The Singing Spoons 1988 release, “Chedr” has its own page. If any of the other SPoons would like to comment , please do so with your thrilling tales!I will try to get some photos, setlists and other stuff from this period up asap.
Thank God! My CD copy, generously sent to me by Mr. Coleman (Mike, you have no idea how much that meant–I thought I had lost CHEDR forever!) is starting to degrade, and now I can put the sumbitch on my iPod.
I bought it on tape at Vinyl Fever soon after it came out. I was getting into the local Tally scene (also got Insect Fear and Gruel), and read a good article about the Spoons in the Democrat. So I tried it, and fell in love. “Mooncatcher” became a girlfriend mix tape standard. I lost the tape somewhere in the early 90s when I moved to Tuscaloosa, AL, for grad school.
Here, for no particular reason, and in no particular order, are my very favorite Spoons tracks:
“The Distance”
“Blue”
“Mooncatcher”
“Broken Glass Dream”
“Big City Blues” (could be my very favorite)
“Note”
“Memory”
“Gift Horse”
“Chest Rabbit/With a Kiss”
“Your Brilliant Return to Form”
“J’s and J’s”
“You’re Broken”
“Hall Killing”
“Loofa”
“Here’s a Wall”
“Buzz”
Not that I don’t love them all. Thanks again, Mike, and all you guys. One of these days, I keep threatening, I’m going to write a book (well, a couple, there may be a novel in there too) about four bands that changed my life and never got the recognition they deserved. You guys, of course, are among them (for the record, the other three are Antietam, Glass Eye, and Great Plains). So if one day down the road, I start bugging you for interviews, be kind. (And, of course, even if the book ever gets written, I doubt it would ever be published.)
Ooops–I unjustly omitted “Fish Goliath” and “It’s Gonna Be Alright.” When CHEDR came out, I was kinda in the same boat as you, Mike–clueless about girls, perpetually horny, often stoned and drunk, and filled with your garden variety college-age angst. Youth really is wasted on the young, and I do mean wasted. The songs on CHEDR really spoke to me then. They still do; I’m older and theoretically wiser, but that horny misguided young man is still in there somewhere.
Thanks Frazer. yep our audiences were usually made up of co-miserating dudes. It’s heartfelt stuff to be exact. I certainly do appreciate your kind words.
hey, thanks for putting this up, I hadn’t heard any of this music in years. No amazing anecdote comes to mind, except that I have lots of great memories of playing and hanging out and getting blitzed with the band that year. The earlier Spoons stuff that you and Chris (and Pat) did was and still is some of my favorite music ever made, and I also was a huge fan of John’s (and Josh’s) former band, the Terns, so I was really honored to play music with you guys. We had a lot of good songs, though our gigs could get pretty sloppy. I remember that we could dependably put away a case of the Beast WHILE PLAYING a 45-minute set. That’s a beer per dude every 7 1/2 minutes, 8 BPH. I’m-a tell that to my grandkids. Hearing this made me dig out my meager collection of tapes from that period to see if I have anything to add, I’ll let you know if I find something.
also “Squeamish Little Girl” is one of my daughter’s favorite lullabyes.
John B. do you remember that bizarre last gig you played with us? John Hintz wore a bag of golf clubs on his back through the whole set and Jimmy Bleyer sat halfway in my bass drum to keep it from moving around. It was on the green at FSU. I remember we played “Calling Dr. Alcohol”. Now THAT was a ridiculous song.One of the few other memories was of Will Ryan while we were playing. I looked behind me and saw that he had Tahini sauce all in his beard. He was a lovely cat.Was “Rock n’ Roll Ergo Sum” before or after you? That was another funny one.
Yeah, now that I think about it that must have been a funny gig. I think it started with me shouting “kick out the yams m-f-s” and kicking a small pile of sweet potatoes into the crowd. Christ. I hazily remember Dr. Alcohol (kind of a KISS parody?), and I think we played Rock and Roll Ergo Sum at that show as well. Probably my favorite shows we did were the ones at Planet 10, because for the most part the people who would stand around inside were really there to hear rock and roll . . . it sure as hell wasn’t the ambiance or the minute chance that you would get laid.
Also thanks Josh and Frazer for appreciating my songs, it’s nice to know that people were listening.
On an offtopic but tangentially related subject, I’m digging through old tapes to see what I have, and while there’s not much there are a few gems – the best thing I’ve found so far is a tape of me and Kelly Shane messing around on a 4-track circa 1992. We sound really, really high. Most of it’s goofy but there’s an amazing spooky instrumental on there (it’s all Kelly, I can take no credit for it) which I’ll transfer to my digital recorder and post. I also have some Human Scarecrow and a decent collection of Spoons stuff from 84-87, but there’s a lot of music that I don’t have that I would be thrilled to hear again, in particular:
the two Zen Pups tapes that were in circulation – one recorded by Pat in Lewis Milliken’s basement, and a board tape from CA Chapel. McNeece is like 15-16 years old on these, but for me this was the gold standard of wicked angst-ridden guitar freakouts. The songs are pretty cool too, especially when you consider what they were probably sniffing.
the Terns – great songs, fun live band, and really the only guys who were playing straight-up smart-guy rock and roll without making any apologies for it. this struck me as a very bold thing at the time . . . I think this had a lot to do with the direction the Spoons took after I joined, especially as John H. was already used to doing things that way.
