Blossoms Going Slow With Career Arizona Band Finally Making New Album

Normally, when a band scores a couple of hits off a debut album, the next step is to rush into the studio and record a follow-up.

The Gin Blossoms, however, played it a bit differently.

After the group’s 1992 debut, “New Miserable Experience,” spawned the hits “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You,” the band went on the road for the better part of a year. Then, it was time for a break.

Now, three years after the release of that first album, the Gin Blossoms finally are preparing to cut another disc.

“We’re human beings, and I think we were a little sick of each other after the last tour,” said singerguitarist Jesse Valenzuela. “We took a long time off. I always knew we’d get back together. To tell you the truth, I wish we could have had even more time off.”

The Tempe, Ariz.-based band - Robin Wilson (vocals), Scott Johnson (guitar), Bill Leen (bass), Phillip Rhodes (drums) and Valenzuela - performs tonight at the Hollywood Palladium, with fellow Arizonans Dead Hot Workshop and Dillon Fence. The show is a warmup before recording sessions begin.

“I’d rather not tour,” Valenzuela, 33, said. “I’d rather find another way to make a living. I’m not what they call a ‘road warrior.’ Those guys are a different breed. I think I’m missing one of the key ingredients. When I’m in the tour bus, it’s part of my job, not a vacation.”

The Gin Blossoms emerged from the college rock charts in 1993 when the melodic, upbeat “Hey Jealousy” took off. The song garnered widespread radio and MTV play, and the Blossoms’ debut disc eventually sold more than 1 million copies.

Valenzuela described the band’s sound as “a little crunch and a little jangle.” Doug Hopkins, the architect of that sound and composer of both hits, committed suicide after he left the Gin Blossoms two years ago.

“He had a strong hand in our sound,” Valenzuela said recently from a Tempe rehearsal studio.

“But he couldn’t manage the responsibility of being in the band on a daily basis.”

Meanwhile, a new Gin Blossoms song - “Til I Hear It From You” - which appears on the “Empire Records” soundtrack, was one of the fastest-added songs on modern-rock radio.

The group’s next album is due for release in February.

“We’re blessed the first record took off,” Valenzuela said.

“When we’d play a show, everyone would sing along with the entire set. Now, when we do new songs we haven’t recorded yet, it’s not the same as hearing the audience screaming along. But we’ll always play the early tunes. There’s nothing worse than seeing a band that refuses to play their hits.”

While the Gin Blossoms owe more than a little to the ringing guitars of the Byrds and R.E.M., the band itself apparently is influencing its peers.

Toad the Wet Sprocket, a Santa Barbara group with which the Blossoms toured for five months, last year released a single, “Fall Down,” that sounded like a cross between “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You.”

Valenzuela shrugs off any similarity.

“I guess playing with them as long as we did, it figures something rubbed off on them,” the guitarist said. “But from what I’ve heard, that was an old song of theirs.”

In the Gin Blossoms’ hometown, the music scene is lively, with Tempe outfit Dead Hot Workshop recently releasing its major-label debut and other local bands coming up.

“It’s a good music scene, and it was really strong when we were starting,” Valenzuela said. “Tempe is a university town, so the kids always want to rock. There’s always a frat show to play. And we’ve played our share.”