Well, it took a while but everyone got their records and I’m finally free of any deadlines for record releases. It’s kind of depressing how lazy I am and how easy it is for me to make promises that would be easy to keep if I could only keep my momentum going after a long week at work. But my love of television and researching cassette recording devices is fucking up my whole work flow. (No wonder I don’t have any friends.)

This time, I’m gonna do what I can to update this site at a regular pace with recordings, videos and a few somewhat-entertaining stories that I might sit down at a computer long enough to write.

Before we get into the first post of the year, take note: all of Lemon Session’s releases are now available for purchase from this very website. Click on the “releases” tab above and go crazy.

This week’s post is a live set from the Hospitals, the third version of the band with guitarist Chris Gunn.

I recorded this at Rob and Bonnie’s wedding in 2009 (same show as the Blowtops recordings) and while mixing it at home, I realized I wanted to start a label — but only if I could put this out. Songs like “Scan The Floor For Food” and “Getting Out Of Bed” sounded like top ten hits to me. It didn’t help that Rob had sold me on the idea of a singles club being an easy, fool-proof way to start a profitable music label just days before. (Surprisingly, I couldn’t convince him to join in the cause, though he did agree to help me round up bands.)

That next day at my shitty job I emailed Chris and pitched him an idea of doing a live whatever — EP, LP, whatever they were willing to do just as long as I could include those recordings. A few days later Chris wrote back and said the band was interested.

Fast forward a few months — I’m rounding up the bands, and have already signed up Rib Cages, Blowtops, Teenage Nightwar for the club, though I don’t have their recordings. The entire time I’m thinking that no matter who I sign up for the club, at least I have the Hospitals stuff ready to go and I know I’ll be proud of releasing that.

And then of course this email shows up:

The Hospitals are broken up. If you want to put those live recordings out you’ll have to talk to Adam. I’m out. I do appreciate your tenacity and enthusiasm but I doubt that anything will happen. Adam just likes to have control of what comes out and all of that shit.

Anyways, I am taking a much needed complete break from music so I won’t need any live recordings anytime soon.

I hope that your label goes well man.

Thanks,
Chris

What was sadder?: the fact that the record wasn’t going to come out or Gunn taking a break from music (if you’re a Hunches fan, you know the answer.)

Around that time I had heard talk of the Hospitals putting out a live tape but I have no idea whether this is the stuff on it. For me, this ties with “Islands of Jocks and Jazz” as my favorite Hospitals recordings (though I would kill for that first 7″…)

Who here first saw Times New Viking after hearing “Dig Yourself” and thought “Thank God they delivered!” I bought my wife “Dig” when it first came out for a Christmas present and by God I had to suppress the urge to steal their riffs because they were that good, goddamn it (though I couldn’t help thinking that “Skull Vs. Wizard” was just a new take on songs like “Santa Monica” by Everclear and “My Own Worst Enemy” by Lit.) “Presents the Paisley Reich” took some getting used to, but it was the last thing I listened to before I got married and listening to “Hiding in Machines” really did make everything look like it was going to be alright… (you would need to know the back story for that shit.)

I knew I was traveling to Seattle that week they were touring but I made arrangements with some great friends to go straight to Portland so we could catch their show with the Hunches. Sure, we couldve flown directly to Portland, but adding a road trip to the ordeal made it more exciting.

I would’ve enjoyed TNV more if I didn’t have so many technical difficulties with my recorder — borrowed from UC Berkeley, it was set to record MP3s using the internal mics, which meant I was going to get shit sound until I adjusted it. Strangely enough, it sounds just as good as TMV’s albums, so I’m not that embarrassed.

The Hunches headlined.

I remember the first time I saw the Hunches (imagine me on a wooden porch and you’re sitting cross-legged in front of me). They were this unknown band that seemed to be playing the “rock and roll punk”-thing when it had already gone out of style; any band that released something on Junk Records seemed to sum up the numerous amount of crap bands that toured through Seattle.

Yet I couldn’t help but get into the Hunches. The guitarist went ape shit the entire time and the singer, when he got really screaming, sounded just like Tomata du Plenty. With their two LP’s, they proved they weren’t like the other “punk rawk” bands that made me never want to listen to the Heartbreakers or the MC5 ever again. They were a hell of a lot noisier, but that may be partly due to the fact both albums, “Yes.No. Shut It.” and “Hobo Sunrise,” were recorded at the Distillery in Costa Mesa, CA, a studio with a reputation for bringing the noise (Lightning Bolt and Le Shok are just two examples of the noisy bands that recorded there.)

At this show, the band still brought the same energy, except it sounded like they hadn’t practiced much before the show. They gave us a set with a bunch of new songs, including one, “Your Sick Blooms,” that singer Hart needed a lyric sheet for. When I got the guitarist Chris to sign the release form, he didn’t seem very pleased with the set and didn’t give me any information so I could send him a copy of the show. Too bad; I think the recording came out great.

According to their MySpace page, these are the Hunches’ last days; they’re recording one more album and maybe doing a West Coast tour. Maybe it’s for the best, since they’ll be quitting while still at the top of their game.