OK there, I brought it around to being on-topic again. jesus, sorry to ramble, coffee must have been extra strong this morning
John,Nice to hear from you! I see you are doing the dad thing. Cool. You probably know that the post-you spoons did “venus” on multiple occasions. You really contibuted some nice stuff to that tape.
“Chedr” was recorded, if I remember correctly, in the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens of two different residences. Mike’s parents killer place out in the country and Dave’s apartment. When I think about this stuff, I always think of Dave’s patience with us. Young, drunk, green…he captured it I think, all of that youthful exuberance.
The “Chedr” era spoons were a strange mix of alcohol, angst, insecurity, and just plain wackiness. I actually still have my tape. My drunk frat boy Southern Mississippi meal card pic with that class pic of Erik L. on the inside cover. Xanthious thanked Drosophila melanogaster in the liner notes. I am sure that remains a one and only…
hey Chris, it’s good to hear from you too. Mike’s told me that you have a family as well and are doing biology work and teaching, good deal. I’d honestly forgotten a couple of the songs that we did together . . . Mike already mentioned Dr. Alcohol. I remember we had a song called “Side”, based on John Hintz’s musing that there must be a Masons-like civic organization whose goal it was to have a band in every city named “The Front,” and hey, why do they never name bands after the equally necessary Side? he had a point. anyway, maybe the song had another name as well and that’s why I don’t recall what it sounded like. the ones that I would find myself humming years later (besides Squeamish) were Distance and Green Girl, the first because it was so fun to rock out on and the second because it has a great melody.
I remember we did some more of your songs live at times. I think there were at least three more “Crush”, “Harpoon” and a country tune named “hey honey” which I butchered often with my terribly sloppy country shuffle beats. I know we recorded “Crush” for Chedr but we didn’t use it for some reason.I remember we had an idea to use a distorted Fender Rhodes as a rythym guitar track on it and it sounded huge. Do you have dubs of any of this stuff? I always thought it was really interesting that the youngest dude in the band had the most mature songwriting skills.
er, I dunno about mature . . . I think most of the songs I wrote that young were lyrically pretty solopsistic and probably hard to relate to. in going through tapes before driving down I did find a tape with just broken Glass Dream and the version of Harpoon we recorded with Dave, which wasn’t that great – it’s no wonder hat it was left off – and after it me playing it into a cassette recorder to have it done the way I thought it should sound. No idea where Crush ended up. I’d forgotten about Hey Honey, which was kind of a funny song. I remember having a board tape from Finale’s which had that on it, and also a really balls-out version of Memory.
we were always planning weird gags which we rarely would actually do. I remember doing a show at Fever where we finished the set with a cover of Sunday morning by the VU during which we all started bleeding from the mouth using blood capsules by the second chorus or so. my favorite one we ever thought up (but didn’t do) was to close the show with a cover of Take it To the Limit by the Eagles and play the final chorus for a full 30 minutes until the place was empty.
I remember the VU blood capsule show. I also think that was the show where the Vinyl Fever manager (the one before Xanthious, I think, would never in a million years remember his name) called us “suckola”.
Why we didn’t do the “Take it To the limit” bit, I have no idea, that would have been hilarious.
At a later point the Spoons did “witchy woman”, which was really, really awful.
I don;t know John. Whatever, man…those were great songs ya fool! Of course its always easier for other people to appreciate them then the guy who writes ‘em. Myself included!
Hey John B., remember when we used to ride around and replace one of the words in our favorite album titles with the word “beard”? Like ‘Blood on the Beard’,'Master of Beard’, ‘Got Beard if You want it’. Wow, back then we really thought the words “heroin” and “beard” were really funny.Also, we liked “Satan” a whole lot.
You guys really defined mature immaturity–goofy stuff like “Spaceman” on the same record with the wrenching “Memory.” Mike said something in another thread about having trouble listening to “Resin Cabin,” and I was, like, Why, dude? until I went back and listened to “Gift Horse,” “Memory,” “Your Brilliant Return to Form” and “With a Kiss.” Doesn’t sound like that was a good year for you, Canard. If it’s any consolation, “Resin Cabin” came during a not very good year for me either and gave me something to scream to.
