Experimental, Quasi-Pop Clinic

Clinic's first trip to New York was awful. They got into Manhattan the same day those fuckheads attacked the World Trade Center. Welcome to America.

The band went back home to Liverpool as soon as airplanes started flying again. Their second trip was low-key. They played an afternoon show in October, because the Bowery Ballroom was overbooked.

But Clinic is coming again this week. They've been waiting for this.

The band and its music have been impossible to label. Call it emo, Brit pop, art rock, Nuggets-style garage, electronica, indie. All of these styles are heard in Clinic's music. "Experimental with an underlying pop sense," says singer/guitarist/keyboardist Ade Blackburn.

Clinic wears surgeon's masks and medical scrubs. They tempt you with pop, then bludgeon you with distorted tribal beats. Droning Moog. Their super-hyped third visit will follow quickly on the heels of the well-received Walking with Thee (Domino). Walking with Thee sounds vaguely familiar. It pulls from three decades of musical influences. It may be how the Monks, Can and the Pixies would have sounded if Phil Spector produced their albums. Everyone says they sound like the Velvet Underground.

"I've always loved pop music," Blackburn admits. But Clinic is definitely not a Brit-pop band. There is a secret, a dark plot that keeps Clinic fresh, almost alien. Lyrically, the new album is a reflection of Blackburn's recent feelings. He wants to make nice. "The overall impression is that life's been a bit hard...negative. With this album I wanted to say that there is a positive side to things. Kind of a breath of fresh air. I just wanted to say this time to be aware that there's an upside."

This philosophy follows through (at times) on Walking with Thee's instrumentation. It is noticeably softer, with longer and less-frenzied tracks than the debut Internal Wrangler. Clinic's aim was to create an album that was more spacious on the surface. Upbeat hooks, dancehall beats and teddy bear song titles like "Sunlight Bathes Our Home" make it more accessible than previous releases. But the real appeal comes from melodic contradictions and the awkward intensity of Blackburn's vocals. The track "Harmony" pierces your ears with a keyboard intro that sounds like The Exorcist's theme song. Fifteen seconds later, Clinic massages your shoulders with a melodramatic clarinet solo that could have been ripped from a Bruce Springsteen album. It's the skillful arrangement of these musical contradictions and Blackburn's emotional vocals ("I believe in harmony/I believe in Christmas Eve") that make "Harmony"?and the album as a whole?worthwhile.

Last summer, Blackburn and bassist Brian Campbell, guitarist/keyboardist Hartley and drummer Carl Turney got the chance of a lifetime. Radio One legend John Peel had been playing Internal Wrangler on his show. Radiohead frontguy Thom Yorke caught an earful and invited Clinic to open up 25 venues during the Kid A tour. "It was really flattering," Blackburn says. "They could have had a big-name band support them." Playing to 10,000 people was "pretty intense, but the audiences reacted well to us. People were familiar with our music. We adjusted to it and settled in quickly."

Clinic began touring last fall to support the U.S. release of Internal Wrangler. They were scheduled to play the Bowery on Sept. 11. When the show was canceled, Clinic called off the rest of its U.S. tour. "It was odd. Strange, being that it was the first time we'd come to New York," says the understated Blackburn.

When the men behind the masks return April 2, they will play to packed venues: both shows at the Bowery and one at Maxwell's have sold out. Is this mainstream acceptance? Not quite. Clinic's "The Second Line" was featured in a Levi's commercial. Does this mean they're selling out? Not quite. The band didn't see a penny from the Levi's deal.

"We would never sit down and try writing a hit single or try to make a commercial album," Blackburn says, but there's no reason to think mainstream success is out of reach because "we play pop-based music." Still, even in England, Clinic has yet to attain mainstream acceptance. "Our audience has built up over the past few years, but we're not mainstream. Still somewhat underground, I'd say."

Will they don the surgical outfits this time? "We'll play with our masks," Blackburn says. "Full surgical suits. We put a lot of time into the visuals. We do all the album cover artwork ourselves. I think a band should make an effort to appeal visually. The surgical outfits make the gigs more of an event. Even before we play the music we set the tone."

Clinic plays Tuesday, April 2, and Thursday, April 4, at Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie St.), 533-2111, and Wednesday, April 3, at Maxwell's, 1039 Washington St. (11th St.), Hoboken, 201-653-1703.