Obscure 90's Indie Bands (You're Pretty Sure You Saw)

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

continuing from this thread, list the obscure bands you might've seen live, if only you could remember, from the list on that thread. here's mine (so far):

hula hoop
two dollar guitar
hurl
dis-
spatula
nord express
BIG HEIFER
Vitapup
Massey Ferguson
LOVECHILD
crain
ruby falls
eggs
sleepyhead
swirlies
grifters
Crunt
Zeek Sheck
Brise Glace

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 02:24 (twenty years ago)

blairmailer
i wish i could say small world experience but i snoozed and lost there..

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 02:28 (twenty years ago)

ed's redeeming qualities at a band shell in rockford, IL, playing for an audience of about five. also some other SF band, the name of which i don't remember.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 02:33 (twenty years ago)

Out of the other thread so far, I have seen:

Crackerbash
The Datura Seeds
Dirt Clod Fight

― sleeve (sleeve), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:03 (twenty years ago)

SPLENDORA

― surf punks from arizona (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:05 (twenty years ago)

I saw Ditch Croaker a bunch o times, so bully to the cat who pulled them out of the hat.

― sympathizer (sympathizer), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

I have seen, I'm almost certain, ALL of these (and own records by many more):

Wingtip Sloat
Prickly
Weeping in Fits and Starts
shiva speedway
milky wimpshake
the i live the life of a movie star secret hideout
fudge
the eyesores
sone
Apollo 9
Sabalon Glitz
VPN
Snake River
Nik-L-Nip
MONSTERLAND
VERONICA LAKE
CRAYON
TWIG
CRACKERBASH
LOVECHILD?NOTHING PAINTED BLUE (who actually have a swell new album called "Taste the Flavor" that came out last week)?eggs
sleepyhead?swirlies
uncle wiggly
dungbeetle
fly ashtray

I put out records by five of those bands, and briefly dated a member of another one. ?
Don't think I ever saw Kissyfur play live, but I don't think they ever did. I liked Suzanne's "Hail/Snail" collaboration with Azalia Snail, too.

Also: holy crap yes the Weeds' "Wheatfields" is fantastic.

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:24 (twenty years ago)

i remember when sabalon glitz was the new "stereolab".

― keyth (keyth), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:56 (twenty years ago)

The only ones I saw were Three Day Stubble, Lovechild, and Crackerbash.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

Oh man, I don't have time for this.

I did see one of the very last Love Child shows though.. Trumans Water opened. This was at the food court area in UCLA that always smelt like burnt pizza. I forget the name of the place.

(This was also the site of the legendary Jesus Lizard show where no one showed up because the show was promoted poorly, so David Yow just took a chair, set it up down on the floor facing the stage right up in front, and yelled his entire set into the microphone sitting down, crouched over, with his back to a bunch of really confused UCLA students trying to study.)

― dali madison's nut (donut), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:18 (twenty years ago)

I guess I should just say almost all of the Shrimper roster.. Diskothi-Q, Massengil, Lumbergarden, Big Breakfast, and much more including Buzzsaw (but not Goosewind, unfortunately.)

Shoeface
Powerdresser
New Fast Automatic Daffodils
Adickdid
Sandy Duncan's Eye
No Man (the Roger Miller one)
Drip Tank
This Great Religion
Olive Lawn
T Tauri (the L.A. rock band)
Blowhole
Jackknife
Spastic Colon
Bastard Noise
Physics
Napo
aMiniature
Hypnolovewheel
Three Day Stubble
Little Theodore
Bügsküll
Dharma Bums
Permanent Green Light
Victim's Family
Un
Kazumoto Endo
Government Alpha
Jackass (the L.A. indie band)
Snow Queen
Love Child
Azusa Plane
Mary Lou Lord
Picasso Trigger
Shiny Beast
Crayon
Superficial Bitch
The Nouns
The Great Unraveling
The Pee Chees
Monorchid
The Hal Al Shedad
Constantine Sankhati
I Own The Sky
16
400 Years
Compound Red
Arm
Insult
Nine Iron Spitfire
Indian Summer
Second Story Window
The Shortwave Channel
Camera Obscura
Polar Goldie Cats
The Icky Boyfriends

there's far too much i'm missing... i need to dig through.

― dali madison's nut (donut), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:52 (twenty years ago)

i lived in the hinterlands so i missed a lot of the obscure choices.
m.

