Show #164: Tongue - 16 Songs (1994-1998)
This Sunday is the Senior Scenester Potluck for aging members of the Madison music community. It will no doubt be fun for musos and fans alike.
In honor of this gala occasion, I present some classic Madison tunes from Tongue who were active from c. 1993-1999. These recordings were given to me by bassist Alex Fortney (he currently of Tancho Tancho!.) The show notes are his.
The Story
Shad (Williams) and Britt (Dichraff) asked me to play with them after their first bass player left to pursue other things. I happily joined their band. Our first practice was in a barn, our first van was nicknamed The Black Death and our first show was... I have no idea. The earliest I can remember was playing a house party with Creature Custard near the old Mifflin St. Coop. I remember it being really crowded, really loud and really fun.
We got a practice space on Bedford Street and started playing around. Like a million other bands we had big amps, big ideas and small interest in the business/busywork side of being a band. All in all I think we did the best we could. On the one hand we played a lot of cool shows and met a lot of cool people. On the other hand we had a lot of fights over too many bad habits and not enough hard work, not a few of which ended in tears.
The furthest we ever traveled for a show was Minneapolis. And for me the best show was one we played at the 7th St Entry. I remember it because when we hit the first note all together it was like my brain just washed out to sea. It was so loud, so on. We didn't have to look at each other to make a change, we'd just feel it coming and we'd go there together. Next thing you know it's over and people are saying really nice things about you. You don't know exactly what you just did but apparently it took about 45 minutes and sounded great.
That's what it was all about I guess, that release. I think that's what we wanted every time we played. Some nights we missed it completely, some nights we struck a glancing blow, but on those nights we really hit it, when we really let it all go, it was cool.
The Songs
Untitled
Futehana
Dogs w/ Alcoholic Owners
State County Farm
Jazz Dink
Martini Machine
Fields are in Line
Clean Up
Lyle
Dick in Feathers
Slowboat to China
Delique
Futehana
Cowgirls
Boom
The Trolley
1-4 were recorded at the Green Room in 1994. It was an 8 track studio in the basement of the building that is now home to the high noon. The first song appeared on a Green Room compilation, the next 2-4 we put out as a cassette.
5-6 were recorded at Sleepless Nights in 1995 and were put out on a Big Money Inc. compilation called Workmans Comp. We tried to record a whole album at Sleepless Nights but the place just never worked for us.
7-16 were recorded at Coney Island Studios in 1998. We finally found a happy place in Wendy Schneider's basement (where Coney Island was at the time) and put these songs out as a CD called B. Spot: A Holiday in Reality.
Download show
Senior Scenester Potluck
In honor of this gala occasion, I present some classic Madison tunes from Tongue who were active from c. 1993-1999. These recordings were given to me by bassist Alex Fortney (he currently of Tancho Tancho!.) The show notes are his.
The Story
Shad (Williams) and Britt (Dichraff) asked me to play with them after their first bass player left to pursue other things. I happily joined their band. Our first practice was in a barn, our first van was nicknamed The Black Death and our first show was... I have no idea. The earliest I can remember was playing a house party with Creature Custard near the old Mifflin St. Coop. I remember it being really crowded, really loud and really fun.
We got a practice space on Bedford Street and started playing around. Like a million other bands we had big amps, big ideas and small interest in the business/busywork side of being a band. All in all I think we did the best we could. On the one hand we played a lot of cool shows and met a lot of cool people. On the other hand we had a lot of fights over too many bad habits and not enough hard work, not a few of which ended in tears.
The furthest we ever traveled for a show was Minneapolis. And for me the best show was one we played at the 7th St Entry. I remember it because when we hit the first note all together it was like my brain just washed out to sea. It was so loud, so on. We didn't have to look at each other to make a change, we'd just feel it coming and we'd go there together. Next thing you know it's over and people are saying really nice things about you. You don't know exactly what you just did but apparently it took about 45 minutes and sounded great.
That's what it was all about I guess, that release. I think that's what we wanted every time we played. Some nights we missed it completely, some nights we struck a glancing blow, but on those nights we really hit it, when we really let it all go, it was cool.
The Songs
Untitled
Futehana
Dogs w/ Alcoholic Owners
State County Farm
Jazz Dink
Martini Machine
Fields are in Line
Clean Up
Lyle
Dick in Feathers
Slowboat to China
Delique
Futehana
Cowgirls
Boom
The Trolley
1-4 were recorded at the Green Room in 1994. It was an 8 track studio in the basement of the building that is now home to the high noon. The first song appeared on a Green Room compilation, the next 2-4 we put out as a cassette.
5-6 were recorded at Sleepless Nights in 1995 and were put out on a Big Money Inc. compilation called Workmans Comp. We tried to record a whole album at Sleepless Nights but the place just never worked for us.
7-16 were recorded at Coney Island Studios in 1998. We finally found a happy place in Wendy Schneider's basement (where Coney Island was at the time) and put these songs out as a CD called B. Spot: A Holiday in Reality.
Download show
Senior Scenester Potluck
posted by Palmer at 7:00 PM
4 Comments:
I was a year younger than Shad in High School, so everything he did was automatically cool. When my friend Greg and I would be closing down the Stoughton Pizza Pit, we would crank a tape of Mr. Shad's Creed (the pre-Tongue group) playing the WORT breakfast show @ Cleveland’s.
Devil's Tractor and the proto-version of ‘State County Farm were our Anthems that summer and we thought for sure those guys were gonna be rock stars.
I thought I had something with the devil tractor logo on it but couldn't find it when I was doing this post. I remember it well.
Shad is a rock star, just because they didn't make a bunch of money and sell thousands of records doesn't mean he's not one. Al you cried over bad habits? That's sad to hear. We were just having a good time. Everyone came out fine. Check out his new album Long Wallet Nail Bender at:
http://www.myspace.com/longwallet
oh and there's a Tongue mayspace page too..
http://www.myspace.com/madisontongue
I run both pages and have more audio if anyone would like it.
Brett Baker
Brett - thanks for the links. I was unaware of Long Wallet Nail Bender.
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