THE DRAMA CONTINUES, WITH HEART:

FORMER HUMAN DRAMA FRONTMAN JOHNNY INDOVINA EMERGES GRACEFULLY FROM L.A. 'S SCREAM CLUB ERA WITH BEAUTY?, THE MUSICALLY SEDUCTIVE, SOCIALLY INCISIVE DEBUT BY HIS NEW BAND SOUND OF THE BLUE HEART

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Shifting Beyond The Introspective Songwriting He Was Renowned For With His Former, Goth-Inspired Group, Indovina Creates A Rich Emotional Landscape Based on His Keen Observations Of Life

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Human Drama Played A Key Part In The 1986-91 Scream Era Which Also Launched The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Guns N' Roses and Caterwaul To Stardom

Well known to legions of fans worldwide as the deeply introspective lead singer and songwriter for the famed L.A. based band Human Drama, Johnny Indovina wryly calls Beauty? , the richly textured, socially conscious debut from his new group Sound Of The Blue Heart, “my first attempt at growing old gracefully the way Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits have.”

Though as the name implies he's moving on with a slightly melancholy tone, he hasn't lost an ounce of the blistering passion or lyrical incisiveness that made Human Drama a key part of the famed Scream Club scene in Los Angeles , an era he dates roughly from 1986-91. Indovina has fond memories of those electrifying Saturday nights, when his band would take the stage in front of over a thousand goth-metal fans in the ballroom of the legendary Ambassador Hotel—yes, that same one where Bobby Kennedy gave his final speech before his assassination.

Hundreds of fans would mill about in four other social happening rooms, just hanging and waiting to see their favorite acts, from future superstars Guns N' Roses and Jane's Addiction to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Caterwaul and The Hangmen. Indovina screamed his intense lyrics back then, but Axl Rose and Perry Ferrell gave him a run for his money. Human Drama contributed “Wave Of Darkness” to Geffen Records' 1987 collection Scream: The Compilation , which led Indovina's band to a highly prolific output and ever evolving sound from 1989's EP Hopes Prayers Dreams Heart Soul Mind Love Life Death and first full length album Feel through 2002's Cause And Effect .

“The thing about the Scream Club that made it legendary was that it wasn't specifically about rock, punk or goth,” he says, “but about bands like us that were special because we had that little curse of not fitting into any specific genre. Human Drama was a cross between heavier sounds and pop structured music, but we were anything but generic pop. The band shifted gears as I evolved, from impassioned shouting on Feel to more of a whisper, or inner voice on The World Inside a couple of years later. As a songwriter, I started looking out at the world and making observations, examining the things we all have in common as human beings.”

While Sound Of The Blue Heart continues to explore the shimmering textures established by Human Drama, the New Orleans native's latest project Beauty ?—being released on Human Drama's longtime label Triple X Records--is the powerful culmination of his growth as a keen social observer of the world around him. While he didn't start out with an overriding theme when he began writing the album's nine original songs (he also covers the moody “Pantomime Clown,” by underground New Orleans based artist Damien Youth, and Can't Get It Out Of My Head by E.L.O.), Indovina discovered a unique pattern emerging when he put a few of the songs together in sequence.

“You know those infamous books on tape we hear so much about?” he asks. “I want my album to be one where the listener can put on headphones and hear a narrative going on from start to finish, from ‘The Great Escape' to ‘River Of Love', chapter after chapter, with a beginning and ending. I'm telling ten unique stories, but there is a definitive start and finish. With the help of my band, I think I've found an exciting new voice for myself in the narrative. I'm no longer a pop/rock singer as I was at one point, but have turned towards a narrative storytelling vibe. And it's cool.”

No matter what the genre, songs these days don't get any more dramatic than the ambient, easy-grooving title track, which taps into the vast class differences in Indovina's adopted hometown of L.A. The verses also cover the ridiculous premium we put on physical beauty over honest effort as well as greedy pastors who preach an empty prosperity gospel.

“I live downtown and look out on homeless people on the streets just a few feet away from million dollar lofts,” he says. “The lives of the haves and have nots are so different, but the man who has nothing has more of an appreciation for life than the guy on the top of the hill, who is glorified but missing something inside. Then, the young thin model is thought of as more important than the woman struggling to work to feed her kids, but why? And the preacher is up there selling hope that will never be fulfilled. We open our eyes, but is the beauty we see on the hill really beautiful after all?”

Other key tracks on Beauty? find Indovina exploring the love games we play fallacies of giving everything of oneself just for the sake of being loved (“River Of Love”); the cynicism that prevents us from sustaining those wonderful, in the moment fantasies that can make life so enjoyable (“He's Forgotten How To Dream”); and “Mad, Mad World,” about the strange dichotomy between knowing life is finite and yet allowing that reality to make everything in life matter all the more. “The fact that we are all on a limited schedule makes every moment of life really important,” he says. “It's what makes us let go. We're all equal in the feeling of hopelessness in the face of death.”

Produced by Michael Rozon (whose credits include Brazzaville , The Lullabies, Jeff Merchant and, of course, Human Drama), Beauty? features exciting contributions from Indovina's bandmates, who are all veterans from the L.A. indie music scene: electric guitarists Tim Grove and Gregg Burns; bassist Michael Mallory; drummer Rob Cournoyer; and backing vocalist Susan Lowery. David Zimmerman played keyboards and Hammond B-3 on the recording, while Rebecca Bolam plays keyboards when Sound Of The Blue Heart performs live. Indovina himself plays acoustic guitar (as he did for Human Drama), electric guitars, keyboards and percussion.

“One thing that I really enjoyed working away from the confines of Human Drama was playing with all the wonderful musicians on this project,” he says. “Compared to the way I used to make records, I find that I dictate less, and I don't oversee or micromanage musicians the way I did in the past. I guess this is part of the same growth process that helped me learn to see the world from the perspective of other people, which of course, has made me a more mature songwriter than ever before. As Sound Of The Blue Heart evolves, I want the band to tap into a broad spectrum of influences that keep our sound both beautiful and interesting."