Liar's Club... the band that wouldn't die

Actually, the band has long since disbanded. But, the attention the band is getting now, a full 14 years after the release of their "Evolution 9" album, is amusing.

I got this note from Jayson Jarmon of Vanilla:

Scott McPherson (Tiny Volcano) and myself were in the band Liar's Club [blogger's note: not to be confused with the band currently operating under the name Liar's Club here in Seattle] throughout much of the 90's. Well, last week, we were contacted by GarageBand.com and told that one of our songs ("Penny Double") was screaming up their pop charts and would be the featured GarageBand.com track on Wednesday the 18th of April. Odd indeed since the song is 14 years old from our album "Evolution 9." Well, good things come to those who wait and wait and wait, I suppose.

Apparently the same song had reached #1 on the GarageBand.com pop charts on 3/19/03 and, powered by some unknown fate, it has returned.

Check out "Penny Double" yourself by listening to the mp3.

Seattle musicians' thoughts on You Am I, final chapter

Well, after all that hype and lead up yesterday, my head cold got the best of me and I didn't go to the show. I'd love to hear how it went.

My guess is it fell along the lines of how Jayson Jarmon from Vanilla describes them (of course this was sent prior to the show... can someone confirm whether or not they wrecked The Croc?):

I'm a huge fan of Australian pop and it was probably about the time that Hourly Daily came out that I first picked up on You Am I. They weren't dreamy like the Church, nor songcrafty like the Finns, (ok, New Zelanders but I'm generalizing here), nor accessible lightweight pop like INXS. They are down and dirty rock, screaming, posing jumping up and down and that's it. And the antics! Boozing, punching out talent show hosts...it sort of warms the cockles of your rock-n-roll heart. I hope they wreck the place tonight (I mean that in a good way)!

SPB Powerpop Night photos

It was another fun evening of music at the 3rd SPB Powerpop Night. Here are some thoughts and photos:

Kurt Hagardorn opened the show. I realized last week that I've known Kurt for 20 years, since we were both in bands in Tennessee. We both ended up in the PacNW, with him in Portland and me here in Seattle. So, it was cool to have him come up and be on the bill.


Kurt Hagardorn


Kurt and his pedal steel player, whose name completely escapes me right now.

Following Kurt's set, The Riffbrokers took the stage. This was my first chance to see them with their new/old fourth member, Scott Sutherland (from The Doll Test and Llama). It was a great set with good energy (and excellent guitar tones). In the interview I did with them last week Heather said they're either a powerpop band with a twang problem or vice versa, and that really came through on this night. Excellent, catchy tunes, but with a bit of twang in the guitar and vocal delivery.


The Riffbrokers: Scott, Heather and Nick (l to r)


The Riffbrokers: Nick & Heather

Closing out the night was Vanilla. They were missing a few players and had a different rhythm section sitting in. But, they still did a great job all around. I think it caught some folks off-guard, because the guys of Vanilla are so completely unassuming. I said to a friend that if you saw any one of them walking down the street you'd have no idea that they were involved in a powerpop group of this quality.


Vanilla: Jayson


Vanilla

March 10 SPB Powerpop Night annoucment

It's time to make the formal annoucment about the next SPB Powerpop Night. Here are the details:

Saturday, March 10
Mars Bar & Club Venus
SPB Powerpop Night featuring

Vanilla
The Riffbrokers
Kurt Hagardorn

I'll have the formal graphic up soon. It's a ripoff/tribute to Andy Warhol. :)

Monday Morning Powerpop mp3

The dudes in Vanilla have made a track available on their website. The song is called "Black Minus Saturday," and it's got a late-period Beatles mixed with High Llamas (which is in itself is a Beach Boys meets Beatles thing) kind of vibe.

Vanilla CD review

The fellows in Vanilla sent me their disc a few weeks back, and now that I'm back from all my travelling (two trips out of town within two weeks...), I've had a chance to take a listen.

First, their lineage is one that I can appreciate. I love Tiny Volcano, and although I'm less familiar with Liar's Club, I have enjoyed what I've heard from them. Vanilla, you see, is basically parts of those two bands (with a member of Jet City Fix thrown in for good measure!). They call it the "tiny vanillacano club."

Second, let's talk about this disc. As is probably to be expected with the "collective" nature of the group, there are a number of songwriting voices to be found on the first Vanilla release, and to some degree the disc comes across as schizophrenic -- especially moving from the lush acoustic-driven "E9" with it's XTC-ish vibe to the novelty quirk of "Teach Your Parakeet to Talk," which sounds like it could be featured on a children's TV show.

Indeed, the whole thing feels more like a recording project than a band. Perhaps naturally, given how much I like Tiny Volcano, I find myself leaning toward Scott McPherson's tunes on this project and I'm less drawn to the songs on which Jayson Jarmon leads, which sound a little contrived.

Overall the disc is creative and interesting, if not entirely inventive. But, it's definately a solid disc and one that any fan of the typical powerpop players over the years will enjoy.

New Vanilla disc

I hope to get my hands on a copy for a full review soon. So, consider this a general heads up that Vanilla has a new record out. Who is Vanilla, you ask? I'll let them answer that for you:

Vanilla is a musical project and a record and a band. Made up of veteran musicians from Tacoma, WA, Vanilla features Jayson Jarmon and Scott McPherson (formerly the principal songwriters of Liar's Club), Sean Gaffney, and Dana Sims (The Jet City Fix). The project also features a combination of players who make up the "Tiny-Vanillacano Club" family of Tacoma pop bands -- members of Vanilla, Tiny Volcano, and Liar's Club.

What I'm hearing on their myspace page makes me think it's more classic powerpop from these guys. Very clean and clear production with little in the way of ragged and jagged edges. Melodic and pleasant.

You can get their disc through Not Lame and probably others, as well.