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June/2005 -
As told by Matt O…
Shimmerzine
came together in the summer of 96 through an ad in the Creative Loafing. I had
moved to Atlanta in the year prior to do the band thing, but hadn’t found anything
worth pursuing. In April (I think) of that year I happened upon a small ad that
stated it was looking for a singer whose influences included Blur, Oasis and
Pulp. Although I didn't know it at the time, the ad had been placed by Dave
Cobb, Joe Jones and Jeremy Truitt. They had been working on some demo’s and
weren’t happy with the vocals, so they began casing a net for the right singer.
This sounded promising to me, so I called the number and ended up speaking to
Dave Cobb for the first time. We hit it off pretty quick and I was invited in
to audition.
I arrived to
Dave’s studio (360 Studios I think it was called) and was immediately intimidated.
I was expecting a dirty practice space, not a fully functional studio. I hurriedly
sang through a couple of tunes I had written and got a luke warm response at
best. In spite of my amateur audition, we seemed to be on the same page as far
as our influences, what we wanted in a band and such. Dave and Joe gave me the
benefit of the doubt (sort of) and gave an additional opportunity to prove myself.
They had written a track that was really catchy, but lacked a vocal melody or
lyrics. They asked me to take a week to see what I could write for it, so I
flew home and immediately started working on it.
A week later
I returned and performed my first performance of the song that would later be
called Cellophane. Dave and Joe dug what I had done, and so we started writing
more that afternoon. Within weeks, we had enough material for an EP so we started
recording almost immediately. After about four weeks or so of recording and
mixing we put out our first record called “Shazam!”. Sure, the composition is
a little rough in places, but overall this record really captured the dynamic
of how easily we put music together.
Our first Atlanta
show was on 6/24/96 on the Radio Now variety show held at the original MJQ.
Getting the gig at all was happy accident. I had taken Dave to check out MJQ
and while there we met Wigdan Giddy (promoter/variety show host/late night scenester).
We were complimenting him on his Radio Now show and said that is was really
cool he had booked The Tender Idols on it and such. He asked us casually if
we knew any other good bands and we were like “..um, we think we’re pretty good”.
Dave ran out to his car and got a tape for Wigdan, who thanked us politely but
skeptically. An hour later he came rushing back into the club to say he had
listened to the tape and wanted us to play his next show! We were so flattered
and stoked.
Our first MJQ
show basically launched us into the underground indie scene subconscious and
we played all over town. We played at the original MJQ and the new MJQ at least
10 times or so. We were part of a small group of local bands that defined the
indiepop scene of mid 90’s. We played a number of shows with The Tender Idols,
Floraline, and Seely to name a few.
In 97, we started
recording a full-length album. Although we kept churning at least one or two
new songs a week, finishing our first record would prove our undoing. We recorded
had almost finished recording the whole album when Dave’s studio was mysteriously
burgled and looted. Among all the gear that Dave lost were our Masters. Someone
out there stole hundreds of hours worth of material that we never got back.
Totally deflated,
it took us a few months to get started again. This time around we enlisted the
help of Darrin Prindle. Darrin was a ‘big time’ producer that Dave had been
doing some session work for and we agreed to work with him. We spent the better
part of the summer and fall recording and rerecording some of the tracks that
we had been laboring over all year. Darrin wanted a polished FM friendly sound.
Dave wanted a more lo-fi production approach. Joe wanted a better bass mix.
I wanted more edge and grit to our stuff instead of some of the sugar coated
ballads we had put together. Jeremy wanted... well, I don’t remember what Jeremy
wanted, but I’m sure he wanted something. Probably to finish the damn record
and to put it out there.
To make matters
worse, our live show was getting louder, grittier and had more substantial overtones
than our album. This led to Dave’s ever increasing discontent with the record.
His discontent led to further recordings, re-recordings and mixes. What ever
made us click together so well live was proving really elusive to capture in
a way that pleased any of us.
By the time
we finally agreed on a mixed down version of the record, entitled "Welcome to
this: An Electric South", in the late fall of 97; the band was in bad shape.
Dave and I weren’t getting along at all. I think Dave was frustrated with the
musical direction and the ever present fighting with Joe. Dave, Joe and I all
had massive egos that started to clash regularly. Dave knew he was one of the
better ax players in city and wore it on his sleeve. I was the lead singer,
wanted to be an artist and go a more dirty and bohemian route, so I wore that
on my sleeve. Joe had the temper of a skinned cat so we fought about everything
and anything, most all of the time. Although I didn’t recognize it at the time,
Dave had already made up his mind to leave the band and he was just going through
the motions.
All our work
culminated in doing a 30-minute guest appearance on 99x’s Locals Only show hosted
by Steve Craig and getting featured on 99x’s Best Local Music compilation of
year. I was so excited! We’d finally made it on the radio, the record was done,
and we could get things moving along. Surely, things were going to get better?
Nope.
Within a few
hours of the show, Dave informed us he was leaving the band. Joe grew so frustrated
he said he was going to give up playing live altogether. Jeremy was pissed.
I felt completely betrayed and couldn’t bring myself to even contemplate finding
a new guitarist. Breaking up is hard to do. We played the two last shows we
had committed to, but the damage was done. The total rock and roll cliché was
complete. Egos were bruised, loyalties betrayed and the dynamic forever fucked
up.
Adding insult
to injury, we never put out the record. A whole YEAR of hard ass work and we
never really shared it with anyone. Until now. At least once a year since we
broke up, Joe and I have talked about the record and agreed that it was a solid
piece of work. None of us has ever really coughed up the dough to press it,
but since www.garageband.com and www.myspace.com have opened up the broadband
delivery medium, now you can listen anywhere!
So enjoy the
tracks that are here. If you want the whole album, I’ll be happy to burn you
a copy in its entirety. Enjoy!
NOTE: All songs
are copy written and property of Shimmerzine.
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