months after Chris was just a guy going to college studying
journalism, he was playing in front of 40,000 people at Wembley Stadium,"
 Sturmer  says sympathetically. "It was really a culture shock for him and I
think he freaked out about it. After we were on the road for about a year, he
just said, 'This is not me. This is not what I want to do.'

   "Spilt Milk" was primarily a duo project, with new - and, with luck,
permanent - bassist Tim Smith and guitarist Eric Dover joining for the road.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO BY: No credit; Photo of ANDY  STURMER

                       The Plain Dealer, November 5, 1993

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: November 6, 1993