They're a rock band, without the damned hyphen, and their residence on the world's reigning grunge label is more a matter of Sub Pop's taste and willingness to expand their musical boundaries than an affiliation with any musical style. Their new album, 'Scavenger,' states their case with force - they've never been so direct, and their music has never been captured with such clarity and precision. "It's by far the slickest thing we've done, by a mile," says writer/singer/guitarist Chris Eckman. "It's as radio-ready as the Walkabouts are ever going to get. It's the absolute limit.".

Tired of being tagged as Seattle's token folk-rock band, the Walkabouts made an effort on the new LP to play down that side of their music, without disavowing it. "We made a conscious decision not to do a traditional folk song," said Chris. "We've never been Fairport Convention. Certainly we've listened to that, and we like that, and there's strains of that in what we do, but our background is different. In the past, with our imagery, and the way we've sounded, we've gone for more of a quaint, throwback sound. This record, we wanted to do something more up to date, without losing who we are."

Who they are is Seattle's best band over the past five years. Eckman, singer/guitarist Carla Torgerson, newly married drummer Grant Eckman, bassist Michael Wells and keyboardist Glenn Slater create the best type of music, one that isn't pleasantly swallowed up by any easy category. Eckman's lyrics are dense, and at first unyielding, with a sense of danger not unlike riding across a mine field on a blind pony. Torgerson's vocals are alternately soothing and sharp, and Grant Eckman's drumming is the fence that keeps the sheep in the fold.

First formed in 1984, the band added Slater's keyboards in 1989, bringing not only his talents to the mix, but also freeing up Chris Eckman's guitar playing. Since '85, they've released two LPs two EPs and various other tracks. 'Scavenger' is the Walkabouts' third LP (or at least the third to be released). the new LP sounds more of a whole than 'Cataract' or 'Rag and Bone,' their two pervious Sub Pop releases, and not like a compilation LP recorded by one band. Guest artists Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs) and Brian Eno may draw the attention, but producer Gary Smith's presence has the biggest impact.

Having worked with several other highly regarded artists (the Pixies, throwing Muses, the Chills, the Connells), Smith possessed the expertise to give 'Scavenger' the sonic punch and clarity their other records have sometimes lacked. "It sounds more together as a piece, but it's still all over the place," says Chris Eckman. "By anyone's standards, it's pretty unfocused. By our standards, it's incredibly focused."

Says Torgerson of Smith, "He contacted us. He heard a song on the radio in Boston, and went out and bought all three records of ours. He told us that he went home and played them all day, and that night wrote a letter to Sub Pop, and said he wanted to produce us."

"At that time we were talking to a bigger label," continued Chris Eckman, "and they asked us to shortlist producers. He was on this five-person list I'd made up."

The concept of having 'Scavenger' come out on a bigger label explains why a record finished last November hasn't been available until now. (It also explains the production quality; Sub pop execs say this is the most expensive record they've put out, and put the budget at four to five times the usual indie standard.) As the record was being completed, Sub Pop was engaged in ultimately fruitless discussions to align their entire operation with a major. Said Chris, "About two months after our record was done, they finally abandoned that, at which point our feeling was that we should continue to pursue the possibility of another label deal. We had mixed feelings about that, but we wanted to check it out. We had some interest, but nothing became a solid fact."

"We played three shows for one company," explained Torgerson, "and we figured they should have been able to make up their minds by then. We finally got fed up with trying to make people say what they were thinking."

"In conjunction with our management," continued Grant Eckman, "we set a final date. Our manager contacted people and said 'these people need to know something by the third week in March, and if they don't, it'll be a Sub Pop record.'"

"You feel like a ship in dry dock getting the barnacles scraped off," said Slater of the forced inactivity caused by the waiting.

Ultimately, the band felt that if they were going to be unable to pitch 'Scavenger' to a major, there was no reason to leave Sub Pop, a company they feel has stood behind them. "Sub Pop can do as good a job as any independent can," noted Chris Eckman.

The Walkabouts have retained a remarkably clear and steadfast attitude about other Seattle bands that have signed with majors. "If we were trying to be a heavy metal band, or a 'Seattle sound' band, and it's not a put-down of that, and we were failing at it while everyone around us was getting signed, and we weren't after doing this for seven years, at that point we'd sit back and go, 'Jeez, we're really failures.' But we know we're out there on our own path, and we've learned to judge it on our own terms."