― msp (mspa), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 07:17 (twenty years ago)

OK I saw all the Dago bandz donut listed too. (And No Man. I saw No Man at the Spirit Club!)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 07:20 (twenty years ago)

barnard's star
hawaii five-0
the ho dogs
black panthers
the centre will hold
le mot cafe
the puffins
the incisions
the civilians
thee strapons
seaworlde
hiss explosion
ape management

etc etc

― chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 07:34 (twenty years ago)

played with :
ruby falls
flu 13
geezer lake
polvo
vomit launch
big dipper
azalia snail
the frogs
blue green gods
mosquito
codeine
alice donut
monsterland
trumans water
sebadoh
gerty farish
Beme Seed
Picasso Trigger
nod
helios creed
antiseen
etccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc................

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 07:42 (twenty years ago)

Ideal - they were from Cheltenham and they wrote a song about Richey Manic going missing and what a silly twit he was, I think this got them a tiny paragraph in the NME news pages.

― Louie_Strychnine, Tuesday, 29 November 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

One or more of them went on to be in the even crappier Black Madonnas

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 12:31 (twenty years ago)

X-Post: I saw Ideal too! And their labelmates Girl Of The Year.

― Mog, Tuesday, 29 November 2005 12:34 (twenty years ago)

Executive Slacks (from Philadelphia?)

― Paul (scifisoul), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

What about My Drug Hell?

Their "Girl At The Bus Stop" single was rather good and it did get played on Mark Radcliffe's Radio One Evening Show a fair bit. Dunno where they went after that, down the dumper I presume.

― Louie_Strychnine, Tuesday, 29 November 2005 13:39 (twenty years ago)

i saw a band called the nubiles.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

I saw a band called Ludd Gang, who just did Fall covers and featured Tim (the drummer from prolapse)

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

I saw My Drug Hell, The Nubiles and Terry Edwards & The Scapegoats.

― mog, Tuesday, 29 November 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

i saw the eggs reunion last year (as did a million other people, since it was also the unrest reunion)!

― petesmith (plsmith), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

Blast Off Country Style (opening for Unrest)

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

I saw Eggs once - they toured the UK with Rodan, Tsunami and someone else I can't quite remember...

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

I think this just about covers it from that other list:

Wingtip Sloat
tear jerks
space needle
pumpernickel
victory at sea
hurl
softies
tiger trap
fudge
dis-
the eyesores.
sone US
BIG HEIFER
Bricks
Vitapup
Nik-L-Nip
When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water
Lida Husik
MONSTERLAND
VERONICA LAKE
CRAYON
CRACKERBASH
LOVECHILD
NOTHING PAINTED BLUE
Pavement
crain
ruby falls
eggs
sleepyhead
swirlies
grifters
uncle wiggly
Tortoise
quintron
prolapse
Fred Thomas

― ianinportland (ianinportland), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

Oh geez, a ton. Definitely every lo-fi twee band between Boston and DC.

― mike a, Tuesday, 29 November 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

Elevator Drops

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

I saw Sabalon Glitz. And Cerberous Shoal, who ave actually gotten more popular, which I never would've predicted.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

In what sense are Pavement, Sebadoh, or Tortoise "obscure"? Ecstatic press response + national following = non-obscure. Swirlies have been mentioned twice. Do you get an entry in the Trouser Press guide when you're obscure? Maybe sometimes... Though most what has been listed is impressively obscure.

― eek, Tuesday, 29 November 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

I think the mention of Pavement was a joke. Tortoise was in reference to their previous incarnation

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

I just went through the bands mentioned in the other thread and pasted the ones I had seen into this thread. I admit I should have edited out the bands who where mentioned in the other thread who were in no way obscure but I got lazy... Sorry, folks!

― ianinportland (ianinportland), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

I never saw Monsterland, so apologies for been off thread but adore their version of Bailter Space's 'Fish Eyes'. The guitar is sublime. 'Bursitis' from same release too.Maybe I saw them, so i'm back to thread? Surely?

― hull hole (hull hole), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 23:25 (twenty years ago)

My Drug Hell were in FHM as part of a "How to live the rock star lifestyle" article.

Wasn't one of their songs on a beer commercial as well, or am I thinking of someone else?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 23:29 (twenty years ago)

Picasso Trigger

haha I just picked up a copy of "Watch Me Jumpstart" the GBV doc on VHS at a thrift store for a dollar...watching the part where they get kicked out of Emo's in Austin cuz Pollard got in a war of words with Picasso Trigger was priceless!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

haha my band in high school opened for Vitapup when they played Ottawa. They were good IIRC.

