Sebadoh
By Tim Bugbee
Monday. Apr 23, 12:47 PM
live at Pearl Street (Northampton, MA) March 29th, 2007.

I think I read somewhere that Lou dubbed this the “preunion” tour. That's kinda funny. In retrospect, Sebadoh didn't really break up, they just sorta fizzled out, leaving the rock world eight years ago with what was arguably their weakest record, simply titled The (the title indicative of the relative lack of imagination that record would contain; no songs would be played from it tonight save “Drag Down”). Eric (who'd jettisoned from the band two records previous to this), Lou, and Jason just moved on and released solo records; of course the big news from a couple of years back is that Lou and J made amends and brought Murph back into the fold for the Dinosaur Jr. resurrection, but probably not many people were thinking the same fate would hold true for Sebadoh. I think a key momentum builder was the sorta out of the blue reissue of the seminal III record, rescued from the long dormant slumber which was forced upon it when Homestead went tits up. Suddenly the kids could actually listen to this crucial indie rock record they'd only heard their older friends talk about in hushed, reverent tones.

So what to expect from these former great white (indie) hopefuls? The ones who would carry the flag for the ‘90s rock listeners (along with Guided By Voices and Pavement), the biggest hopes for mainstream acceptance since Nirvana single-handedly killed hair metal a few years before them? Anticipation was high, especially as they were returning to the happy valley as hometown heroes (didn't see T. Moore + Kim in attendance, though word has it that J was on hand to lend support). Well, before I got a chance to find out, I had to endure The Bent Moustache. Never heard of these Brits before, and can't imagine their fairly formless bashing will be finding its way on my stereo anytime soon. Aside from glints of Andy Gill-esque guitar slashing riffage, they didn't hold my attention too well.

When Sebadoh took over, they had their same bundle of dodgy gear they've been lugging around for years. Lou still had the four-string acoustic with pickups that had swaths of white packing tape holding the cord in place. Later on he played a 12-string with six tuning pegs missing. Eric made note of his $40 guitar purchased from some pawn shop, which someone attempted to write “Gibson” on the headstock; only Jason's bass and the drum kit seemed to be of average vintage and condition. The gear was used to plunge straight into the distorted, lo-fi heart of their early catalog... blam blam blam: "Level Anything," "Violet Execution," "Scars, Four Eyes." Gaffney (in full Monkee/Beatle regalia) slaying us straight away with some prime stuff, especially "Scars, Four Eyes.” Unfortunately, the two best songs from III were passed over (“Limb by Limb,” which features the truly frightening “don't fuck with me” bellowing at the end, and “Total Peace,” a tour de force from Lou. But I digress... let's talk about what we did get). Plenty of stuff from the prime meat of Bubble and Scrape (“Sacred Attention,” “Soul and Fire,” “Two Years, Two Days,” “Bouquet For a Siren” with Eric's vocal soaring over the top), Bakesale ("Got It," "Rebound," "Give Up"), some other early stuff (“Brand New Love,” “Ride the Darker Wave,” “It's So Hard to Fall in Love,” “Ladybugs”), and a bit of Harmacy as well ("Beauty of the Ride," with Lou telling us that they had to teach Eric that one, and “Too Pure"). Speaking of which, it's really a truly beautiful song... some may say Lou's the face that launched a 1000 emo ships, but goddamnit he speaks to this sensitive soul with amazing clarity. Some rarities were also tossed out ("Cheapshot," "Junk Bonds"), and we also learned the genesis of certain songs: Eric wrote “Moldy Bread” while trying not to fall asleep in class; Lou wrote “Vampire” as the last song before he moved to Boston. Another song he wrote while naked, but I can't remember which, though I can state unequivocally that “Homemade” wasn't played. With all these nuggets being tossed out to the home crowd, you'd expect some urgency and frenzy in the building, but the audience was strangely flat. In fact, this point was driven home when Kurt (Gobblehoof member) suddenly appeared from behind the stage about halfway through and ran out, doing an impromptu stage dive. The crowd reacted like water on teflon, leaving Kurt to fly straight to the floor, leading with his face. Flat indeed. Security helped him up, and one source says that J helped him out of the venue, either to a hospital or nearby couch. Lou mentioned he was a fellow Westfieldian, whereas an audience wag countered with the term Wastefieldian. Hope his face is okay: it looked and sounded like a harsh landing.

The highlights for me occurred toward the end of the set and the encore... along with the aforementioned bludgeoning versions of “Too Pure” and “Beauty of the Ride,” songs which tap straight into the pleasure zone of the brain like “Rebound” and “Emma Get Wild” seared the air. The evening was capped with one of the best ever songs from and about the indie rock genre: of course I'm talking about “Gimme Indie Rock.” Awesome rockin' tune, and lyrics that just don't get any better. Seriously, how can one top, “Taking inspiration / from Husker Du / it's a new generation of electric white blues / breaking down the barriers / like Sonic Youth / they got what they wanted / maybe I can get what I want too / come on indie rock.” During one break in the chorus, Lou's knowing, sarcastic laughs really punctuated the feeling of being cheated from the mid ‘90s promise, as observed from his front row seat.
www.sebadoh.com

Tim Bugbee

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