
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle – Nirvana (1993,DGC Records)
On occasion in this series, I am lucky enough to be able to call upon the services of a couple of people who I happen to know live in the cities (or near at least) that I am featuring. Today I am featuring Seattle, and that means I get to introduce you all to Joe.
I’ve never met Joe, physically at least. I’ve met him on Zoom a bunch of times, and in meetings that are supposed to be about quite important stuff, we spend about 45 minutes of the allowed hour talking about music and baseball. He is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and an ardant supporter of the local music scene. So today’s bit about the baseball team, at least two of the tracks and the new local band recommendation all come from him. Here he is…
The last time I saw the Mariners play in a post season match I was 18 years old. They lost to the New York Yankees (more of them next week – SWC). That was in 2001. Since 2001, I’ve got married (twice), had two kids, three dogs, nine cars, a mortgage, travelled the world, been in four bands, punched Macauley Culkin (long slightly libellous story, probably for another time – SWC) and got a full time job. You might think that clearly I’ve been too busy to watch the Mariners in the World Series. Nope, they’ve never been past the divisional section since 2001. Heck, they’ve never been to the world series. Ever. I love the Mariners, but they suck. Actually, at times I love the Mariners because they suck.
Music in Seattle doesn’t suck though. Jimi Hendrix for example was born in Seattle, and we gave the world Nirvana, Sub Pop Records, The Sonics, Tiny Vipers, Mudhoney, Band of Horses, The Posies and a host of others. On the downside we also gave the world and I hope I get the phrase right ‘sax wanker’ Kenny G (Pretty much spot on Joe – SWC), no matter how many times this city apologises, it never seems quite enough.
Thanks Joe, here’s some music from three of the bands in that list
The Witch – The Sonics (1965, Etiquette Records)
Development – Tiny Vipers (2009, Sub Pop Records) – I’d never heard of Tiny Vipers before meeting Joe, but I totally recommend them if you like bands like Waxahatchee or Bright Eyes perhaps.
March to Fuzz – Mudhoney (1991, Sub Pop Records)
And, this weeks new band is Antonioni, which comes personally recommended by Joe, and you know what, they are very good indeed.
Mary Bell – Antonioni (2021, Lauren Records)
Next Week we meet the Yankees of New York