Crash Test Dummies keep Grammy nomination in perspective

January 7, 1995

And this year's Grammy for best new artist goes to ... Green Day.

At least that's the consensus of fellow nominees Brad Roberts and Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies, who are still a little flabbergasted over the three Grammy nominations they received Thursday.

"This probably sounds coy of me," Roberts is saying in a Toronto hotel room yesterday, "but I really don't expect to win in any of the categories, so just being there and hanging out will probably be all that's required of us."

But don't look for the Dummies to cop any of that "we're-too-cool-for-a-stupid-awards-show" attitude.

"I think that, in these kinds of awards-ceremonies situations, you've got a kind of damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't, Catch-22 situation on your hands," says Roberts. "Because, on the one hand, award ceremonies do tend to be a lot of empty pomp and circumstance and a little bit obnoxious, and God knows I cringe when I watch them myself, so part of me feels apprehensive about being involved in one.

"But having said that, if you don't show up, you look like an idiot for different reasons, i.e. it appears very much like you're too full of self-importance to deign to receive some honor bestowed on you, and you probably lack a certain amount of grace. In the situation we're in, it's best to simply go and be gracious and not to take it too seriously."

Roberts, who admits he's never even watched the Grammys - which take place this year in L.A., March 1 - also doesn't see any incongruity in being nominated in both pop and alternative categories.

"One must remember that those categories, from an industry perspective, relate a lot to radio formats. A song that might be especially innovative might start out at alternative radio then move over to pop, so it ends up that the same song has been formatted on both those kinds of stations. That's really all it amounts to."

Up next for the band is a final week of shows, including a Jan. 20 all-ages date at The Warehouse, likely your last chance to see them in these parts for at least a year.

After that, Reid plans to "do a bit of writing on my own" for a projected solo album. In fact, in a couple of weeks, she's packing up and moving from Winnipeg to Toronto. ("There are more bars here," she jokes.)

The Dummies will then record a tune for an XTC tribute album. Roberts, a huge admirer of the British band, has his eye on a lesser-known number, All You Pretty Girls. In fact, Roberts and Reid are in town now to shoot a video with actor Jeff Daniels for their cover of XTC's The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead, from the Dumb And Dumber soundtrack.

Then it's head-first into writing the next Dummies album, which won't see the light of day 'til 1996. Roberts, a notoriously slow writer, has actually gotten a head start this time, having finished "three complete songs and a set of words for a fourth," a situation he credits, oddly enough, to the luxury of having a separate tour bus for the band for the first time.

"Our drivers were all pretty kind and they let me go out to the bus, fire up the generator, and just have that whole space to myself during the day," he explains.

"It's funny," he muses, "I just never quite feel any kind of vibe in a hotel room that makes me want to put pen to paper. But the bus ..."