Serpent Go Home

Personnel: Kerry Pate (vocals, guitar), Mike Callahan (bass, vocals),
Tim Boykin (guitar), and Skhoti Hamilton (drums).
On his website, former Barking Tribe bassist Mike Callahan speculates on why the Southern band never achieved much commercial success. Part of the problem, Callahan offers, may have been founder/lead singer Kerry Pate, who had a reputation for being very difficult to work with. Other problems included numerous lineup changes (no less than five bassists and five drummers quit the band) and, Callahan alleges, insufficient promotional support from Rykodisc (a label he says was great for reissues in the early '90s but "didn't know how to promote a new band"). At any rate, the Barking Tribe does show some promise on their only album, Serpent Go Home, which was produced by Brian Paulson (known for his work with Beck and Soul Asylum, among others). This 1991 release is mildly uneven; a few of the tracks are mediocre and pedestrian, but when the Barking Tribe hit their creative mark -- and quite often they do -- one wishes that they had become better known. Serpent Go Home is not an album that overdoses on glossy slickness; thanks to Paulson, this CD sounds well produced but not over-produced. Pate, who handles all of the lead vocals and does most of the writing, favors a gritty, rootsy outlook when it comes to rock & roll, Americana, and hard rock (as opposed to heavy metal). Drawing on influences that range from the Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan, the Band and Bruce Springsteen to punk (especially the Clash), Pate makes it clear that he values feeling and emotion more than finesse or precision -- and that perspective serves his band well more often than not on this generally respectable, if imperfect, outing. It's too bad that the Barking Tribe's first album was also their last. ~ Alex Henderson