This year (2019, depending when you see this), and July specifically, are wrenniversary-intensive. I’ll keep it brief, in the style of the bullets...
30 years ago, in 1989…this band started. As in, this band has been an agreed-to and continuously operating (if not especially active) entity as long as say, KISS had already been a band by the time the meadowlands came out.
Holy fuck.
Just roll that one around on the palate for a minute. Like a fine wine. Or at least an old one. With a “1989…what a year for Jersey vintners!” sort of expression on your face.
More specifically, it was exactly 30 years ago today, July 31st, 1989, that we played our first show as a band (or at least as exactly as we could bother to determine 10 years ago when I first posted this sorta thing and all the numbers were a lot smaller). If you want to read more of ten-years-ago me reflecting on what was then a mind-bending 20th of that first show, as well as get a feel for when I was more optimistic, less ground-down by music/life and arguably funnier, read away. There’s also a picture of the venue (hint: it’s a ‘non-trad’ space on 42nd St. in Manhattan): http://www.wrens.com/news-etc/2015/11/20/it-was-twenty-years-ago-today
20 years ago, started the meadowlands recording (technically, that started in January of ’99, but still, a full & round 20 years. By this time, July, of that year, all the initial versions of songs & basic tracking had happened and things were just settling in to the depressing long winter’s nap of the “maybe I”ll try rewriting/overdubbing this one" phase that would continue, more or less daily, for the subsequent 3 1/2 years.
15 years ago, spring 2004, we played our first official SxSW shows (they finally let us, wisely waiting 15 years into us being a band - ha. (Unofficially we did play there in 1996, in a bowling alley where we were supposed to play w/ the Brian Jonestown Massacre but they supposedly broke up en route, if I recall..? I’m not sure. I’m not even sure that happened)).
10 years ago, played our 20th anniversary shows at the greatly-missed Maxwell’s in Hoboken, which makes sense mathematically (see 30-year bullet point above). These included a (and only ever) meadowlands album-in-full show, and all-request show...that sorta thing. There was specially-commissioned celebratory merch, a live recording was made (and then shelved for good reason) etc. It also occasioned maybe my favorite thing I’ve ever written here, if I may be so bold..
And finally but in a way, most…whateverly...9 years ago this month, July 15th, 2010, officially started recording this album (see above). So at nine years in production (and no poop, I work on this also pretty much daily), this one’s taken more than twice as long as the meadowlands now. But it’s more than twice as good - ha. Or at least a lot more complicated. Either way, I remain retroactively thankful that there was no social media during those meadowlands years.).
And it was over five minutes ago I really hit it outta the park with this cup of coffee. Like all art, so inexact.