I’ve got the iPod hooked up to the stereo on shuffle tonight (wife’s speaking to a book club–who imagined owning a bookstore would be so much effin’ work) while I made southern lady refreshments for a signing tomorrow. I just put “CHEDR” on there, and the songs kept popping up. “Venus”–man, that was a party tune, with a really disgruntled guitar hovering over everything. “The Distance” just explodes right at the beginning. “Mooncatcher,” well, I have already mentioned that it was mix tape gold for chicks (probably not the only reason my wife liked me, but didn’t hurt), and “Fish Goliath” is a masterpiece of anguish. The great lines are everywhere: “What I don’t feel now, I won’t feel later.” “Keep the wound on the inside.” “Ready to shut up as soon as you’re ready to talk.” “Maybe we could act like we met five minutes ago.” Etc.
I have to admit with some embarrassment that I don’t know the entire lineup because you guys had to be cute and use funny names. I know Mike and recognize his voice, and know he played drums and Chris Gissendanner played guitar (Johnny Ether?) and probably sang, and there was a Josh and a John but I don’t know which songs they sang (one sang “Colorado.”) Part of this was the fact that I never got out to see you play live. That’s right up there with missing Husker Du at the Musical Moon and having Hurricane Kate spoil the REM/ Minutemen show.
This is Johnny Meningitis Ether (AKA Chris Gissendanner). I did sing a few times. John Hintz (AKA Edsel February did sing “Colorado” and a few others, “Broken Glass Dream” comes to mind. When Edsel put together a song, he really put together a good one. Methusela (Josh) also did some singing but other than the mysterious but wonderful “Josh’s song” and I think “Ballooon Song”, which is an “American Buckle” diddy (and a cool one at that I think), I cant remember any others. There may be others (MEthusela? any help?). Methusela is the Kidney Cell on the Chedr liner notes and always contributed some fantastic riffs to any song brought into the band.
Frazer, I have read your comments and am flattered that you are a fan. I remember the Spoons played at Columbia, SC on our tour in front of 4 people, including our manager. But one person had crafted homemade earrings of our infamous “Ralph” mascot (which we should have copyrighted). That felt really good. The Spoons really appreciated and enjoyed our diehards that showed up for a show, even they never knew what Spoons would actually show up. Hopefully, they saw enough of our good shows to make it worthwhile. I bet they did. Thanks for being interested. Even though I traded the axe for a worm pick, I am still thankful and a horribly sentimental fool over those rock n roll days in tallywhacker.
Awww, thanks, Mr. Ether. Somehow, through the currents of fate, you guys inadvertently became part of my life’s soundtrack. Hey, cooler than the “Big Chill” music my parents listened to. As I said, I never caught you, even though I bought Chedr in I think 87 or 88 (I graduated December 1988), when I lived in a weird little neighborhood out of town off Mission Road, north of I-10, really not so far from Havana. I hung out with many weird friends and roommates, including the daughter of the police chief of Quincy. When I got Chedr (and I remember those liner notes, though it has been 10+ years since I saw the actual tape), I was living fairly far out from campus, and delivering pizzas way out off North Monroe for the lovely (irony alert) folks who owned Pizza Gourmet. (Mission was close to North Monroe that far out.) At that point I didn’t go to many shows, so I missed you guys. I missed Insect Fear too, though I saw Gruel once, opening for Live Skull.
Hmmm, this sounds like a mid-life crisis, without the attendant desire for infidelity and sports cars.
Man, the music I saw in Tally. Even worse, the music I missed. I saw Sonic Youth (Downunder), the Church, Peter Murphy, Mojo Nixon, fIREHOSE, the Reivers. But I missed the Spoons, Husker Du, Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr., the Replacements. I guess I am a sentimental fool for those days too, though, given how much better life is now, I’m not entirely sure why. I just liked the music better. My wife is, at least, amazingly tolerant of my listening, though she draws the line at Killdozer.
So I’m guessing, Chris, that you were maybe the vocalist on Mooncatcher, Strapped, and Back to Winter? ‘Fess up, boy. Kinda Hard too, maybe?
Yeah, you and Mike had a good Bob Mould-Grant Hart thing going, with the instruments switched. That was how I looked at it at the time, as a big Huskers fan–you guys were sloppier but somehow more relatable, and you had a similar big loud guitar sound.
Oh, sloppy is right although we really tightened up in our final year. I think you can tell by the American Buckle stuff. John Hintz actually became more and more of the arranger in the band. He was really good at placing choruses and bridges. even though I’m known by those who care as the principal songwriter I really feel that it was the other guys that gave them spark. Toward the end it was much more democratic songwriting wise although everybody was free to bring stuff in whenever. I just happened to be prolific because I used the band(s) as psychotherapy!
here’s one josh sang: our cover of “I had to tell you” by the 13th floor elevators. probably not the one singing spoons song that’s been killing you because you couldn’t recall it, but cannot not recall being haunted by it for life, but a good one none the less. my, that was a fine sentence i just wrote. thanks to everybody for throwing their own mental spoons ditties out here; very amusing, and I had totally forgotten I once played an entire gig with a set of gold clubs strapped to me back. and I must say that does make me somewhat-to-fairly proud. mike, i think we need to work on getting ‘american buckle’ out in semi-legitimate form, and see if we can get it to some college stations and maybe get a review published somewhere or another. I know I say that every couple of years, but there’s my plug for finally releasing the buckle for 2005/6.
