Posts filed under ‘On this Day’
Wimp Factor 14 & Crayon
On this day in 1992 Crayon (the band Jeff and I were in before Tullycraft) performed at Play It Again Records in Royal Oak, Michigan. This was the first time we had played outside of the Pacific Northwest. Prior to this show we had only performed in Bellingham, Olympia and Portland (we still hadn’t cracked Seattle yet). The owner of the Play It Again Records gave us $50 – which was very exciting! I don’t think we’d ever made that much money before. This was also the day we first met the amazing Pittsburgh band Wimp Factor 14 – featuring Gary Miklusek on drums. Crayon and Wimp Factor 14 spent the next two weeks playing shows together. Three years later, Gary, Jeff and I would form Tullycraft.
Wimp Factor 14
If you are not familiar with Wimp Factor 14, you should be. They were a great band! Here are four songs from their only proper album, Ankle Deep.
I Is For Incomplete
Steam Rolling, But It Wasn’t Steam Rolling
Holiday Park Flyer
1993 Comeback Player Of The Year
What’s in a name?
Yoyo a Gogo 1994
On this day in 1994 the Yoyo a Gogo festival began in Olympia, WA. Curated by Pat Maley, the festival featured five days of music by an incredible lineup of artists including: Beck, Jad Fair, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Halo Benders, Lois Maffeo, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Built to Spill, New Bad Things, The Softies, Rancid, Cub, The Crabs, Girl Trouble, Bunnygrunt, Yo La Tengo, The Spinanes, Mecca Normal, Crayon, Go Sailor, Heavens to Betsy, Unwound, Team Dresch, Kicking Giant and many more!
It was totally punk and 100% independent – nothing like the corporate music festivals that pretend to be “punk” today. It was truly an amazing event.
Here is a homemade video which includes some great footage of many of the bands at the festival. For some reason, this video features the terrible Jefferson Starship song, “We Built This City.” (Crayon appears briefly at the 2:38 mark). Enjoy!
Burlington, Vermont
On this day in 1994 Crayon and The Softies were on tour together in Burlington, Vermont. While washing our clothes at a local Laundromat, we were greeted by an east coast rain storm. During this unusually heavy downpour, Rose and Jen (The Softies) took shelter in the Crayon tour van and wrote a song called “Empty Patches.” Here is a live recording of that song performed at the Yoyo-a-Gogo festival in Olympia a couple weeks later.
Also, here is a live recording of Crayon performing “The Snap-Tight Wars” at the Burlington, Vermont show.
True Blue
On this day in 1986 Madonna released her third studio album, “True Blue.” Nine years later, in 1995, Tullycraft would release their debut 7″ [“True Blue”] on Harriet Records. The song “True Blue” paid homage to Madonna’s “Like A Virgin.” As it turned out, college radio would play the B-side of this single much more than the A-side. The B-side featured the songs: “Skyway” and “Superboy & Supergirl” – staples of the Tullycraft live set for many years.
On this day…
On June 15, 2008 Tullycraft played in Washington DC with the terrific bands: Sprites, From Bubblegum To Sky, and Sad Crocodile.
ESNAC began today
On this day in 2007 Tullycraft started recording the album, Every Scene Needs A Center. Initial tracking began at Soundhouse Studio with producer Kip Beelman. The first two days were spent almost entirely on drums. At one point, Jeff appeared to reach his limit when Kip asked him to play a song “again” – for what was probably the fifteenth time. Jeff responded by quietly setting down his drum sticks and simply walking out of the studio. I caught up with him down the street, and I eventually convinced him to return. Needless to say, the drums on this album sound great. Thanks Jeff!
Earlier this year Magic Marker Records reissued Every Scene Needs A Center on limited edition vinyl. There are a few copies still available.
Valentine’s Day… 25 years ago
On February 14, 1990 Crayon practiced together for the very first time. Brad took Jeff and I to Griffenshire, a legendary house outside Bellingham owned by Michael Griffen. At the house Michael had a drum set, a few amplifiers and various musical instruments set up and ready to play. He graciously allowed us to make noise on them, and I can’t overstate how much his encouragement meant to us. Jeff took to the drums fairly quickly, while Brad and I were simply awful on the bass and the guitar. That afternoon we attempted to play music together, and with absolutely no idea what we were doing it was a complete mess. Convinced this event would someday be legendary, Brad recorded the entire practice on cassette. Needless to say, this tape is almost unlistenable, but our confidence overshadowed our lack of ability, and on that day we all agreed: “We should start a band!” Eddie Argos would have been proud. Happy Valentine’s Day.
On this day…
On this day in 2007 Tullycraft, Fishboy and Eux Autres performed at the Department of Safety in Anacortes, Washington. The venue was freezing cold and there were maybe 12 people in attendance. Despite the small crowd, all the bands played enthusiastic sets. Tullycraft attempted to play the song “Every Little Thing” live for the very first time, and Fishboy performed their album ‘Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll’ in its entirety. It was amazing!
Today we have the Tullycraft song “Anacortes” from the album ‘Lost in Light Rotation’
On this day…
On this day in 1986, R.E.M. performed at the University Of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. During the song “Seven Chinese Brothers,” someone from the audience jumped up on stage and tried to grab Peter Buck’s guitar. He was unsuccessful, but he managed to escape back into the crowd. Peter immediately tore off his guitar and jumped in after him. From the stage Mike Mills yelled: “If anybody sees that guy, grab him and bring him backstage after the show.” And Michael Stipe commented: “So the Republicans won in this state, huh?” After a few minutes, Peter made his way back on stage and the crowd cheered. He re-tuned his guitar, and the band started into the Velvet Underground song “Femme Fatale.” Today we have a live recording of R.E.M. performing “Femme Fatale.”
Tullycraft 