Music + Clubs: Enduring Soul

As Soul Asylum singer Dave Pirner and guitarist Dan Murphy this week release their first album together in six years -- made with the stalwart replacement lineup of drummer Michael Bland (ex-Prince) and bassist Tommy Stinson (ex-Replacements) -- certain things are being done to update their old band's image. For instance, they're pitching for NPR radio play and taping an on-air session with 89.3 the Current, which has their new single, "Gravity," in steady rotation. They even have a Twitter account, though a mention of it drew a blank, talking-in-Greek look from Pirner.

However, when they sat down last month to talk about the new record for a new label with a new outlook on the immeasurably changed music business, the Soul Asylum co-leaders wound up doing a lot of reminiscing about the old days. Not those heady days of mainstream fame and ridiculously large recording budgets, mind you, but the era when their late bassist Karl Mueller had to sell a truck for them to go on tour, and they had, as Pirner put it, "nothing but blind ambition."

"That right there is what made Dave, me and Karl all drop out of college," Murphy said, pinpointing a 1984 First Avenue show where the band -- still under their old name Loud Fast Rules -- opened for X. The Minneapolis kids were then asked by the Los Angeles punks to open a short tour, a career win Murphy considers their first real break. They revisit that era Thursday with their first 7th Street Entry gig in 25-plus years, as a warmup to Friday's hometown release party next door at First Avenue.

Some of the other bands they opened for at First Ave around that time include the Ramones, Mötorhead and Hüsker Dü. "I feel a lot more camaraderie and connection to the bands of that era, like the Meat Puppets and the Minutemen, than I do to all these bands that had minimal radio success in the '90s," Pirner said. He didn't name names, but the comment came up after a question about the band's new label, 429 Records, which counts the Gin Blossoms, Blues Traveler and Everclear on its roster.

Playing the Entry and First Ave is one way of reminding people that Soul Asylum was a band that put out five mostly strong albums and put untold miles on their tour vans before selling more than 3 million copies of 1992's "Grave Dancers Union."

One way for Soul Asylum to stand out from the nostalgia crowd, of course, is putting out a new album that stands up to their best work -- and to today's hipper rock bands. They come pretty close with "Delayed Reaction," issued Tuesday. Of all of Soul Asylum's 10 albums, this one boasts a little of everything the band has done since its inception.

There seems to be an unfettered credo to Soul Asylum, which has watched its riches fade and its members come and go -- or get buried -- but lo and behold, the band still carries that spark. As Pirner bluntly put it: "The notion of giving up at this point of Soul Asylum's career is just kind of ridiculous."