Though I have plenty of reasons to feel “blessed,” being a music fan that lived in Seattle around the turn of the 21st century is right up there at the top.

I will be the first to admit that the music from Seattle in the early ’00s wasn’t earth-shattering — I can count the number of really great bands to come from that time on one hand. But those bands were the first steps to expanding my musical taste and teaching me that your favorite bands are typically not the flavor of the day.

Looking back, I bet I wasn’t alone. I swear within two years, the Seattle scene went from pretty much ALL New Bomb Turks and Heartbreakers rip-offs to every other type of band. Phrases like “Killed By Death” and “No Wave” seemed to have become common vernacular within a year.

Though bands like the Spits, Blow Up and the Cripples helped bridge this gap by playing shows with generic rock ‘n roll bands, people like me had to specifically find an A-Frames show to attend. After hearing constant buzz from friends, I finally caught a set of theirs at the Sunset in Ballard. Couldn’t tell you who the other bands were, but I remember their set like it was yesterday.

I couldn’t fully appreciate their sound at the time, which my friend Cody would always imitate by going *BRap BRap BRap,* but in the middle of the set, singer/guitarist Erin asked the audience, “Do you want to hear a slow one?”

To this day, “Surveillance” is one of my favorite songs, and from that moment on I was a dedicated A-Frames fan. (And I’m not alone in my conversion by “Surveillance.”)

Seeing them at the Hemlock brought me back to those days when every song they played was a hit, especially the ones that appeared on a cassette they released back then: “Crutches,” “Complications” and “Membrane.” It was so good, I made sure to go to the Stork show 2 weeks later, where they not only played those songs again, they busted out “Surveillance” too. (Sadly, I didn’t record it, but the band probably got a recording of the set from the Stork’s board…)

All those early recordings, including a bunch of demo tracks, have been compiled on 3-Lp set called “3″ released on SS Records. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.

If you aren’t friends with Steve Lucas of X on Facebook, you probably don’t know the drama behind the band’s first tour of the U.S. in 33 years. Apparently Lucas has a herniated disk in his spine, causing him great pain when he sits for long periods of time, like when flying cross country or riding for hours in a van.

By touring, Lucas is ignoring doctor’s orders, which usually isn’t the best idea. On May 28, he wrote:

“I have been advised to end the tour. I was advised not to take it on. I am now being told I am in need of surgery as the real option. I would have to come home… defeated. The longer I stay seated (as in a bus for hours upon end) I increase the level of damage.”

But yet the tour continues.

I was lucky to catch the band and record it on a day that appeared to be kind to Lucas — they only had to drive from Sacramento to San Francisco, about a two-hour drive.

There were a few missed notes and a few forgotten changes, but for a majority of the set X brought the same energy captured on their early recordings. By the time they reached their 16th song, “Mother” (which they’ve taken off their set for the remaining shows), the band and the crowd was spent — you can hear it in the recording. But up until that point, they had the crowd dancing and singing along.

Sadly, a few friends talked to me the day after the show and when asking me about X’s set, they always added the caveat, “I heard they suck.” In this music scene, word-of-mouth is everything and bullshit-criticism like that spreads like a virus. Hopefully that crap hasn’t been affecting their shows.

Heed my advice: listen to the recordings below and then, if you live in the Bay Area, go to the shows on June 5 & 6, because you’ll probably never get a chance to see such an amazing, influential band again.

*First two songs don’t have the best guitar sound; make sure to listen to #3 and on as I fixed the mic by then.

I wish I could’ve gotten to the show earlier to set up. My dragging ass not only missed an opportunity to record the Bare Wires, I didn’t set up in time to get So Cow’s entire set. Combined with some weird guitar-mic issues, I properly recorded only about six songs of their face-melting set.

Listening to So Cow’s self-titled album is a bit like time travel to me. When I throw it on, it takes me back to my salad days, when I had a lot of time, little responsibility and a few punk cassettes — Descendents, Ramones, etc.

Back then my musical tastes demanded lots of energy and melody. I had been through a metal phase and found punk to be so much more powerful. It was the first music I heard that made me jump around and sing along. (Mind you, this was right before NOFX’s Punk In Drublic and Green Day’s Dookie became the mainstream definition of punk rock; I had yet to become jaded with the formula.)

