TLA started in the late 80's by Jay Bennett. The band's 1991 Major Label debut came out on Charisma Records and got rave reviews across the nation. After leaving Charisma in 1992, the band put out an EP in 1992-1993 appropriately titled "No Charisma". Featuring 5 scorching tracks of the bands own brand of power-pop, this EP was an unsung classic!!
The bands sound was always compared to Dinosaur Jr. and The Replacements, always playing a little louder and a little more poppy than both bands, it was more like a rocking Cheap Trick meets The Mats meets Dinosaur Jr. Pop rock veterans Tommy Keene and Adam Schmitt were just a couple of people that took great praise for the band.
In 1996, the band released its last record titled "Their Titanic's Majesties Request" on No Alternative Records. The band broke up shortly after its release with Jay joining Wilco and Lars joining Mother May I. In 2002, Jay left Wilco to work on his solo career. Since leaving Wilco, Jay teamed up with his long-time friend and musical collaborator, Edward Burch, to release 2002's critically-acclaimed The Palace at 4 a.m. (Part 1). Jay followed up this collaborative effort with two solo records, Beloved Enemy and Bigger than Blue in 2004. UPDATE 2008: Jay Bennett has just announced that he will be releasing a new solo effort and will FINALLY be unleashing some unreleased TLA material soon! More to come.....
Just stopping by to say hello and give you some news. The new album 'Coolgilly and the Freakshow' from Centascope is now available worldwide from CD Baby and directly from the merchandise page of the official website. You can also get the album from Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon and many more.
I remember Jay from the UIUC where I spent a year in 1989/90. TLA hadn't recorded anything yet but I saw you guys about a dozen times and have been a fan ever since ... I guess it's just one of those days when life really sucks !!! RIP Jay ...
Ugh.. All my old TLA CD's are scratched. Need to fill up with some new ones, or get a buffing wheel or some such. Thanks from a kid listening to ya on his bike rides to buy liquor outside of any store I could find back in the day.
Thanks a lot for the add ... I was teaching at the U of I in Champaign-Urbana in the early 90s and saw you guys so many times ... and you were invariably good !!...
