Originally Posted by
puerco
I've been preserving these song fragments in my memory for so long...and I'm not sure I
really have any faith left that I'll find it. For the first time in 16 years I've ever
turned to a community-forum for help, and I think I've finally reached the end of my rope.
This being my final mission to identify the "ghost band" haunting my memory, I will be going
into excruciating detail for both posterity and due diligence. Here it goes.
At college in 1995, a girl I met - who was into a lot of similar bands as me [1] - and I
made cassettes for each other. One day she just vanished...right after I forgot the name of
the band she had given me on an unlabeled tape. I *think* I remember it only having four
songs...no more than five or six [2]. And man did it rock...I wore the crap out of that tape
within a year.
SINGER: Male. Lower register a little like the lead singer from Cake. He wasn't the best
I've heard, but he fit in perfectly with their sound.
DRUMS: Tight snares, precise meters...not at all like the pervasive "grunge" drumming of
that era marked by excessive pushy-pully fills and splashiness. like late 70's Talking
Heads.
RHYTHM GUITAR:
Thrashy, but not what I would have considered "punk". Power chords with distortion and
compression...jagged and paranoid in tone. Bright, warm and feverish like early Pixies
material but somehow not quite as minimalistic.
LEAD GUITAR:
When the other guitar was played low and chunky, the lead would be high and smooth and vice
versa, as if the two musicians were dogfighting over a sonic rubicon.
BASS:
Plonky and unsubtle. Something I liked about Kim Deal's playing as well, maybe that's what I
liked.
Every song sounded different than the one before it, and here's what I remember about four
of them, in the order they played:
Song I:
Uptempo, but not as fast as the one that would follow. The only lyrics I remember:
"...and when you're whisperin' you're hollerin...and when you're hollerin you're
whisperin!..."
Song II:
First the bass for about a measure...the melody is panicky and tense. Then the drums snap
into place upon the second measure while the bass continues. Then the lead guitar adds a
hook on top of that, and it's almost like a **** Dale style riff, only in fuzzy dry tone and
not twangy. The verse starts, the vocals come in...and I don't remember any of them EXCEPT:
"{something that rhymes with bird}...(and/but/'cause) that's the word."
Crash, and the process starts over...but the second time through, the lead riff is played an
octave higher than it did the first time. That's all I gots.
Song III:
I may not have the order of songs perfect at this point, but I know that *this* song was not
first nor last. It wasn't my favorite either, it's almost entirely a drum solo. It's
transitional, leading up to the last one I remember...the final piece day rezis-taunce.
Song IV:
4/4 Time. All instruments start simultaneously. Main melody hook is carried by the bass.
Here are the words I think I remember:
"[3] Could be the cold [4] bright morning...
{something something ***-eeving...}
{something something something...}
{...thing so [5] decieving} (main hook)
[1] She and I both liked the Pixies. I remember that she turned me onto PJ Harvey, and I
exposed her to Pavement.
[2] I've reached the point of second guessing my memory fragments, and it's possible that
I'm only remembering the four I found the most salient.
[3] "Could" may have been "would" or "should". Or all three on different verses, no specific memory.
[4] "bright" may have been "white" or "light" (though "bright" feels a little more correct).
[5] Or possibly ---iving/misgiving, ---aving/craving, ---eeling/feeling...I just don't know anymore.
If anyone here is actually able to solve this puzzle, i will find a way to reward you. I just thought of that part, so I don't yet know exactly how, but I'll work on it.
Eric
Desperate...Indie post/punk band...been searching 16 years, but no dice.