If I had a cassette of So Cow’s album when I was 12, I probably would’ve worn it out while trying to ollie over bricks in a church parking lot. Brian Kelly’s songs have the pop-hooks and speed of the Descendents combined with the chord mastery of the Beatles. Or to put it simply, So Cow is a fast Beatles.

Which is why I was so surprised by the band’s comments during and after the set that the songs were played too fast. The band doesn’t sound like they’re rushing through the songs — it sounded like it had energy. Yet, before starting “Ain’t No Fun,” my mics picked up the bass player saying, “It needs to slow way the fuck down.”

But what-the-fuck-ever, decide for yourself:

One final note: though the So Cow set was great, the highlight of the night was during the Bare Wires’ last song, “Young Love.” At the climax of the song, Melton and the bassist (don’t know his name) had obviously planned to jump into the crowd. But when Matt jumped in, he unplugged his guitar, so the song went from loud and rockin’ to quiet and confused.

Maybe I’m the only one who finds that funny because I’m a critical asshole. Whatever… Subscribe to the singles club!

Things here at Lemon Session HQ have gotten seriously hectic with the Singles Club 2010 being announced and my entrance into show promotion here in the Bay Area. Between mailing dozens of records every day, and trying to find time to post fliers around Berkeley and Oakland, all the while being EXTREMELY lazy… it’s just left me with no time to do anything useful for this label.

So, onto doing something useful: Don’t forget to purchase a subscription to the Lemon Session Singles Club 2010. There’s still time to buy one, and economy be damned! — you can join for $12.* (Yes, that star means there’s stuff you should read at the bottom of this post that concerns money, mainly paying me money.) Click here to sign up.

For all youse wonderful people who have a singles club subscription and come to this blog regularly for all the free shit I give away, I happily present a live recording Snake Flower 2 from just last year.

I’ve been a fan of Snake Flower 2 ever since I saw them opening for Los Llamarada at their first show in California. I wasn’t planning on recording them and after their first song, I kicked myself for being so lazy. Since I had brought video equipment to film Los Llamarada, I should’ve at least turned on one of the cameras to capture singer/guitarist Matthew Melton, complete with shoulder-length hair, ironic mustache, and a long sleeve shirt-&-tie combo that made him look like he was attending a wedding — rocking a strat strapped so high on his body that it could’ve been an oversized necklace.

They didn’t play the tightest set but I could tell the songs were there, which inspired me to buy the $5 promo CD of their (at the time) upcoming album, Renegade Daydream. From I head that first drum roll on “Flight Of The Navigator,” I knew I had stumbled upon a hidden treasure.

Flash forward a few years to 2009, where the band, now with a new lineup and Matt on bass/vocals, opens for 4-track rockers the Idle Times. The band played a huge chunk of new material and ended with some serious hits from “Renegade.”

Here’s my recording:

While setting up the recording equipment for the show, Matt introduced me to a lady named Nicole who would be filming the show. While waiting for the band to set up, we talked a little about geek stuff like cameras and recording equipment. Turns out she was a student at Expressions college, the art college with an $80,000-a-year tuition, which gives her access FOREVER to their equipment and studios. (Sounds cool, but that is WAAAYYY to much for schooling.)

In the middle of the band’s set, I walked away from my set up to take some pictures. As I made my way through the crowd, I saw Nicole, camera-less, watching the show, while another guy stood next to her and videotaped the show. Now I’m not an expert on shooting video, but if you have two people available, why not bring two cameras? Even if you’re not trained professionally, it’s not hard to use a camera.

Also, what kind of education are you paying $80,000-a-year for if you don’t know to bring a tripod to a video shoot?

Next post — some videos from my personal collection? Fuck yes.

*The plan is 5 payments of $12 and if you are one of the first 200 to sign up, you get the newest Bundle of Fags 7″ as well as other bonuses! Buy now!

The Idle Times is one of my fave bands. As far as lo-fi psych bands go, the Idle Times AKA Brian Standeford has perfected the art of sounding raw and primal without sounding inept. As far as bedroom musicians go — and yes, all his stuff is recorded by him at his apartment with him playing all the instruments — he’s a virtuoso.

But my favorite part about this band? Brian records the drums on a toy drum set. I think he’s an inch or two over 6 feet, and a tall man playing drums on a tiny kit can’t NOT be funny.

Sure, you can’t tell that the drums are tiny from his records — he makes those 4-track recordings sound like he’s playing with a full band. (Or maybe you’re just distracted by the smoking guitar work.) But it’s the truth — those drums were meant for a tweener or younger but Brian got them for free and that’s what he uses.

