I discovered Samiam at the same time I discovered Green Day and Screeching Weasel, after I went to Florida with my family in 5th grade. I played in the arcade at the hotel and these 2 vision street wear shorts wearin’ dudes told me about all those bands I should check out. I got home and bought Clumsy by Samiam, Wiggle by Screeching Weasel, and Kerplunk by Green Day. I of course got into all those bands, bought all their records. I even played “2,000 Light Years Away” by Green Day at the 5th grade talent show.
“Part of the Bay Area punk revival of the late ’80s and early ’90s, Samiam specialized in the catchy, anthemic punk-pop typical of the Warped Tour crowd, but separated themselves with a greater debt to hardcore and a more introspective lyrical bent that won over emo audiences. Formed in 1988, most of the band’s founding members had played in other Berkeley-area punk groups: vocalist Jason Beebout had been in Isocracy with bassist Martin Brohm; guitarist Sergie Loobkoff had been a drummer for Sweet Baby Jesus; and second guitarist James Brogan had been in Social Unrest. Drummer Mark Mortinsen — the first of many — completed the charter Samiam lineup, which caused an immediate stir on the Gilman Street punk scene with its local-supergroup pedigree.”
Samiam are still playing music.
Favorite records are Soar and Clumsy. Clumsy is their most fun poppy record.
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(MP3) from Soar
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(MP3) from Clumsy
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(MP3) from Billy
Check out Samiam records on Amazon.
View their Myspace page.
Though usually the Flashback Friday is with bands of the 90’s, I think it’s ok to have an excuse to bring up probably one of the best songs ever, as well as one of the best Talking Heads songs, “This Must Be The Place.”
If you don’t own any Talking Heads yet, you can start with Speaking In Tounges, where this great song is from.
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(MP3)
Purchase Speaking In Tounges at Amazon.
Check out the movies Stop Making Sense and True Stories.
Watch performance of “This Must Be The Place” from Stop Making Sense (via Katie.)
Learn more about Talking Heads at Wikipedia.
I found out about Kill Creek when my friend’s brother had a copy of Loaded In Lawrence (Live At The Bottleneck,) that we found in his room when I was in 6th grade. Didn’t even know what the Bottleneck was, or any of the bands on it, I think that comp came out in 1993. Little did I know I would fall in love with their record Proving Winter Cruel that came out in 1995. An amazing Lawrence, Kansas band that I’m glad I discovered.
Though their older records are out of print my friend Dan’s label Second Nature Recordings put out their most recent full length Colors Of Home and The Will To Strike, which is a document of Kill Creek’s unmistakable catalog, and a testimony to 17-years of music.
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(MP3)
Purchase Kill Creek records at Amazon.
Learn more at Kill Creek’s website.
And even more at Second Nature Recordings.
Listen to more at Myspace.
Though a short lived project, American Football put out an EP and a full length that I still think about daily. Their first EP came out on the Polyvinyl Singles Series in 1998 and that’s how I discovered them knowing that it was a project of Mike Kinsella.
Quick Bio:
“American Football was a rock band from Urbana, Illinois, active from 1997 to 2000. The band was formed by guitarist/bassist and singer Mike Kinsella (formerly of Cap’n Jazz and Joan of Arc and currently of Owen) and drummer Steve Lamos (formerly of The One Up Downstairs, one time member of The Firebird Band, and currently of The Geese and DMS), and also included guitar player Steve Holmes (also of The Geese).”
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(MP3)
Purchase American Football at Amazon.
Learn more at Polyvinyl.
I had heard of Boys Life throughout music talk and living in Kansas but never actually heard them til one special night when I walked by the Lawrence, KS Rec Center and saw them play. It was amazing, went out and got it the next day at Love Garden. Checkout The Farewell Bend and Canyon which were bands after Boys Life. Thanks to Brady for mentioning I should do them this week.
About:
“Boys Life was/is from Kansas City, Missouri and originally formed in sometime in 1993. Their music is arguably a cross between Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi - though it’s much much more. Throughout their years of playing, Boys Life developed a sound entirely their own that others have tried to copy but never nearly as great.
They released a whole lot of recordings including a split single with Secular Theme, a “Lister”/”Without Doubt” single and a split single with Giants Chair. crank! released a Boys Life / Vitreous Humor split single and then the band decided to do an album with crank!. After that, a song on the crank! “don’t forget to breathe” compilation and a legend of a split 10″ with Christie Front Drive, Boys Life went on down to Cargo Records to release their second full length, “Departures And Landfalls”.