I am with edsel on that one. The Buckle rocks. It rules. It explodes the head, showering onlookers with crimson gobbets from the brain pan. I always wondered, Mike, was the order of songs on the CDs you sent me the way you guys intended it to be released or more or less random?
Killdozer, eh? I COULD MAKE A BETTER HAMBURGER WITH MY ASSHOLE!!!!
I didn’t sing much because I wasn’t good at it, didn’t like it, and always felt like Mike, Chris, or John would do a song more justice anyway. I love Chris’ crooning, John’s in-your-face honest belting, and Mike’s heartfelt wailing. IMMFGDHO, Coleman has one of the best rock voices ever, with Brobdingnagian ability to express unironic emotion. Or is it unironic ability to express Brobdingnagian emotion? Either way, “Fish Goliath” and “Loofa” will tell you all you need to know on that score.
You know, all of you disparage your individual voices in this forum, but you were all better singers than you gave yourself credit for. Mike was the one I could recognize, but, as I’ve previously noted, there were many many great songs not sung by Mike–”Js & Js” (what the hell does that mean?), “Permanent Mt.”, “Mooncatcher,” the Wombat song….that’s just the tip. Oh, yeah, and “Kinda Hard” too.
Coleman does have a great rock voice. There are a lot of different singers in there. There’s some Bob Mould in there, maybe just a smidgen of J. Mascis, but no more.
And I can’t pass up the Killdozer. Anyone ever heard the song “The Rub”? That one really says it all. The same song Methusela mentions has the line “You call this cup of shit coffee? I’d rather drink from the dick of a goat.” Is Vinyl Fever still there? Is it still cool?
Vinyl Fever is still there. I left that place back in 2001, but am still good friends with the owner. It’s not as busy as it used to be, but it’s better than 99.9% of the record stores still in existence. Thanks for the kudos. I think I sound like an insane rabid animal on most of the Spoons stuff. My life sucked in the late 80′s and I’ve got the records to prove it buddy!
Yeah, you do have the records, and remember they made life marginally more pleasant for us sensitive English major types. I really do miss the Fever, and I know the current state of record retailing is probably not treating them kindly. I remember when they first put CDs in. I remember that there was a special section for the most sonically f–ked bands (Butthole Surfers–their little tab said “Kowa-Bunghole!”–, Sonic Youth, Killdozer, Live Skull)–bought a lot from that section. The Spoons were one of a lot of bands I got introduced to by Vinyl Fever.
And that wonderful radio station they had–back when people actually made requests. I’ve been nostalgic for T-Town lately. Anyone remember DK Roberts in the Florida Flambeau? She moved on to Tuscaloosa when I did, and she was one of my teachers and on my thesis committee. Wrote a pretty good book a couple years back too. And a local author who got her doctorate there was reminiscing with me the other day about the peculiar labyrinthine Williams Building (which apparently has been remodeled).
While I think things have been tough on Vinyl fever, they still persevere. I actually got to return for about a year as a part timer before I went to school full time. It was a lot of fun to do that.I think at this point I have finally moved on, but I will always support that place.I mean I still shop there about every other week.
Good to hear all the Spoons memories. I particularly remember sitting with Methusela (before he was a band member) at an outdoor Spoons show at the FSU student union, when the band “Kicked Out the Yams!!!” to start a show. John B. sent a yam at high velocity that crashed right between Methusela and me…good times.
also, I should say that I loved “Crush” so much, but never had a copy of it, only the hook stuck in my head, that I eventually wrote a whole song around that hook. That was in 1998. So I hadn’t heard that song in probably 10 years, but still remembered the hook. What a song.
D-Dog! That’s funny, just yesterday I was thinking about that “D-Dog” label in your old wallet, presumably made by Vann, who had the sweetest 200SX in town, according to him. I certainly do remember the “Kick out the Yams” day too! I think Nicole was hanging with us. There may have been beer involved. Good times on the Union Green.
I think I probably made that label myself – I had forgotten about that. And beer was definitely involved. I remember being nervous about bringing a cooler of beer onto the Union Green and John (Ether, that is – I think I’m getting my pseudonyms straight) thinking that I was being ridiculous. He was probably right. I think you’re right, Nicole was there. Brian was there too, and probably most of the ‘old gang’.
April 2nd, 2006
Author:
Thank God! My CD copy, generously sent to me by Mr. Coleman (Mike, you have no idea how much that meant–I thought I had lost CHEDR forever!) is starting to degrade, and now I can put the sumbitch on my iPod.