It’s also funny that when Brian plays the Idle Times material live, he’s always playing with a badass drummer, usually Dean Whitmore, the brains behind Unnatural Helpers.

For a short West Coast tour, Dean couldn’t come along so Brian recruited two ex-band mates from his Catheters days, drummer Davey Brozowski (currently in the Black Whales) and bassist Paul Waude. As you can tell from the recording below, the songs have a lot different “feel” when played by such massive musicians.

And yes, Brian is the one who designed the Lemon Session logo, the triangle eye, for such a paltry sum it’s almost unbelievable. If you’d like to employ him for graphic design work, you can reach him at brianstandeford (at) hotmail.

After a year of ignoring this blog like it was homeless person asking for money, I’ve finally gotten off my lazy butt and did everything I said I would — I switched to Wordpress, redesigned the blog and bought the proper equipment so I could start posting video clips from my extensive VHS collection (something like 6 tapes, all awesome.)

I also began work on my record label. I already have my first eight releases lined up and all of them will be available through a singles club subscription I intend to start selling very soon. Make sure to check the “Releases” page for more information and updates.

For the first post of 2010, I bring you recordings from a hand-held device of the Mayyors show at the Eagle. Great bill — Ty Segall, Ganglians, Mayyors and the Oh Sees — with a line to the door that stretched to the end of the block. I missed Ty Segall completely and the Ganglians set was a bunch of muffled screams and disco beats (no I haven’t heard any of their records.)

When I finally did get into the Eagle, it was just a sea of hipsters. Satin jackets, ironic mustaches and hot pink as far as the eye could see. And when the hipsters saw the Oh Sees climb on stage, they jammed themselves into every nook and cranny in the bar, thereby turning the club into a sauna. I tried to take pictures but my lens kept fogging up. I did manage to walk up close enough to the stage to get some decent recordings on my Zoom H4.

I’m not the biggest fan of the Oh Sees — I own a few of the old albums, which I really like, but I’m not one of these fanatics out there that got into the band last year and either has, or will go to great lengths to purchase, every record the Oh Sees put out in the last two years (which is something like 245 releases (and that doesn’t include cassettes.)) But even a negative pants like me appreciated their set that night. That is one finely tuned machine John Dwyer has got there.

Then, the moment I had been waiting for: Mayyors took the stage. I was one of those lucky bastards who caught their set at the Hemlock late last year, and yes, I lost my shit. At some point, the singer John Pritchard slapped me in the face*. It fucking ruled.

This set seemed to have several new songs. Too bad John’s vocals were too low in the middle of the set.

(That’s the entire set, with encore, but with huge chunks of the noise transitions cut out. You’re welcome.)

Sadly, the guitarist for Mayyors, Chris Woodhouse, is going on tour with the Intelligence for six to seven weeks in Europe, so there won’t be Mayyors shows around here until after May. Goddamn Europeans are taking away our fun and that fucking sucks.

*Admittedly, I was trying to pull him off the stage. If he’s going to play that music, I feel he should perform the obligatory stage dive, at least 4, no 5 times.

I began working at a new job a few weeks ago that pays significantly more than the paltry wages I made working in television, so, to treat myself for this new found success, I bought myself some new headphones. I went full out, buying a pair of Ultrasones, which mimic stereo monitors — instead of the little speakers being pointed directly at your ears, they are almost facing your head, just like a pair of monitors.

Recently I’ve been reading “Eye Mind,” the story of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, which reignited my interest in psych music.

One of the records I’ve come back to is the Wooden Shjips’ LP and I can tell you that through these new headphones, it sounds absolutely amazing. I would say that even though it sounds great through a sound system, it’s a headphone album to the nth degree.

As for their live shows — great, especially if you’re high, but if you’re not into 10-minute songs (like my wife), you’ll probably end up falling asleep (like she did both times we saw them.)

Below is a DAT recording I made of the Shjips show at the Stork Club in Oakland. Again, the bass pretty much blew out the sound; I eq’d it best I could but the thing is overpowering. Also, there’s a little crackling, but that was PA speakers and nothing that was my fault.

After their original drummer Joe left, I auditioned for the band Battleship. I hadn’t played drums for a band since the Popular Shapes, which I left in 2003; this was three years later. By that point I had been dying to play in a band and Battleship were one of the only bands in the Bay Area I actually liked.