That path has led to some interesting places. On their European jaunt last year, which included dates with Thin White Rope, nova Mob and Mudhoney, they discovered an oasis of Walkabouts fandom - Germany. 'See Beautiful Rattlesnake Gardens,' their first PopLlama LP, had been released for some time prior to their 14-date tour, and had sold as many copies in Germany as I did in America. their more recent work had only just been released, which led to some unusual expectations. "People knew our songs," said wells. "They just knew the wrong album. they were requesting songs we hadn't played in years. We actually relearned a couple of them on the road."

On the continent, they didn't have to deal with the Sub Pop connection, which became an issue when they hit Britain right at the height of the Sub Pop buzz. The shows were attended by fans, and critics, some who had heard of the Walkabouts, and some who had heard of Sub Pop.

Culture shock? "The show at Leeds was the most dreadful show we played, and the guy from Melody Maker loved it," said a bemused Grant Eckman. "We'd just traveled across the Channel from Belgium, and we got to the show about 10 minutes before we were supposed to go on. We threw our stuff on stage and started playing. There wasn't enough room on the stage, so Glenn set up his keyboards on a pool table next to the stage. Then the audience sat down, which is this new thing that people do over there, and we were freaked out, because we were just coming off the Continent, where people were dancing at every show. If they're there and listening, you know it's good, but you're not quite sure because they're not reacting."

Still, Sub Pop's assistance was much more important than whatever confusion the connection may have caused. "They got us to Europe," pointed out Chris Eckman. "We'd probably never have gone if we had been on Gaffe or someone. They went out on a limb. For any band that might want to go over there, it cost about $20,000 when all is said and done, and we made about $20,000, so we broke even."

Even for seasoned world travelers, the presence of Brian Eno, founder of Roxy Music, producer of Bowie's, U2's, and the Talking Heads' finest moments, well-dressed gentleman, and true renaissance man, on 'Scavenger''s 'Train to Mercy' seems a divine accident.

The song is the best Chris Eckman has yet written, a long, deceptively simple track with a stately, powerful guitar figure, and a string arrangement by Mark Nichols that envelops the song like ivy around a tree. Said Chris Eckman, "It had this circular, Eno-esque groove to it that was already established, and then Eno came in and added his stuff to it."

"For two weeks there was this running joke that Eno was coming through Seattle, and we would get him in there," said Torgerson. "His manager wanted to meet Gary Smith, to see if he wanted to manage Gary, so Gary invited them to drop by the studio. They went down to the Central, but there was an ambulance down there carrying someone out, so they decided not to go there, and came by the studio instead.

We got him on the Hammond organ, and he lectured us for 40 minutes on the history of the Hammond organ. After about an hour and a half, we asked him if he'd like to lay down some tracks, and he said 'sure.' What he plays on 'Train to Mercy' is the Japanese flute-sounding thing -- he was listening to it and recording keyboards, first take."

"He hadn't even heard the song, he just said 'run the tape,'" said Chris Eckman. "When he was recording he kept saying 'this isn't stuff to keep, this is just a study of what you could do with this song.' Then on the way out the door, as we were in starry land, we asked if we could keep it if we wanted to use it, and he said, 'oh, why not?'"

The Walkabouts are set to do a full cross-country tour in support of 'Scavenger,' both as a headliner, and as a co-headliner with Uncle Tupelo. Closer to home, they opened for Indigo Girls at Bumbershoot, an occasion that made an impression on Grant Eckman. "Playing in the Coliseum was weird. Before that, the most people we'd played to was about 3,000. We walked into this big room where I saw concerts as a kid, and it had some history for us. We'd all just seen Neil Young and Sonic Youth there, which was an affirmation of the faith for us, and there we were on the same stage. I had a great time."

That kind of identification with their home has kept the Walkabouts on an even keel. Concluded Chris Eckman, "We perceive of ourselves as a local band, even though we've toured the States five times, and Europe. Our audience is still here, and that's kept us on our toes."

(The Seattle record release party for 'Scavenger' is 9/27 at the Backstage. The band promises a string section, and a scavenger hunt. They play Belmont's in Portland 9/28.)

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