My luck has always been questionable. I decided to move from NJ to Seattle just in time for the death of grunge. A member of 7 Year Bitch overdosed, singer Mia Zapata of the Gits was murdered, and Kurt Cobain called it quits in a big bang kind of way. I was barely 21, knew next to no one in this strange city and the main characters in my Northwest book of rock and roll heroes were dying left and right. The band I had moved to Seattle to help, the Treepeople had broken up and while Built To Spill carried on the talents of Dug Martch, it was still hard to understand what the hell I was doing so far from home.
I felt duped. My pen pals who worked at both Sub Pop and C/Z records had over the years had written me letters on the backs of press photos for my favorite bands and lured me into the secret club of limited 7” singles no less a fashion world where Mark Arm was my inspiration. Up close these long distance stars were human just like every body else and it sounds stupid but as a youngin’ I had high hopes that anywhere outside of a record store in NJ was going to change my life and face to face these silly bands filling every hipster record store at the time were going to change my life for the better.
For the better isn’t exactly how the story went but I was exposed to music that changed my life forever, bands I still love deeply. Lync, Sunny Day, Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, Beat Happening, Team Dresch, Karp, Jessamine, Engine Kid, Silkworm, Elliott Smith, Dead Moon, Hazel, Thirty Ought Six, Unwound, it’s a list too huge to put into print here but as the cycle of life goes, with the death come life. With the end of one legendary band came a new one to fill venues like the Velvet Elvis, the Capital Theater, and houses that I think still carry to this day names like the Lucky 7 House.
I have a kagillion tid bits to share from this brief stint on the left coast but attached to this post is a sample of more to come. I give you a very early old Nirvana press photo from Sub Pop signed by photographer Charles Peterson, a flyer from my favorite venue, A Treepeople (Pat may you rest in peace) trading card that was printed like crap, and a handbill from my favorite all ages venue.
