For over 2 decades I have been moving band t-shirts from apartment to apartment, and now to the basement of my house. I’ve said for years that I want to make a punk rock quilt out of them. What’s more punk than a quilt? I don’t know how to quilt, so until I learn I will be posting pix of these vintage gems and remembering when. I will call this series T-Shirt Tuesday.
So, I’ve recently reconnected with a friend that I played show with over 15 years ago. 15 years ago, that is just crazy. How does this relate to Shades Apart? We played with them at this friend’s house in Mystic, CT in the mid 90’s. Dayne played in Doug and I played in Returnaround. We played so many great shows at that house. I’m pretty sure it was called the Depot House cause it was right on the train tracks, but I could be making that up.
The night Shades Apart played, I think it was the bass player’s birthday. It was definitely someone in shades apart’s b-day because in the middle of their set, in the middle of the living room, a birthday cake appeared, it’s a fun memory. These guys were heroes in a way, and I was at their birthday party.
It seemed as though Shades Apart opened for every hardcore show at Babyhead for a while. They were one of those bands I really enjoyed seeing, but took for granted because they were always on the calendar. they were an interesting band because they released their first record in 88, then nothing till 92. Four years doesn’t seem like that long now, but then it was an eternity. So much had happened to “alternative” music in those 4 years.
The first recording I heard was their cover of ‘Tainted Love’ on a 7 inch that came in a copy of Suburban Voice Zine, that was ‘94. The b-side was doc hopper covering ‘Pink Houses’. The first Shades Apart LP I bought was ‘Save It’, partly because it came out on Revelation and partly because Chris Jones is wearing their shirt on the cover of Verbal Assault’s ‘Your Choice Live Series’ LP. I’m noticing now that Bill Stevenson produced 'Save It", does it seem like that guy has his hand in everything?
‘September Burns’ is a pretty amazing song.
I picked up the follow up LP ‘Seeing Things’. So many great songs on this record. ‘Cathode’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Second Chances’, ‘Behind the Wheel’. Really great, catchy songwriting.
After those two releases, they seemed to have some commercial success and, in a progression that became all too common, with commercial success came material that I didn’t find as interesting, I stopped picking up their records at that point.
I see on their Wikipedia page that they did a reunion at Maxwell’s this past June. I bet they got a lot of requests for ‘Tainted Love’ and “Stranger by the Day’.
Until the next T-Shirt, take it easy.
Mark
So, I’ve recently reconnected with a friend that I played show with over 15 years ago. 15 years ago, that is just crazy. How does this relate to Shades Apart? We played with them at this friend’s house in Mystic, CT in the mid 90’s. Dayne played in Doug and I played in Returnaround. We played so many great shows at that house. I’m pretty sure it was called the Depot House cause it was right on the train tracks, but I could be making that up.
The night Shades Apart played, I think it was the bass player’s birthday. It was definitely someone in shades apart’s b-day because in the middle of their set, in the middle of the living room, a birthday cake appeared, it’s a fun memory. These guys were heroes in a way, and I was at their birthday party.
It seemed as though Shades Apart opened for every hardcore show at Babyhead for a while. They were one of those bands I really enjoyed seeing, but took for granted because they were always on the calendar. they were an interesting band because they released their first record in 88, then nothing till 92. Four years doesn’t seem like that long now, but then it was an eternity. So much had happened to “alternative” music in those 4 years.
The first recording I heard was their cover of ‘Tainted Love’ on a 7 inch that came in a copy of Suburban Voice Zine, that was ‘94. The b-side was doc hopper covering ‘Pink Houses’. The first Shades Apart LP I bought was ‘Save It’, partly because it came out on Revelation and partly because Chris Jones is wearing their shirt on the cover of Verbal Assault’s ‘Your Choice Live Series’ LP. I’m noticing now that Bill Stevenson produced 'Save It", does it seem like that guy has his hand in everything?
‘September Burns’ is a pretty amazing song.
I picked up the follow up LP ‘Seeing Things’. So many great songs on this record. ‘Cathode’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Second Chances’, ‘Behind the Wheel’. Really great, catchy songwriting.
After those two releases, they seemed to have some commercial success and, in a progression that became all too common, with commercial success came material that I didn’t find as interesting, I stopped picking up their records at that point.
I see on their Wikipedia page that they did a reunion at Maxwell’s this past June. I bet they got a lot of requests for ‘Tainted Love’ and “Stranger by the Day’.
Until the next T-Shirt, take it easy.
Mark