Category: News

After yesterday’s visit to the greater Cincinnati area, we got back in the car and made our way to Pittsburgh for a free, outdoor show in Hartwood Acres Park, four years ago today.  The person who booked the show had to convince the higher ups that we were suitable for their summertime series, so everyone was extra pleased by the great turnout and response.  We played our set, followed by a three-song encore that included the Farfisa stylings of Gil Divine on “Emulsified” and said good night.  People started making their way to the parking lot.  As we got backstage, we were introduced to the event’s big mucketymuck, who surprised us with his dry sense of humor, informing us that we played two minutes less than our contracted time.  I supposed it’s possible that he is capable of being the life of any party he attends, but as it transpired, in this case he was serious: He wanted us to go back on and live up to the letter of our agreement.  Looking at the rapidly emptying park, this made no sense, to put it mildly.  I did what I usually do in situations like this (although there had never been one exactly like it)–I headed over to where Joe was selling merch, and told him we had a tour management red alert backstage.  Joe rescued James and Georgia, and–it’s possible I hallucinated this last part–ultimately went on stage to do two minutes of crowd work to the empty park, thus fulfilling our obligations.

Let’s go to the mailbag: My name is Isaac Arms and I front a shoegaze/spacerock band called Withershins from Champaign, Illinois.

Two years ago when my friend Jake Fleischli (frontman of Tractor Kings) moved up to Chicago on 1st August, 2012, he gave me his copy of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.  I have treasured this vinyl record, and its inscription he wrote to me.  I suppose you’d want me to include that, but it’s personal.

Understood, Isaac–we wouldn’t dream of asking you to divulge any secrets.  Honestly, we’re a bit distracted by the fact that Jake felt he wasn’t going to need our record in Chicago!

 

 

 

 

 

After the closing of Sudsy Malone’s in Cincinnati, we took our business across the Ohio River to the Southgate House in Newport KY, located just a few outfield sprints from the Reds’ ballpark.  (Even so, we never made it to a game, though we did stroll Pete Rose Way on a few occasions.)  A business dispute among ownership shuttered the original location–the winning faction, proprietors of the nearby Brass Ass, changed the name, and the losers opened Southgate House Revival elsewhere.  We played there for the last time on this date in 2010.  Powering through the distraction of some luggage left behind at our South Bend hotel after opening for Wilco there, life and death were on our minds.  The recently departed Ben Keith was saluted with “For the Turnstiles”; we were still paying tribute to Alex Chilton with “Windows Hotel”; and we celebrated Gary Lewis’s 64th birthday (making him 68 today!) with “Count Me In.”

 

Happy birthday to our friends Phil Morrison and Bob Lawton.  Regular readers of these posts won’t need to be reminded that Phil directed most of our music videos and Bob booked our shows from . . . when did Bob become our agent . . . late ’86? until 2003.   On this day in perhaps 1989, the band Double Dynamite–fronted by Phil, Bob on drums, me on guitar, and Greg Kendall on bass–had both our first show and our first rehearsal, opening for Big Dipper at Maxwell’s.  [UPDATE: Now that I think of it, we opened for Dumptruck.]   If I’m right about the year of our debut, then we’ve been together for 25 years without a personnel change and, at the risk of immodesty, every one of our performances has been better than the one before.  (Admittedly, there have only been five, most recently in 2004.)  No one who saw it could possibly forget our set-concluding “O-o-h Child” at Merge 15, Phil bearing his soul and much of his anatomy.   But forced to choose one, my particular favorite moment would be at Under Acme when Bob, having fought “New York Groove” and “Baby Strange” to a draw, effortlessly nailed the drum fill at the end of “Young Americans.”   Here I go, bragging again, but no less than Hyped to Death considered our lone 45 “Hero Takes a Fall” so successful, they called it excellent, not once but twice.

 

Formed a scant two years before Yo La Tengo, Asia have always lit the path ahead of us, pointing us toward our future.  And yes, their logo mops the floor with ours, and no, there’s no “Heat of the Moment” on our journey, but a beacon is a beacon, and we are devoting much of our time these days reminding ourselves how Geoffrey Downes et al spent their 30th year.  And speaking of Asia, July 29 finds us making return visits to Fuji Rock (2000) and the Formoz Festival (2007).  Last year on this day, after one last ramen breakfast, we flew home from yet another Fuji Rock, enjoying an in-flight double feature of North by Northwest and Horrible Bosses.  (And am I jealous of Asia’s Wikipedia page?  You know it.)

 

Thirteen years ago today, we made our Taiwan debut at the Formoz Rock festival.  In one of those lost-in-translation moments that we’ve never stopped enjoying, our promoter was known to us as “Mr. Freddy.”  We were one of three western bands on the bill–you probably already guessed that the other two were Megadeth and Biohazard.  That’s a festival t-shirt I continue to wear with pride.  Georgia and I stayed an extra day, and consequently had the responsibility of bringing all of our gear back, checked as overweight baggage.  And I mean ALL: multiple guitars, an Ace Tone, an amp, all in road cases.  We changed planes in San Francisco, where we collected our stuff to recheck it for the flight to Newark and got chewed out by a Customs official.  I was afraid I might have to surrender my Formoz Rock t-shirt as a peace offering, but they settled for an abject apology.  Also in the news is an email from Heather: On July 28th, 2012: Trenton and Heather had their first dance at their wedding to “Our Way to Fall” in Portland, Oregon. 🙂  Thanks for asking!  We hope you come back through town–we’ve seen you every time you’ve played in the last 4 years!

 

1989: A little over a month after we bid our final auf wiederesehn to Stephan Wichnewski, Georgia and I travel to Cambridge, and play with Dredd Foole and 7 or 8 Wormhearts (my notes say 2 or 3 Wormhearts, so either this was a stripped-down lineup or I’m in error–I’m guessing the latter).  We both played electric guitar, and our repertoire was almost entirely new material, mostly instrumental, all of which would be turned into songs over the next year.  Also on this day, we performed at Fuji Rock in Japan on two different occasions over the years.  Particularly memorable was 2003.   James encountered Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello in the dressing room area (he asked for a photo, but Nick Lowe begged off, citing his excessive age) and I had a delightful chat with Steve Winwood.  Best of all, the Sun Ra Arkestra were playing that day as well, so we invited Knoel Scott, Dave Davis and Michael Ray to sit in for most of our set, including the closing “Little Honda” and “Nuclear War.”