I bought it on tape at Vinyl Fever soon after it came out. I was getting into the local Tally scene (also got Insect Fear and Gruel), and read a good article about the Spoons in the Democrat. So I tried it, and fell in love. “Mooncatcher” became a girlfriend mix tape standard. I lost the tape somewhere in the early 90s when I moved to Tuscaloosa, AL, for grad school.
Here, for no particular reason, and in no particular order, are my very favorite Spoons tracks:
“The Distance”
“Blue”
“Mooncatcher”
“Broken Glass Dream”
“Big City Blues” (could be my very favorite)
“Note”
“Memory”
“Gift Horse”
“Chest Rabbit/With a Kiss”
“Your Brilliant Return to Form”
“J’s and J’s”
“You’re Broken”
“Hall Killing”
“Loofa”
“Here’s a Wall”
“Buzz”
Not that I don’t love them all. Thanks again, Mike, and all you guys. One of these days, I keep threatening, I’m going to write a book (well, a couple, there may be a novel in there too) about four bands that changed my life and never got the recognition they deserved. You guys, of course, are among them (for the record, the other three are Antietam, Glass Eye, and Great Plains). So if one day down the road, I start bugging you for interviews, be kind. (And, of course, even if the book ever gets written, I doubt it would ever be published.)
Ooops–I unjustly omitted “Fish Goliath” and “It’s Gonna Be Alright.” When CHEDR came out, I was kinda in the same boat as you, Mike–clueless about girls, perpetually horny, often stoned and drunk, and filled with your garden variety college-age angst. Youth really is wasted on the young, and I do mean wasted. The songs on CHEDR really spoke to me then. They still do; I’m older and theoretically wiser, but that horny misguided young man is still in there somewhere.
Thanks Frazer. yep our audiences were usually made up of co-miserating dudes. It’s heartfelt stuff to be exact. I certainly do appreciate your kind words.
hey, thanks for putting this up, I hadn’t heard any of this music in years. No amazing anecdote comes to mind, except that I have lots of great memories of playing and hanging out and getting blitzed with the band that year. The earlier Spoons stuff that you and Chris (and Pat) did was and still is some of my favorite music ever made, and I also was a huge fan of John’s (and Josh’s) former band, the Terns, so I was really honored to play music with you guys. We had a lot of good songs, though our gigs could get pretty sloppy. I remember that we could dependably put away a case of the Beast WHILE PLAYING a 45-minute set. That’s a beer per dude every 7 1/2 minutes, 8 BPH. I’m-a tell that to my grandkids. Hearing this made me dig out my meager collection of tapes from that period to see if I have anything to add, I’ll let you know if I find something.
also “Squeamish Little Girl” is one of my daughter’s favorite lullabyes.
Thanks Frazer (even though I didn’t do poop on Ched’r). I doubt you’ll have any problems getting interviews from any of our chatty asses.
Shout out to John Barlow, one of the best songwriters ever! I was always in awe of your skillz. BIG shoes!
John B. do you remember that bizarre last gig you played with us? John Hintz wore a bag of golf clubs on his back through the whole set and Jimmy Bleyer sat halfway in my bass drum to keep it from moving around. It was on the green at FSU. I remember we played “Calling Dr. Alcohol”. Now THAT was a ridiculous song.One of the few other memories was of Will Ryan while we were playing. I looked behind me and saw that he had Tahini sauce all in his beard. He was a lovely cat.Was “Rock n’ Roll Ergo Sum” before or after you? That was another funny one.
Yeah, now that I think about it that must have been a funny gig. I think it started with me shouting “kick out the yams m-f-s” and kicking a small pile of sweet potatoes into the crowd. Christ. I hazily remember Dr. Alcohol (kind of a KISS parody?), and I think we played Rock and Roll Ergo Sum at that show as well. Probably my favorite shows we did were the ones at Planet 10, because for the most part the people who would stand around inside were really there to hear rock and roll . . . it sure as hell wasn’t the ambiance or the minute chance that you would get laid.
Also thanks Josh and Frazer for appreciating my songs, it’s nice to know that people were listening.
On an offtopic but tangentially related subject, I’m digging through old tapes to see what I have, and while there’s not much there are a few gems – the best thing I’ve found so far is a tape of me and Kelly Shane messing around on a 4-track circa 1992. We sound really, really high. Most of it’s goofy but there’s an amazing spooky instrumental on there (it’s all Kelly, I can take no credit for it) which I’ll transfer to my digital recorder and post. I also have some Human Scarecrow and a decent collection of Spoons stuff from 84-87, but there’s a lot of music that I don’t have that I would be thrilled to hear again, in particular:
the two Zen Pups tapes that were in circulation – one recorded by Pat in Lewis Milliken’s basement, and a board tape from CA Chapel. McNeece is like 15-16 years old on these, but for me this was the gold standard of wicked angst-ridden guitar freakouts. The songs are pretty cool too, especially when you consider what they were probably sniffing.
the Terns – great songs, fun live band, and really the only guys who were playing straight-up smart-guy rock and roll without making any apologies for it. this struck me as a very bold thing at the time . . . I think this had a lot to do with the direction the Spoons took after I joined, especially as John H. was already used to doing things that way.
