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| Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three: Built to Spill and the Live Room | Chapter Four | Recent History |
1 Jun 95: La Luna (Portland, OR). With the Purdins, Heatmiser, and Built to Spill. The first show on our mini-tour with BTS, and Christopher was as nervous as he gets. La Luna is a big place (1100 cap.), all ages, although they also have a sectioned-off area with a bar—kind of cool. Big, open stage, barriers between the crowd and the stage, security guards—the whole kit and caboodle. The crowd was weird—they just stood there, blank expressions on their faces, not moving at all to the music, clapping politely after each song... they were even that way for the Purdins, who rocked the house.
2 Jun 95: Crocodile Cafe. With Built to Spill and the Purdins. This show was the one we were most looking forward to—home town, familiar environment, lots of friends. And it lived up to its expectations, possibly our best show yet. There were a shitload of people crammed into the Croc, and they really seemed into us—Christopher even told a joke! We had a great time, and played a good set. Built to Spill was much better than they were in Portland, and the Purdins were amazing—pulled out all the stops. The two guitar players wore Santa costumes, the bass player and Tony, the singer, wore these hilarious heavy metal wigs, Tony with a rope of garlic hanging down his crotch, spitting blood and doing amazing screams. It was a great show all around.
3 Jun 95: SUP (Sailors' Union of the Pacific) Hall. With the Purdins, Heatmiser, and Built to Spill. Another all-ages show, and packed—probably 700 or more people there. Because of noise complaints, they had to keep the back windows closed, so the place was extremely hot and humid. We played an okay set, a bit loose, but it was fine. The crowd was, once again, fairly unresponsive, but definitely more into it than at Portland.
4 Jun 95: Capitol Theatre (Olympia). With the Halo Benders, the Purdins, and Built to Spill. Shows at the Capitol Theatre are sort of lame in that they have to cram everyone, including the band, onto the stage area (they won't let anyone sit in the seats below). There were probably 200 people crammed into this small place, a smallish set of risers for the band. Our set was fairly sloppy and punk rock (Jason managed to cut himself on his guitar, blood everywhere), but the crowd seemed into us.
9 Jun 95: Neurolux (Boise, ID). With the Purdins and Built to Spill. This is the bar where Doug works, or rather, worked (he quit several days after this show). The sound is good, and the clientele were friendly and seemed genuinely into our set—we even had people dancing to apple tree and then war, of all songs! Doug played possibly his most inspired guitar that night—he seemed very relaxed and comfortable.
10 Jun 95: Crazy Horse (Boise, ID). With the Purdins and Built to Spill (last show of the tour). We spent the day hanging in and around Boise, going to the World Center for Birds of Prey (very cool), and spending the late afternoon with Doug and his family (his girlfriend, Karena, and their son, Benjamin Cleo)—very nice. It's quite amazing to have someone whom you consider to be the best songwriter/guitarist in the current scene to tell you that he really likes your music. Despite the nice day, however, our all-ages set at the Crazy Horse suffered from a flurry of technical problems. We ended the set with Barrett nearly destroying his drum kit (in war). The kids loved it. We sold more singles at this show than at any other. One young skater-type (no more than 14 years old) said to Barrett something like, "Man, you don't know what this means to us...."
15 Jun 95: RKCNDY. With Michelene Impossible and Stella Maris.
28 Jun 95: Here's an excerpt from an article about us that appeared in the Rocket on this day: "This Busy Monster is a four-headed, musically carnivorous beast.... The band is not easy to categorize. Their sound fits under the wide umbrella of rock, keeping dry from the big wet drops of pop and safe from the hailstorms of indie-alternative. You figure it out."
10 Aug 95: Weathered Wall. With the Superstitions and Violent Green. The Superstitions are Bill's (from Stella Maris) new band. We had some technical problems (like Josh's bass breaking), but we pulled it off.
1 Sep 95: Here's an excerpt from an article about us that appeared in the University of Washington Daily on this day: "This four-piece blends the conventions of 'interesting' music, replete with complex structures and difficult-sounding parts, with the undeniable pop-rock sensibility. Thus, they manage to sidestep the ghettoes of prog for something altogether catchier and more satisfying but never let matters become precious or cute. They have an undeniable power when playing live that turns on tightness and the tack-sharp, vaguely dissociative lyrics and vocal lines."
3 Oct 95: Crocodile Cafe. With 5ive Style and Uptighty. 5ive Style are a new Sub Pop band, so Jonathon Poneman was there, and he watched a few songs from our set. Jason and Christopher broke strings during the same song (lucky? or unlucky?). 5ive Style are a sort of Motownish funk instrumental band, and Uptighty are a 10-piece funk band with lots of singers and lots of energy. Crazy unexplainable lineup.
11 Oct 95: Here's an excerpt from an article in the Seattle Weekly: "Singer/guitarist Christopher Possanza's heady voice lies deep in the mix, filling the instrumentals with now-sinister, now-playful brushstrokes.... From the technically impressive, if viscerally deficient, badlands of time changes and stop-start self-consciousness, Possanza's voice rises up, letting the music cascade into a satisfying chorus as the band grows fevered."
13 Oct 95: Velvet Elvis. With the Incredible Force of Junior and Red Stars Theory. Friday the 13th at the all-ages theatre and arts lounge. We had some technical and spiritual (Christopher was slightly ill) problems, but we did okay.
17 Oct 95: Re-Bar. With the Superstitions and the Laundry Octet. Actually, the Octet never got to play due to technical difficulties, but Laundry played. Technical difficulties seemed to be the theme for the night—Jason's amp was possessed by a mean demon, and Barrett nearly left the band afterwards. A significant show if only because it was so awful.
3 Nov 95: AIDStock, at the Weathered Wall. There were ten acts at this thing. We played a damn good show (which we sorely needed to do). People seemed into us. Some extremely drunk and incoherent writer from a queer mag came up to Christopher after the show and tried to express his appreciation of our set... it was very difficult to talk to him. After we played, these two people went on who were great. A man and a woman: the man read beat poetry and the woman played killer sax. All in all not a bad night.
23 Dec 95: Live Room, KCMU. Whoa, what a weird experience. Christopher was sick, and had almost lost his voice just a couple of days before this show, so he wasn't in the best form. Jason was even sicker, with the flu. But we did okay—Christopher sounded like a frightened little child at times, but it was basically an okay performance—captured onto DAT for posterity.
5 Jan 96: Rendezvous. With The Adding Machine.
18 Feb 96: Velvet Elvis. With Worst Case Scenario, the Peechees, and KARP. Our fiftieth show!
| Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three: Built to Spill and the Live Room | Chapter Four | Recent History |
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