It had been months since I spent any time behind a kit. Though I still brimmed over with natural talent (ha!), when it came to playing the parts Joe wrote for their songs, I stumbled and apologized more than I played proficiently.

Suffice to say, I didn’t get the job — it went to a much faster, talented drummer named Drew. Instead, Battleship’s singer/battery (that guy is “go, go go!” all the time) Aleks offered to start a side project with me.

It was after that conversation that led to the birth of Red Nurse, a band that shamelessly exploited its members’ previous bands’ fame. We couldn’t help it; really, each of our bands had minimal success in the underground (our singer’s old band, Tractor Sex Fatality, was probably the best of the bunch) and we didn’t think twice about advertising that fact when played our first show. (We headlined, so it was necessary.)

The funniest part about this band was the fact that the most talented member, Mike the bass player, was the only one who hadn’t been in a band before this. I helped him buy a bass and amp just for this band. He would become the main songwriter for the band, though many of our songs were compiled from spontaneous jams during practice.

We played a few shows, were offered a few record deals and yet we let it peter our when Alecks left for New York in 2007.

Here is the COMPLETE recording of a show we played at the Stork club in 2007 — we opened for the Wooden Shjips (who I also recorded) and Pink Reason. Enjoy.

Noise Pop is a bunch of bullshit. The company behind this stupid festival, Noise Pop Industries, makes a big event of having a few good shows, which should be happening all the time anyway. No, wait, what am I saying? It already does. A lot of these bands play the San Francisco Bay Area already, and pretty frequently — the show I went to featured two S.F. bands on the bill, one of which, the Oh Sees, was the headliner.

The show was my first Noise Pop show. I had two spots on the guest list because I wrote a preview for what-shall-be-an unnamed publication. I was forwarded an email from the publicist, or more specifically from a co-worker of the publicist (important later on) saying I had a +1 on the list for the show.

Around the same time, Dean, drummer for the Unnatural Helpers, gave me permission to record his band at the show. I’ve acquired more recording equipment over the years and this was a great opportunity to try it out so I planned on bringing my equivalent of a mobile studio to the show. (Thank god I had a +1, though I don’t think Rob, my guest, appreciated having to carry two 10-pound microphone stands around Market St.)

This led to me making my first mistake — actually looking forward to going to Noise Pop.

From what I understand from other music writers is that when it comes to guest list spots for Noise Pop shows, nothing is guaranteed. (It sounds like an administration problem at Noise Pop Industries* and I wouldn’t expect them to fix it any time soon.)

So, it’s the night of the show, and Rob and I are hauling armloads of my equipment through the Castro after taking 10-15 minutes looking for a parking space. We arrive at the front door of Cafe du Nord just as the doormen started taking tickets. I walked up to the doorman with the guest list and told him that I was here to record the band the Unnatural Helpers, hence why I had tons of equipment, and would it be alright if I walked in now so I could start setting up.

“You’re not on the guest list,” the bouncer with a fisherman’s hat informed me.

Soon after that wonderful announcement, some short indie kid in with cropped blonde hair and a t-shirt walks up to me and says, “You’re hear to record the show? Oh, there already is someone recording the show, so you can’t do it. Sorry. You can still come in and watch the show, if you’re on the guest list.” This jerk then ducked under the velvet rope and went inside, never to be seen again (which was lucky for him.)

I called up my middleman for this ordeal and he yells at me for not printing out the email. So I head over to the internet cafe next door and print out my email, the one item of physical evidence I have that shows I’m supposed to be on the list. With my equipment still shoved under my arms, I walk over to the doorman again, who at this point stood by a skinny blonde that dressed like a demented peasant with a cell phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I handed the man my email and he passed it over to the peasant.

“She’s the one you have to talk to,” said the doorman as he handed her the paper.

She scanned the email a little bit and then asked, “So what is this?”

“This is the email that shows that I’m supposed to be on the guest list.”

She scanned over the email again, this time pointing at it. “So Grace gave you permission? I don’t know Grace. She doesn’t have anything to do with the show.”

“So you don’t even know the company she works for?”

“Well yeah, Tell All Your Friends is who we hired to do our publicity. And I see on here Kip’s name, the person who we hired, but still, just look at this. Anybody could have written it. It’s just not good enough for me.”

“But Kip’s name is on there,; doesn’t that mean anything?”