― Sundar (sundar), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:24 (twenty years ago)

I think I've seen:

Salt Chunk Mary
Bomb Pops (w/ the Mountain Goats in '94)
Tear Jerks
Hula Hoop (who were great, IIRC)
Space Needle
Two Dollar Guitar
Wade
Sukpatch (w/ the Cannanes in...'96?)
Hypnolovewheel
Fudge
Dis- (as Gary Numan & the Tubeway Army one New Years Eve)
Apollo 9
Sabalon Glitz
Flap
Trunk
Fruitcake (? I think)
Three Day Stubble
Geek (pre-Tsunami band)
Holiday
Monsterland
Crayon (?)
Love Child
Nothing Painted Blue
Eggs
Kicking Giant
Grifters
Dungbeetle
Fly Ashtray ?
Modern Vending
Jot
Datura Seeds
D.O.G.
Sugar Boom
Frontier
Specula
Elliot
Shorty
Cherry Rodriguez
Meices
Vambo Marble Eye
Etaoin Shrdlu
Autoclave (? I think, maybe Slant 6)
Weird Paul
Repulse Kava
Flophouse
Steve Kowalski Army

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 03:27 (twenty years ago)

Cell

― cdwill, Wednesday, 30 November 2005 03:56 (twenty years ago)

Dis- (as Gary Numan & the Tubeway Army one New Years Eve)

holy fuck, you saw that show??!!? i wasn't there, heard about it from them after-the-fact. so awesome.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 04:19 (twenty years ago)

hstenc, yes, I did. It actually got me more into Tubeway Army it was so good.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 04:23 (twenty years ago)

dis- was pretty awesome, in general. s!3rack!, man. i think they did some sort of danzig halloween show too, right? i can't remember.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 04:26 (twenty years ago)

ed's redeeming qualities at a band shell in rockford, IL, playing for an audience of about five. also some other SF band, the name of which i don't remember.

The other band was Paddlefoot.

Sabalon Glitz ... that's the fella from Yum-Yum, Chris Holmes. Wonder what happened to him.

It seems like everyone in the world has seen Eggs at some point.

Quintron is still doing his thing.

I never thought of Big Dipper as particularly obscure, but they hit the major labels right as I was at my peak "listening time" (late 80s/early 90s).

I loved Floraline, myself. Shame they never kept it together beyond one album.

― myke, Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

Executive Slacks (from Philadelphia?)
-- Paul (scifisou...), November 29th, 2005.

Yes, Executive Slacks were from Philly. Their early stuff was really great abrasive new wave, kind of like Wall of Voodoo trying to cover Swans. Later they got a little too Euro-dancey for my taste - either way, I'm not sure if they could be considered a 90s band!

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 15:43 (twenty years ago)

I've seen these at least once:

Vitapup
Three Day Stubble
Kirihito
Rrope
Two Dollar Guitar
Omoide Hatoba
Spaceheads

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

Calling Three Day Stubble a 90s band is a bit like calling U2 a 90s band

― eek, Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

Sabalon Glitz ... that's the fella from Yum-Yum, Chris Holmes. Wonder what happened to him.

Stormy used to be his roommate, so he can fill you in. In fact, Stormy's label put out the Sabalon Glitz CD.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

Calling Three Day Stubble a 90s band is a bit like calling U2 a 90s band

Well, I only mention them in that connection because that's when I first was apprised of their existence and witnessed their music.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 1 December 2005 01:10 (twenty years ago)

DC/Maryland/VA relevant names that come to mind:

Regulator Watts
Branch Manager
Fly
Corm
Rain Like the Sound of Trains
Norman Mayer Group
Estrojet
Crainium
Metamatics
The Ignobles
Ashes
Trusty
The Dusters
Kerosene 454
The Boom
The Sorts
Jenhitt
Smart Went Crazy

― Mugged Outside the Jabberjaw, 1993 (Bent Over at the Arclight), Thursday, 1 December 2005 02:03 (twenty years ago)

I'd like to third Ideal and second Girl of the Year, both of which had great moments and might have been massive if they'd existed 5 years later.

How about The Candy Coke 5 whose constituent parts went on to play in: The Beatings, The Black Madonnas and The Duke Spirit amongst others.

― holojames (holojames), Thursday, 1 December 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

teh metamatics record is great. i should pull that out sometime, to listen to.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 1 December 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

Purple Ivy Shadows, dude

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Thursday, 1 December 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

SPLENDORA

i saw them when they were still called popsicle. do i get any points for that?

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 1 December 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

Grouse Mountain Skyride.

Oops, wrong thread. ;)

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 2 December 2005 00:54 (twenty years ago)

I have to say wow to that once or twice. Wow.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 2 December 2005 02:17 (twenty years ago)

Now I get it, you're me -- nobody else could possibly have seen Jot, Three Day Stubble, Kicking Giant, Two Dollar Guitar, Dungbeetle, Repulse Kava, and Modern Vending.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 2 December 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

The cost would be prohibitive.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 2 December 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

Not yet mentioned...

