Comments on: Reunions

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 16:32:00 +0000

matthew thurman: it was really the special guests that bothered me. This seems to be the prevailing thing these days, and I just can’t understand it. Why do they need to align themselves with the newest hitmaker? In an effort to appear hip, it just backfires rapidly…I mean, why do Norah Jones and Wyclef Jean seem to be appearing with everybody these days? The Pretenders were onstage with fucking Incubus? And Kings Of Leon? The top of my head blew off.

Yeah, what I find annoying is all the newer artists are getting younger and younger and whenever you do hear about them it’s always about something other than the music they make. And the music they make seems to be made by everyone else but the artist. Seems the artist is just the “thing of the moment” that’s gonna make everybody rich.

By: Carlos Anaconda

Carlos Anaconda — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:30:00 +0000

That schmuk that yelled Jethro Tull was probably me. Peter Voskamp’s love of Jethro Tull was well known to me and they would often do JT covers in their set. They singlehandedly revindicated JT music for me, so I would often call them to play it. Turns out once you get rid of Ian Anderson standing in one leg playing flute, they actually wrote some pretty cool songs. But the Peglegasus guys were also well known for being able to play covers as if they had written them. A lot of it because they were just so damn good. The only other band that I feel could approach that ability at the time was the Jinkies.

By: Matthew Thurman

Matthew Thurman — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:32:00 +0000

No, I can remember people asking for Mike Gunn stuff at Grimm shows, and I always used to think “Man, fuck these people, this is his new thing”…but then once, you guys played “Clean” and Carlos and I were like “Wow, that was cool…” so I totally contradicted my own knee-jerk attitude. You know how Hendrix on the live albums used to say “When I say ‘toilet paper’, THAT’S when you come rollin’ out!”…I love that shit. One time, at Rudyard’s…and I think Ramon might’ve been there too…some shmuck yelled out “JETHRO TULL!” during a Peglegesus set. And they immediately launched into something from Aqualung. No one said shit after that.

By: Matthew Thurman

Matthew Thurman — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:23:00 +0000

Oh, I’m hip to that Ovation channel with Jools’ show. As a matter of fact, he had an episode called “British Legends” with the Plant/Page reunion where they did a really breakneck paced version of the “Wanton Song” that just rocked so fucking hard I almost fell off the bed. I don’t know who the drummer and bassist were…probably the same 2 guys that played on the Albini record…this was like late 90′s, I think the bass player’s name is Charlie? Anyway, just to see these 2 old geezers who are both pushing 50-60 easily blow away any young upstarts making records today, it just soared my spirit, they were really laying it down. You know, the thing about those VH1 shows…I really dig the Pretenders, Elvis and the Attractions, and Heart, and I’ve seen all those bands with their original members and they kicked ass…it was really the special guests that bothered me. This seems to be the prevailing thing these days, and I just can’t understand it. Why do they need to align themselves with the newest hitmaker? In an effort to appear hip, it just backfires rapidly…I mean, why do Norah Jones and Wyclef Jean seem to be appearing with everybody these days? The Pretenders were onstage with fucking Incubus? And Kings Of Leon? The top of my head blew off.

By: John Cramer

John Cramer — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:21:00 +0000

Hey Matt, no one ever came to any of my band’s shows, and when they did, they didn’t request anything. Unless it was Curt at Grimm shows yelling for the “Horsie song,” or Jay Hovah constantly yelling “Freebird!”, God that guy is a douche. If people actually requested Smile 69, you should be happy that they knew about your older stuff, I think I’d be flattered by those sorts of requests. I think.

By: Son of Ravyn

Son of Ravyn — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 22:19:00 +0000

That comment about the Bangles show was me; not sure why it came up as anon?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 18:36:00 +0000

I've only been to two reunion shows (that I know of). The Pretenders with Gay Dad at the Verizon in (I think 2000 or so), and The Bangles at the Arena Theater in 98 or 99. They were opened for by the romantics. My wife (then girlfriend) really wanted to go, and I'm ok with the Bangles, so we paid our 45 (yes, you saw that right) bucks and got second row seats. The romantics were the embodyment of everything you mention vis-a-vis NOT doing reunion shows. Tired, faking it, grasping at lost "glory"; generally being their own cover band. And they were all wearing leather trousers and jackets. In Houston. In July. The Bangles themselves were not much better. The highlight of the evening was during the frighteningly long break between sets when the sound guys played the entirety of the Replacements "Let It Be."

The Pretenders fared better. At least Chrissie Hynde was still ass-kickingly good. And, unlike the Bangles, they were actually performing new material, some of which was decent.

Jesus, compared to all of you, I have been to so few shows of note. The best I have to offer is a handful of Yo La Tengo shows, two built to Spill shows, and 1.5 Shins shows. I need to get out more, don't I?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:59:00 +0000

As for reunions, if you want to play with somebody, play with somebody, and if someone wants to listen, where’s the crime in that. Don’t let anyone tell you diffrent. Who cares about the past. The solidarity of bands (four lads against the world) is a fake construct mostly for marketing purposes and to give the band members that special feeling of belonging to the club (it never lasts). The deSchmog catalog is a great one, it could be a great show even if none of the original members were there, the fact that original members are there just makes for a great social situation as well as a chance to listen to some great songs.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:45:00 +0000

Matthew, you should try the Ovation Channel, way better concerts and music shows that are actually about music (as opposed to how much speed Lemmy was doing when he recorded Ace of Spades). The Jools Holland show mixes some pretty interesting (some crappy, some not so crappy, some great) performers without actually having them play with each other, and at worst you only have to put up with one song before they move up to the next act. I just saw an old one with Leonard Cohen doing a live version of "The Future" that totally gave me the chills. So Ovation, call your cable provider... Or check it online. And buy Sara Lee poundcake, best poundcake for dipping cause it doesnt crumble in your milk.

By: Kilian

Kilian — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:33:00 +0000

Marshall - I suppose you're right about quality. Some bands consider a reunion and then can't agree that it won't be a debacle so they cancel out. This to me means their hearts were in the right place anyway. Reasons why they think the show woudn't be quality are interesting to me and I wouldn't agree with all of them. I like reunions for the evidence of time not the attempt to mask it.

I am looking forward to playing with BMOL - see you soon!

Greg - I remember at the time thinking the Bedhead Good-bye letter was utter pretention which btw I can deal with. Creativity and pretention so often go hand in hand. Something about the fan reverance and the serious nature of the band seemed at odds with the goofiness of the band name. It's like they were telling themselves to lighten up but they just couldn't too young and moody. Anyway in retrospect they did have valid reasons didn't they.

John - I guess I am becoming the H-town king of reunions. Somebody will have to compile reunion shows and see who has the most.

Electramummy - the feet/bed/...hand? illusion creates a never ending stairwell.

Matthew - I certainly have been disheartened by crowd expectations with de Schmog especially with shows we did after Brando left. As a musician I say carry on, let the fans and the critics decide what your best line up was. The fan base especially can be harsh. Typically for pop music, fans aren't looking for ongoing creativity as much as consistency.

Right on Jman - Kisses.