The Day of the Dead

Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard goes solo

Comments (0) By Tom Lanham Wednesday, Oct 18 1995

"But it's not meant to be!" Gerrard moans. "I wrote that piece about two days before I went in to have my daughter. I wasn't feeling particularly happy at the time, though, as most pregnant women will know. And there's this weird thing that takes place, thinking about procreation, sex, and death -- you get very morbid just before you have a baby."

Lest fans get morbid musing the demise of Dead Can Dance, Gerrard stresses that the release is merely some downtime experimentation, like Perry's forthcoming solo project. "But I think there is a division in our work -- there always has been," she says, chuckling over the band's unlikely genesis. "When we first started working together years ago, we never intended on really working together. I was called in as an extra pair of hands needed to play a bit of syn-cussion or a drumbeat if the drummer didn't show up. I had no intention of working with [Perry] full time, because our music was so diverse. And he definitely wasn't that keen on what I was doing, either.

"It's funny -- we've learned so much from each other, and I can honestly say that the discipline in the work I do today, I've learned from Brendan. He's a very hard worker, and once he has a focus on something, he sees it through." Everything perhaps, but that one annoying concert number last year.

Lisa Gerrard plays Tues, Oct. 24, at the Palace of Fine Arts in S.F.; call 567-6642.