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(MP3)
Purchase Departures & Landfalls and S/T at Amazon.
Listen to more on Myspace.
This Flashback is different (since Built To Spill is still around, alive and well,) but I just wanted to highlight a specific record There’s Nothing Wrong With Love (from 1994) that Heather, Kurt, Julie, and I talked about this weekend. It’s so good and we’ve all listened to it SO much that we even know the words to the songs in the commercial that is after the last track on the record. It was the first Built To Spill I’d ever heard and it’s still my favorite. I hope everyone gets a copy and listens to it today.
The whole record is great. I picked the song “Car” because I love the lyric “I want to see movies of my dreams.”
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(MP3)
Purchase There’s Nothing Wrong With Love on Amazon.
Learn more about Built To Spill at their Wiki.
Listen to more at Myspace.
photo by ben clark
Unwound was a rock band that formed in 1991 from Olympia, WA and was a band till 2002. They released most of their records on Kill Rock Stars, you can check out the whole detailed discography here. Favorite record is New Plastic Ideas. It was Trevor Kelley’s idea to do Unwound this week. Thanks.
Also, I love the above photo by Ben Clark. I saw it a long time ago, it made me love the band more, and made me want to shoot live photography (I could never pull it off like this photo.) Never got to see any shows at The Jabberjaw, so this could be as close as I come.
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(MP3)
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(MP3)
Learn more at their Wiki.
Buy their records at Amazon.
Listen to more at Myspace.
Jawbreaker was a Bay Area punk band and just one of those amazing bands you just had to get into it. After Jawbreaker, Blake Schwarzenbach went on to form Jets To Brazil. JTB broke up awhile ago and now it looks like he’s just started a new band with members of Texas is the Reason and Helmet. Read this recent Jawbreaker update.
Jawbreaker released Dear You, 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, Unfun, Various 7″’s and singles (on Etc.) and Live.
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(MP3) from Bivouac.
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(MP3) from Dear You.
Learn more at Wikipedia.
Listen to more at Myspace.
Purchase their records at Amazon.
Also visit the Complete Jawbreaker page.
Lync was a 1990’s indie rock band from Olympia, Washington.
I love Lync. I bought Remembering The Fireballs ( Part 8 ) sophomore year of high school and loved it. I went right back and got These Are Not Fall Colors, which is when I was really sold on them. I picked “Two Feet In Front” and “Cue Cards” for your listening pleasure. I think it shows off both their styles. (Thanks Trevor K. for your help.)
“Formed in 1992, Lync was comprised of vocalist/guitarist Sam Jayne, bassist/vocalist James Bertram and drummer Dave Schneider. Lync’s distinctive sound of distortion, cryptic lyrics, and irregular tuning created a chaotic, visceral sound which drew comparisons to Fugazi, Unwound, Hush Harbor, The Fall, and Drive Like Jehu.”
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(MP3)
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(MP3)
Purchase Remembering The Fireballs ( Part 8 ) and These Are Not Fall Colors at Amazon
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Learn more at their Wiki.
(photo by Chrissy Piper)
The Promise Ring (from Milwaukee, WI) are one of my all time favorites. Excited to remind you to listen to them or if you’ve never heard them, to give them a listen.
Also Chrissy Piper (who’s photo I used,) did a book back in 1997, called The Unheard Music. It’s one of those classic books full of photos from 1991-1997 of bands that I was/still am really into. (Promise Ring, Jawbreaker, Texas Is the Reason, etc.) It’s a great document as I didn’t get to see a lot of these bands live. There are a few copies left floating around, you should check it out at Amazon. (You can look at her Flickr to see some of the photos from the book.) Now back to The Promise Ring…
“1996 brought their first full-length album, titled 30° Everywhere, released by Jade Tree Records. The record was followed by 1997’s Nothing Feels Good, which gained the band a larger following and rave reviews. The Horse Latitudes, which collected early tracks that were previously released as 7″s, was also released in 1997. After a change in bass players, 1998 saw the release of the Boys and Girls EP, which was released on both compact disc and 7″, with the CD containing an additional song. In 1999 they furthered their success with the release of Very Emergency, which concentrated even more on their pop sound. Following their final release in 2002, Wood/Water, The Promise Ring decided to move on to new projects, like Von Bohlen’s and Didier’s new band named Maritime.”
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(MP3)
Listen to more at Myspace.
Buy The Promise Ring records at Amazon.
Learn more at the Jadetree site.
Check out their old website here. It’s amazing.
