Archive Sunday #6

After wrapping up recording for ToD we got the honor to play at KEXP which had always been a dream of mine since moving to Seattle. We even got to play at their old space before moving to the nicer and bigger location. There was a lot of history at that old studio so I was excited. Unfortunately, I got super sick that day with flu-like symptoms and whatnot. It started to hit me right as we were doing the KEXP thing. You can see it in my face in that first photo (which was taken in our van outside of the studio). That day we were supposed to play ANOTHER show after KEXP at a record store. So between shows I went home and just slept and sweat in my sleep. The record store show is a blur.

After surviving the flu, the boys are off to Brooklyn for CMJ which is/was kind of like the SXSW for the east coast. Bunch of young bands playing in really wack venues, moved around like show ponies for all the old people to gawk at. But we had some fun. I did enjoy a lot of the shows but I remember it being a really packed schedule and we were pretty exhausted. Pictured is some weird documentary film crew that the label hired to follow us around. I liked taking pictures of them to show them how it felt! CMJ is also where I met Seth for the first time. Will and Seth had been friends in college and played music together so Will had asked Seth to come join us in Seattle. I think as Seth was deliberating he came to one of our shows. He came up to me and I thought he was a Matador employee at first, but he corrected me and said that he was going to be our future bassist. Oops.

Then there was the infamous Peter Luger dinner where the label would do their typical move and take us and all the employees to a huge dinner at some expensive restaurant. Absolutely classic Lombardi move. These dinners are entertaining for me because I love grilling Matador employees about what their job actually is. It’s always quite awkward and most people get mad at me for it but Ethan always gets a good laugh.

Anyways, this dinner is so infamous because we were fed huge steaks, over-buttered veggies and massive sundaes for dessert all knowing that we had to play a show 45 minutes later down the street. We were overstuffed and all felt sick. Such a heavy meal right before having to play a show… So of course we just leaned into how sick we felt. Will set up the mic so he could lay on the ground while we played. I was basically hunched over my kit. It was a mess but we made the best of it. There’s pics of this show somewhere online. I think it was at Rough Trade.

That second to last picture, I'm not quite sure what the timeline is there. It must have been after CMJ when Seth came out to Seattle to start playing with us. That was our old studio space at Cry Baby Studios that we shared with the group Thunderpussy.

Oh and that’s a weed plant I was growing in my closet back home at the time.

Seth: CMJ was an electrifying experience for me even as audience member at the time. I had just given my notice at work, and was making plans to come out to Seattle to join the band on the road in the next couple weeks.

Luckily I was working in the Lower East Side and was able to catch 4-5 shows in a matter of a few days. Most of those venues don't exist anymore, but I remember going out to Cakeshop, Elvis Guesthouse, Pianos, and Santos excited to get a feel for the new live show.

Santos was the first place I officially met Ethan and Andrew, but we actually started to get to know each other hanging out over at a dollar slice spot and hookah lounge between gigs.

I was impressed on how much the band developed in the few months since I saw them last. Ethan especially brought a new dynamic with his killer bass riffs and backing vocals. And both Will and Andrew seemed to have a growing confidence on stage which even prompted a few improvised interludes.

One moment that especially stood out happened when a bartender walked out on stage in the middle of a song to turn Ethan's amp down, only for the band to collectively kick it up a notch for the next part. I could already tell I was going to have a blast playing bass for them in the near future:)

Will: The second show we played after KEXP was a "jazz" set at Sonic Boom. I don't know why we opted to make it a 'jazz' set - I think to differentiate it from the 'rock' sets which seemed more appropriate for a house show than a record store - but it's why we were all dressed up for KEXP.

At CMJ we encountered a hot new band that wasn't us - The Lemon Twigs! This would not be our last encounter with the Twigs. Also, there was a rumor that Ed Sheeran attended one of our shows, but I never saw him, and he never hit me up afterwards. Having "The Ending of Dramamine" in our repertoire was a real ace up our sleeves in those days - for festivals where you're doing multiple 30-minute sets a day, starting off with a very slow 15-minute song gave us a big energy advantage. The door with all the 'condemned' notices on it is the place we rented for the week in NY. We didn't end up spending much time there.