OK there, I brought it around to being on-topic again. jesus, sorry to ramble, coffee must have been extra strong this morning
John,Nice to hear from you! I see you are doing the dad thing. Cool. You probably know that the post-you spoons did “venus” on multiple occasions. You really contibuted some nice stuff to that tape.
“Chedr” was recorded, if I remember correctly, in the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens of two different residences. Mike’s parents killer place out in the country and Dave’s apartment. When I think about this stuff, I always think of Dave’s patience with us. Young, drunk, green…he captured it I think, all of that youthful exuberance.
The “Chedr” era spoons were a strange mix of alcohol, angst, insecurity, and just plain wackiness. I actually still have my tape. My drunk frat boy Southern Mississippi meal card pic with that class pic of Erik L. on the inside cover. Xanthious thanked Drosophila melanogaster in the liner notes. I am sure that remains a one and only…
hey Chris, it’s good to hear from you too. Mike’s told me that you have a family as well and are doing biology work and teaching, good deal. I’d honestly forgotten a couple of the songs that we did together . . . Mike already mentioned Dr. Alcohol. I remember we had a song called “Side”, based on John Hintz’s musing that there must be a Masons-like civic organization whose goal it was to have a band in every city named “The Front,” and hey, why do they never name bands after the equally necessary Side? he had a point. anyway, maybe the song had another name as well and that’s why I don’t recall what it sounded like. the ones that I would find myself humming years later (besides Squeamish) were Distance and Green Girl, the first because it was so fun to rock out on and the second because it has a great melody.
I remember we did some more of your songs live at times. I think there were at least three more “Crush”, “Harpoon” and a country tune named “hey honey” which I butchered often with my terribly sloppy country shuffle beats. I know we recorded “Crush” for Chedr but we didn’t use it for some reason.I remember we had an idea to use a distorted Fender Rhodes as a rythym guitar track on it and it sounded huge. Do you have dubs of any of this stuff? I always thought it was really interesting that the youngest dude in the band had the most mature songwriting skills.
“Crush” was a fantastic song. I’d love to hear the Rhodes-as-rhythm-guitar version.
er, I dunno about mature . . . I think most of the songs I wrote that young were lyrically pretty solopsistic and probably hard to relate to. in going through tapes before driving down I did find a tape with just broken Glass Dream and the version of Harpoon we recorded with Dave, which wasn’t that great – it’s no wonder hat it was left off – and after it me playing it into a cassette recorder to have it done the way I thought it should sound. No idea where Crush ended up. I’d forgotten about Hey Honey, which was kind of a funny song. I remember having a board tape from Finale’s which had that on it, and also a really balls-out version of Memory.
we were always planning weird gags which we rarely would actually do. I remember doing a show at Fever where we finished the set with a cover of Sunday morning by the VU during which we all started bleeding from the mouth using blood capsules by the second chorus or so. my favorite one we ever thought up (but didn’t do) was to close the show with a cover of Take it To the Limit by the Eagles and play the final chorus for a full 30 minutes until the place was empty.
I remember the VU blood capsule show. I also think that was the show where the Vinyl Fever manager (the one before Xanthious, I think, would never in a million years remember his name) called us “suckola”.
Why we didn’t do the “Take it To the limit” bit, I have no idea, that would have been hilarious.
At a later point the Spoons did “witchy woman”, which was really, really awful.
I don;t know John. Whatever, man…those were great songs ya fool! Of course its always easier for other people to appreciate them then the guy who writes ‘em. Myself included!
Hey John B., remember when we used to ride around and replace one of the words in our favorite album titles with the word “beard”? Like ‘Blood on the Beard’,'Master of Beard’, ‘Got Beard if You want it’. Wow, back then we really thought the words “heroin” and “beard” were really funny.Also, we liked “Satan” a whole lot.
You guys really defined mature immaturity–goofy stuff like “Spaceman” on the same record with the wrenching “Memory.” Mike said something in another thread about having trouble listening to “Resin Cabin,” and I was, like, Why, dude? until I went back and listened to “Gift Horse,” “Memory,” “Your Brilliant Return to Form” and “With a Kiss.” Doesn’t sound like that was a good year for you, Canard. If it’s any consolation, “Resin Cabin” came during a not very good year for me either and gave me something to scream to.