Nemo (pretty great show, actually)
Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can!

Sabalon Glitz ... that's the fella from Yum-Yum, Chris Holmes. Wonder what happened to him.

Is the Chris Holmes who got arrested for bringing brass knuckles on an airplane or something like that the same one from Yum-Yum?

― dlp9001, Friday, 2 December 2005 03:45 (twenty years ago)

not-yet-mentioned bands from the other thread i had the pleasure of seeing:

god's favorite band
august sons
daisycutter
nudeswirl

mostly at the brighton bar in long branch nj. god's fave band and august sons were rockingly great, as far as i can remember. nudeswirl, who i saw a million times, could be great when they wanted to, as could their guitar-and-drum-machine side project they might be vaginas. daisycutter featured jim hogan, founder of heat blast records, an absolute godsend for punk and metal fans on the jersey shore in the early '90s.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 2 December 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)

Don't freak out, Ian -- I distributed your band's 7" a long time ago via Ajax. I'd forgotten about it until I saw your post.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 2 December 2005 04:33 (twenty years ago)

Oh, then obviously you had the money to fly to Japan for those Three Day Stubble/Boredoms gigs.

Jot!

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 2 December 2005 05:16 (twenty years ago)

This seems relatively on-topic, so I'll go ahead and ask:

I've been trying to track down a copy of the first Vehicle Flips release "In Action" (Harriet Records) for months, with absolutely no luck. Anybody have a go-to real-world retailer I should email for help? Or better yet, anybody want to sell me a copy?

― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Friday, 2 December 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

Obscure 90s indie bands Grouse Mountain Skyride played with:

Hazel
Wider
Versus
Eggs
Royal Trux
Guided by Voices

Not the Coctails because those bastards (wisely) wouldn't lend us a banjo.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:50 (twenty years ago)

Purple Ivy Shadows, dude

I looooved Purple Ivy Shadows. Hadn't heard of 'em until I started working at Ryko, then we dropped them and they made the best album of their career, White Electric. Figures. Incredible live band, though.

― Myke Weiskopf (Myke Weiskopf), Saturday, 3 December 2005 13:11 (twenty years ago)

Prolapse
Butterglory
The Secret Stars
Poem Rocket
The Raymond Brake
Lenola

― goodoldneon (goodoldneon), Saturday, 3 December 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Guided By Voices!

― scott seward, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:39 (eighteen years ago)

I think I saw them too!

― henry s, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:53 (eighteen years ago)

i wish i saw crunt. i wish i could find their album anywhere. i still remember what a great jam "swine" is. i still remember. . . .

― kamerad, Saturday, 7 July 2007 00:47 (eighteen years ago)

Karp
Geraldine Fibbers
Guided by Voices
Grifters
Spoon
Juned
Schlong
Swingin' Utters
Shonen Knife
Shudder to Think
Jawbreaker
Alice Donut
Victim's Family

― marmotwolof, Saturday, 7 July 2007 01:04 (eighteen years ago)

S*M*A*S*H
Walt Mink
Motocaster (U of M East Quad Dorm cafe baby!)
Don Caballero
Magnapop
Love Jones (if you remember them, I'm sorry)
Royal Crescent Mob

― MC, Saturday, 7 July 2007 01:15 (eighteen years ago)

bailterspace
at Irving plaza with liz phair and yo la Tengo in 93

― calstars, Saturday, 7 July 2007 01:51 (eighteen years ago)

poundsign
kill creek
pee
mineral
prima donnas
silver scooter
run on (ok they were matador i think)

234235 others

― wanko ergo sum, Saturday, 7 July 2007 02:31 (eighteen years ago)

The great thing about listing obscure 90s indie bands is you could just list a bunch of utilitarian words, and it would sound plausible. Maybe add a few -box suffixes:

Chair
Stove
Wrench
Gearbox
Salt
Fuse
Nailgun
Gauge
Fistbox

Prima Donnas were way ahead of their time, which should have been about 2003.

― bendy, Saturday, 7 July 2007 12:05 (eighteen years ago)

recent pic of julius and otto from prima donnas
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/35/122357439_9dc238a711.jpg?v=0

― wanko ergo sum, Saturday, 7 July 2007 15:45 (eighteen years ago)

Bob Tilton
Joeyfat
Ligament
Nub
Scarfo
Flying Medallions
Spare Snare

The first three should have their own threads. All great in their own way. Joeyfat were the UK's most entertaining math rock band. Ligamnet are still rocking, now as Part Chimp

― rockford, Saturday, 7 July 2007 17:22 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.