“No. But if you want to, you can get a hold of Kip and he knows how to get a hold of me,” and then she handed back the paper, turned around, put out her cigarette and walked up the stairs of the Swedish American Hall.

(Before I continue on, I have to ask: does anyone ever actually sit down in front of a computer and a fake forwarded email, full of sideways carrots and email addresses, just to get into a show for free? Also, the show was sold out — tickets were $12. The show already made thousands of dollars — are two people getting in for free going to make a dent in their profits? Not to mention the fact by keeping us out, she’s preventing potential profits from reaching the bands (merchandise) and the club (alcohol.) Smart lady.)

Rob and I continued to stand outside the club with the equipment as we waited to see if someone contacted the publicist. Thanks to Kimberly of the Unnatural Helpers, we had Annie, the talent buyer for show, trying to get a hold of Kip too, which boded well for us. So as we waited to hear our fate, we caught up with old friends from Seattle.

We were not only at the show to see bands — we were also there to buy their records. Tyvek sold all of their copies of their Sub Pop Singles Club 7″, but the Unnatural Helpers still had plenty of theirs. Mitch Cardwell was awesome for he went inside and bought the 7″s for us.

Lo and behold, on the cover the record was a picture I took of the band playing in Seattle (you can see the picture [url=http://www.lemon-session.com/more.php?id=36_0_1_0_M]here.[/url] My picture is on a Sub Pop record, the label that revolutionized popular music for a decade. Awesome.

Then I turned around the record to find the photo credited to someone else.

After we heard the first band, the Fresh and Only’s, finish their set, I saw super bitch standing outside again, smoking and talking on her cell phone. I walked over to her and waited for her to finish her call.

“Should we give up all hope?” I asked in a gentle tone.

“What?”

“I’m just wondering if we should give up all hope. I don’t want to be standing her all night.”

“Well, I haven’t heard anything back from Kip. And what are you from again?”

I told her the name and about how we wrote a huge write-up for the entire festival. I added the fact that my co-worker does a ton of work for Kip and that she could talk to my “Kip connection” if she wanted to.

“I don’t NEED to talk to your “connection, I need to talk to Kip,” she said before turning around and walking off again.

Maybe a minute or two afterward, Annie came up to inform me and the doormen that I am on the list. When I ask about Rob, she informs me that they could only squeeze me in.

I was about to just say, “fuck it” and drive Rob home when Kimberly came up the stairs with a guy who had an unused +1. Huzzah!

We got our stamps and wristbands, walked downstairs and saw that the club was far from being full. Big surprise — it was all bullshit!

Unnatural Helpers
The Helpers have two new members since last time I saw them — Brian Standeford and Leo Gebhart from the Catheters and Tall Birds. These guys are serious shredders and have brought more of a garage meets stoner rock sound to the band. They also play more covers now, including She Must Be A Witch by Lollipop Shoppe (and the Lost Sounds.)

Along with my camera, I brought in a hand held recorder, a device I grabbed just in case they didn’t let me record. It records stereo 24-bit WAV files and the mic uses a U87 emulator. Sadly, I stood to close to the stage when the Helpers played, so my mic barely picked up the vocals.

Tyvek
I had heard that Tyvek hired a new bassist and she doesn’t look older than 15. But I don’t think there’s any gross reason for why she’s in the band.

This time I was lucky and stood at the perfect spot to pick up the vocals. I thought they played and sounded 20x better than the last time I saw them. I also enjoy the fact that they are willing to experiment on stage now, letting three minute pop songs turn into 10 minute jams. Good stuff.

*Industries? Really? What the fuck. You want to be corporate? So then this is much more about the money than the music. Wow, I really want to support that.

So I’ve been waiting to put up this video and these songs u on the site for a while now but they’ve been pushed aside because of my busy schedule. But Unnatural Helpers are coming down to S.F. again, this time to play Noisepop. They play Thursday, Feb. 26, with the Oh Sees at Cafe Du Nord.

I, with the help of my friend James Buck, filmed this video the same night we filmed Kinski, all the way back in 2007. It’s kinda sad how lazy I’ve been.

So, I don’t know where the reverb sound in the video came from — Adobe Premiere just made it this way. But I’m leaving it in anyway because I like it.

I tried to use my computer to record their set but for some reason it just didn’t record. These songs are a mix of what the camera mics picked up. They’re really distorted and might be hard to listen to for some, but people also the recording on the first Hospitals record, and I think this is comparable.