I’ve got the iPod hooked up to the stereo on shuffle tonight (wife’s speaking to a book club–who imagined owning a bookstore would be so much effin’ work) while I made southern lady refreshments for a signing tomorrow. I just put “CHEDR” on there, and the songs kept popping up. “Venus”–man, that was a party tune, with a really disgruntled guitar hovering over everything. “The Distance” just explodes right at the beginning. “Mooncatcher,” well, I have already mentioned that it was mix tape gold for chicks (probably not the only reason my wife liked me, but didn’t hurt), and “Fish Goliath” is a masterpiece of anguish. The great lines are everywhere: “What I don’t feel now, I won’t feel later.” “Keep the wound on the inside.” “Ready to shut up as soon as you’re ready to talk.” “Maybe we could act like we met five minutes ago.” Etc.
I have to admit with some embarrassment that I don’t know the entire lineup because you guys had to be cute and use funny names. I know Mike and recognize his voice, and know he played drums and Chris Gissendanner played guitar (Johnny Ether?) and probably sang, and there was a Josh and a John but I don’t know which songs they sang (one sang “Colorado.”) Part of this was the fact that I never got out to see you play live. That’s right up there with missing Husker Du at the Musical Moon and having Hurricane Kate spoil the REM/ Minutemen show.
Hey Frazer,
This is Johnny Meningitis Ether (AKA Chris Gissendanner). I did sing a few times. John Hintz (AKA Edsel February did sing “Colorado” and a few others, “Broken Glass Dream” comes to mind. When Edsel put together a song, he really put together a good one. Methusela (Josh) also did some singing but other than the mysterious but wonderful “Josh’s song” and I think “Ballooon Song”, which is an “American Buckle” diddy (and a cool one at that I think), I cant remember any others. There may be others (MEthusela? any help?). Methusela is the Kidney Cell on the Chedr liner notes and always contributed some fantastic riffs to any song brought into the band.
Frazer, I have read your comments and am flattered that you are a fan. I remember the Spoons played at Columbia, SC on our tour in front of 4 people, including our manager. But one person had crafted homemade earrings of our infamous “Ralph” mascot (which we should have copyrighted). That felt really good. The Spoons really appreciated and enjoyed our diehards that showed up for a show, even they never knew what Spoons would actually show up. Hopefully, they saw enough of our good shows to make it worthwhile. I bet they did. Thanks for being interested. Even though I traded the axe for a worm pick, I am still thankful and a horribly sentimental fool over those rock n roll days in tallywhacker.
Awww, thanks, Mr. Ether. Somehow, through the currents of fate, you guys inadvertently became part of my life’s soundtrack. Hey, cooler than the “Big Chill” music my parents listened to. As I said, I never caught you, even though I bought Chedr in I think 87 or 88 (I graduated December 1988), when I lived in a weird little neighborhood out of town off Mission Road, north of I-10, really not so far from Havana. I hung out with many weird friends and roommates, including the daughter of the police chief of Quincy. When I got Chedr (and I remember those liner notes, though it has been 10+ years since I saw the actual tape), I was living fairly far out from campus, and delivering pizzas way out off North Monroe for the lovely (irony alert) folks who owned Pizza Gourmet. (Mission was close to North Monroe that far out.) At that point I didn’t go to many shows, so I missed you guys. I missed Insect Fear too, though I saw Gruel once, opening for Live Skull.
Hmmm, this sounds like a mid-life crisis, without the attendant desire for infidelity and sports cars.
Man, the music I saw in Tally. Even worse, the music I missed. I saw Sonic Youth (Downunder), the Church, Peter Murphy, Mojo Nixon, fIREHOSE, the Reivers. But I missed the Spoons, Husker Du, Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr., the Replacements. I guess I am a sentimental fool for those days too, though, given how much better life is now, I’m not entirely sure why. I just liked the music better. My wife is, at least, amazingly tolerant of my listening, though she draws the line at Killdozer.
So I’m guessing, Chris, that you were maybe the vocalist on Mooncatcher, Strapped, and Back to Winter? ‘Fess up, boy. Kinda Hard too, maybe?
Strapped and Back to Johnny Winter, Yes. Kinda Hard yes as well (I think).I wish I couldve vocalized Mooncatcher. That one was Barlow.
Yeah, you and Mike had a good Bob Mould-Grant Hart thing going, with the instruments switched. That was how I looked at it at the time, as a big Huskers fan–you guys were sloppier but somehow more relatable, and you had a similar big loud guitar sound.
Oh, sloppy is right although we really tightened up in our final year. I think you can tell by the American Buckle stuff. John Hintz actually became more and more of the arranger in the band. He was really good at placing choruses and bridges. even though I’m known by those who care as the principal songwriter I really feel that it was the other guys that gave them spark. Toward the end it was much more democratic songwriting wise although everybody was free to bring stuff in whenever. I just happened to be prolific because I used the band(s) as psychotherapy!
here’s one josh sang: our cover of “I had to tell you” by the 13th floor elevators. probably not the one singing spoons song that’s been killing you because you couldn’t recall it, but cannot not recall being haunted by it for life, but a good one none the less. my, that was a fine sentence i just wrote. thanks to everybody for throwing their own mental spoons ditties out here; very amusing, and I had totally forgotten I once played an entire gig with a set of gold clubs strapped to me back. and I must say that does make me somewhat-to-fairly proud. mike, i think we need to work on getting ‘american buckle’ out in semi-legitimate form, and see if we can get it to some college stations and maybe get a review published somewhere or another. I know I say that every couple of years, but there’s my plug for finally releasing the buckle for 2005/6.
