Los Angeles band Blow This Nightclub started in 1987 as a living-room project, began rehearsing as a band in 1990, and played out during 1991. Larry Jacobson had played guitar in various California bands since high school; among his bandmates at one time or another were Dann Baker (Love Camp 7), Marvin Etzioni (Lone Justice), and Gabriele Morgan (Doll Congress). Tom Brown had drummed in the S.F. punk band U.X.A. and a number of other groups, but Dan Sallitt and Jon Hofferman were band novices with a dubious folkie background. Jacobson and Sallitt wrote most of BTN's songs, together and separately, with Hofferman throwing in the odd tune. When impatient club bookers would say, "Just tell me what bands you're a cross between," BTN usually mentioned the Replacements and R.E.M., not because there was much resemblance, but because "alternative" was still a few years away, and radio-familiar referents were thin on the ground.
Blow This Nightclub left behind about 15 four-track recordings. The band retired its name when Sallitt moved to New York in 1992, and morphed gradually into the slightly better-known L.A. power-pop group the Bunny Rabbits, with Jacobson the only BTN member left standing after a few rounds of personnel changes. Repetitive stress syndrome put paid to Tom Brown's drumming career, and Hofferman keeps a low musical profile these days, but Jacobson and Sallitt are still known to clamber on stage on one musical pretext or another.
Love Camp 7 recorded a cover of "Pretty Holiday" in 1987 and another of "Fran Goes to School" in 1991, and Kenny Young and the Eggplants have played their own version of "Fran" in New York clubs. More recently, Erica Smith and the 99 Cent Dreams performed BTN's "You Say Where and When" in live shows, then recorded it for their 2008 album Snowblind. And the John Sharples Band added "When Amy Says" to their setlist in the summer of 2007, and are also talking about an album version.
Below is a video of Blow This Nightclub performing "Pretty Holiday" on the roof of Quarterdeck Office Systems in Santa Monica, CA on 10 May 1991. (Dig Barbara Frank's Gaspar Noe-like camerawork.) See the Videos page for other clips.
And, sixteen years later, Erica Smith and the 99-Cent Dreams perform BTN's "You Say Where and When" at Mo Pitkins in NYC on 29 Aug 2006.
There's a nice review of the 12 Aug 2007 Blow This Nightclub reunion show at the Lucid Culture site.
Thank you for writing "Fran Goes to School." We have occasionally played it in the UK, so you can claim international exposure.
Best wishes from all Eggplants
