The Production Side

Apparently the man behind the classic track ”Girlfriend” is coming out with a new album sometime this year.

In 1983, Sweet left Lincoln, NE for the Athens, GA; he teamed up with a guy named Michael Stipe for the project Community Trolls.
In 1985, Sweet signs a record deal with Columbia.
Columbia dropped Sweet after his 1986 debut Inside flopped commercially.
A&M picked up Sweet and released 1989’s Earth, to limited success.
In 1990 Sweet was dumped by A&M, so he signs with Zoo Entertainment.
On October 22, 1991 Sweet releases a little album entitled Girlfriend, I bet Columbia and A&M felt foolish.
The album was originally entitled
“Girlfriend” hit …read more

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It’s a cold and cloudy day, so it’s only fitting to do an FYI on the bands from the Northwest.

The band formed in 1985.
Mark Lanegan (vocals), Van Connor (bass), Gary Lee Connor (guitar) went to high school together in Ellensburg, WA; which is 90 miles away from Seattle.
Lanegan was originally the band’s drummer, but soon switched positions with Mark Pickerel.
The band got their name from a guitar distortion pedal.
In 1985 the Screaming Trees recorded their first demo.
The band’s first album, Clairvoyance, was released in 1986 on Velvetone Records.
In 1987 the band released their second album, Even If and Especially When, …read more

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Since the reunited rebels will be heading to Australia, New Zealand and Japan this month it seems like a good time to do an FYI on them.

RATM formed in 1991 when guitarist Tom Morello saw frontman Zack de la Rocha rapping and was impressed by his lyric book, so…Morello brought in drummer Brad Wilk and Zack brought in childhood friend Tim Commerford on bass.
Shortly after their first gig, (which was at a house party) the band recorded a 12 song demo.
The band opened up for Porno For Pyros and would appear on the second stage of Lollapalooza 1992 in L.A, …read more

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Since this is the first FYI of 2008, let’s jump into the dolorean and take a look back at what was going on a decade ago.

Albums released in 1998:

Ben Folds Five – Naked Baby Photos
Pearl Jam – Yield
Jerry Cantrell – Boggy Depot
Dave Matthews Band – Before These Crowded Streets
Tori Amos – From The Choirgirl Hotel
Sonic Youth – A Thousand Leaves
Jeff Buckley – Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk
Smashing Pumpkins – Adore
Primus – Rhinoplasty
Scott Weiland – 12 Bar Blues
Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe
Better Than Ezra – How Does Your Garden Grow?
PJ Harvy – Is This Desire?
Cake – Prolonging the Magic
R.E.M. – Up
Beck -Mutations
Faith …read more

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I feel kind of bad because I’ve been slacking on new FYI’s, but I’ll get back into the swing of things once the holidays are over.
Anyways, it seems appropriate to close out the year with some FYI’s on the 90’s bands that had a pretty decent 2007.
FYI: Foo Fighters
“Long Road To Ruin”

FYI: Foo Fighters, Part Deux
FYI: Radiohead
“Jigsaw Falling Into Place”

FYI: Eddie Vedder
“Hard Sun”

FYI: Smashing Pumpkins
“Tarantula”

FYI: Velvet Revolver and the Seattle Connection
“The Last Fight”

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Ok, I’m back on an STP kick, so let’s revisit the FYI I did on them from last August.
FYI: Stone Temple Pilots
Until next time enjoy “Kitchenware & Candybars”, which is one of my favorite STP songs, from VH1’s Storytellers.

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The Flaming Lips have received a Grammy nomination for Best Surround Sound Album for At War With The Mystics and they also contributed the track “I Was Zapped By The Super Lucky Rainbow” for the flick Good Luck Chuck earlier this fall.
FYI: The Flaming Lips
Enjoy the video for “Christmas At The Zoo”, since you know, it’s that time of the year.

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Let’s do an FYI on one of the big bands, since Unplugged in New York finally came to DVD a few weeks ago.

Kurt Cobain meets Krist Novoselic in 1985 through The Melvins.
Kurt and Krist go through a bunch of drummers and band names over the next couple of years.
Early band names included: Skid Row, Bliss, Throat Oyster, Pen Cap Chew, Windowpane and  Ted Ed Fred.
In early 1988 Nirvana records their first demo with Melvins drummer Dave Crover.
Drummer Chad Channing joins the band in 1988.
Sup Pop releases the band’s first single, “Love Buzz/Big Cheese”, in November of 1988.
Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, …read more

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For some reason “Walk on the Ocean” has been stuck in my head; and let’s also mention that Toad The Wet Sprocket will be playing at this year’s Rock Boat.

The band formed in Santa Barbara in 1986.
They got their name from Eric Idle’e monologue on “Rock Notes” from Monty Python’s album Contractual Obligations.
In 1988 Toad self-financed their first album, Bread and Circus, for $650.
While recording their second album, Pale, the band signed to Columbia Records.
The band passed on an opportunity to re-record Pale and they also had Columbia reissue Bread and Circus.
Toad released their third album, fear, on August 27, …read more

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November 17 was the birthday of the late and great Jeff Buckley; so let’s revisit a previous FYI on him.
FYI: Jeff Buckley
Right now, enjoy the video for one of his best songs, “Forget Her”.

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