I am with edsel on that one. The Buckle rocks. It rules. It explodes the head, showering onlookers with crimson gobbets from the brain pan. I always wondered, Mike, was the order of songs on the CDs you sent me the way you guys intended it to be released or more or less random?
Killdozer, eh? I COULD MAKE A BETTER HAMBURGER WITH MY ASSHOLE!!!!
I didn’t sing much because I wasn’t good at it, didn’t like it, and always felt like Mike, Chris, or John would do a song more justice anyway. I love Chris’ crooning, John’s in-your-face honest belting, and Mike’s heartfelt wailing. IMMFGDHO, Coleman has one of the best rock voices ever, with Brobdingnagian ability to express unironic emotion. Or is it unironic ability to express Brobdingnagian emotion? Either way, “Fish Goliath” and “Loofa” will tell you all you need to know on that score.
P.S. – Click on my name’s hyperlink for a strange coincidence.
You know, all of you disparage your individual voices in this forum, but you were all better singers than you gave yourself credit for. Mike was the one I could recognize, but, as I’ve previously noted, there were many many great songs not sung by Mike–”Js & Js” (what the hell does that mean?), “Permanent Mt.”, “Mooncatcher,” the Wombat song….that’s just the tip. Oh, yeah, and “Kinda Hard” too.
Coleman does have a great rock voice. There are a lot of different singers in there. There’s some Bob Mould in there, maybe just a smidgen of J. Mascis, but no more.
And I can’t pass up the Killdozer. Anyone ever heard the song “The Rub”? That one really says it all. The same song Methusela mentions has the line “You call this cup of shit coffee? I’d rather drink from the dick of a goat.” Is Vinyl Fever still there? Is it still cool?
Vinyl Fever is still there. I left that place back in 2001, but am still good friends with the owner. It’s not as busy as it used to be, but it’s better than 99.9% of the record stores still in existence. Thanks for the kudos. I think I sound like an insane rabid animal on most of the Spoons stuff. My life sucked in the late 80′s and I’ve got the records to prove it buddy!
Yeah, you do have the records, and remember they made life marginally more pleasant for us sensitive English major types. I really do miss the Fever, and I know the current state of record retailing is probably not treating them kindly. I remember when they first put CDs in. I remember that there was a special section for the most sonically f–ked bands (Butthole Surfers–their little tab said “Kowa-Bunghole!”–, Sonic Youth, Killdozer, Live Skull)–bought a lot from that section. The Spoons were one of a lot of bands I got introduced to by Vinyl Fever.
And that wonderful radio station they had–back when people actually made requests. I’ve been nostalgic for T-Town lately. Anyone remember DK Roberts in the Florida Flambeau? She moved on to Tuscaloosa when I did, and she was one of my teachers and on my thesis committee. Wrote a pretty good book a couple years back too. And a local author who got her doctorate there was reminiscing with me the other day about the peculiar labyrinthine Williams Building (which apparently has been remodeled).
While I think things have been tough on Vinyl fever, they still persevere. I actually got to return for about a year as a part timer before I went to school full time. It was a lot of fun to do that.I think at this point I have finally moved on, but I will always support that place.I mean I still shop there about every other week.
Good to hear all the Spoons memories. I particularly remember sitting with Methusela (before he was a band member) at an outdoor Spoons show at the FSU student union, when the band “Kicked Out the Yams!!!” to start a show. John B. sent a yam at high velocity that crashed right between Methusela and me…good times.
also, I should say that I loved “Crush” so much, but never had a copy of it, only the hook stuck in my head, that I eventually wrote a whole song around that hook. That was in 1998. So I hadn’t heard that song in probably 10 years, but still remembered the hook. What a song.
D-Dog! That’s funny, just yesterday I was thinking about that “D-Dog” label in your old wallet, presumably made by Vann, who had the sweetest 200SX in town, according to him. I certainly do remember the “Kick out the Yams” day too! I think Nicole was hanging with us. There may have been beer involved. Good times on the Union Green.
I think I probably made that label myself – I had forgotten about that. And beer was definitely involved. I remember being nervous about bringing a cooler of beer onto the Union Green and John (Ether, that is – I think I’m getting my pseudonyms straight) thinking that I was being ridiculous. He was probably right. I think you’re right, Nicole was there. Brian was there too, and probably most of the ‘old gang’.