Monday, December 15, 2008

Fireclown:The greatest short-lived band from the Pacific Northwest

Two days ago, while I was traveling by the bus, and my mp3 player was fetching its last breath(because it didn't have any batteries) with "Come on down EP", I asked myself: "Is there anyone listening Green River right now"...but I realized how hilarious I was so I came down to :"Is there anyone listening Green River"...."Is there anyone listening at least Nirvana"...I realized once more that I was the only survivor of Kurt Cobain’s X Generation, and the only one who tried to bring this country on the right track.

Ok, I think it’s time for me to come back to our subject today, because it seems that I started with my own problems. One of the reasons for witch I like so much the short-lived bands is that by having only one material and maybe a song included on some compilation, one can’t criticize their evolution…because they don’t have one. I think that the material which fascinated me the most was : ”Another Pyrrhic Victory: The Only Compilation of Dead Seattle God Bands LP(1989)”…is absolutely overwhelming. Today’s band comes from the dark and obscure side of Northwest, from Eugene, Oregon and was formed in ’88, the guitarist Adem Tepedelen, the singer Jeff Kleinsmith, the bass singer Karl Hornyik and the drummer James Halada, they all had come from different local bands…Interesting to notice would be Jeff Kleinsmith’s former band, The Funeral Party, founded in ’86, which had as influence The Cure, Joy Division etc. The Cure influence has left its mark on Fireclown too, on account of the singer’s voice. The name of the band has been taken after a song from Tygers of Pan Tang. In October ’89 James and Adem moved to Boulder, CO, the band took a short break until July ‘90 when the four reunited. In February ’91 they released a single, and then, in August Adem left the band and had been replaced by Sean Tessier. It didn’t last long, the sources say that after two shows they broke up.

Adem, Jeff and James founded Stymie in February ’92. Sean had sung for a short period of time in Dehumanizers after which he founded Squalor…And that’s how, folks, Fireclown disappeared. Junkie 7’’(New Rage Records) is the name of the sole material released by Fireclown and has two songs: Junkie and Big Disease….very, very dark.





Junkie
Big Disease



See you after the holidays...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

8 comments:

idaniel said...

NICE

Keep up the good work!

Brewtal Truth said...

Wow, someone noticed us...and liked us. We're flattered. Thanks for the post. One of these days we'll post some more demo tracks up on our MySpace page.

Anonymous said...

this blog rules and yes people are still listening and trying to make good music...

from the depths of stumptown!
www.myspace.com/lsdnd

Anonymous said...

thanks for some obscure bands!
some of them are really rarities! thanks :)

hizairi yahya said...

u r not alone.i still listen to green river and nirvana!

Blog Author said...

Multsumesc Frumos!
Thanks for the songs you have posted here. I'm always on the look out for rare old indie tunes.

Kristin said...

I still listen to Green River and Nirvana. Well, actually, I was only born in the 90's so I'm still discovering all this great music. I'm from southern California so it's not like I'm from the northwest, but all I listen to is 80's and 90's Seattle grunge and all that great alternative rock of the underground 80's and above ground 90's. Despite the fact that my generation sucks and I am the only one I have ever known who listens to anything other than whats new right now, I will always listen to this stuff. I fell in love with the big four when I first found out about them about 6 years ago, but I didn't know anything about them at first, so I was shocked to find out that they got really famous right before that horrible pop scene that tortured me in elementary school which is the first scene that I can remember (I always hated Britney Spears etc. and I was a little girl then so I was the target audience). I couldn't believe it was my favorite musician, Kurt Cobain, that ended up getting so famous. Too bad he died when I was 2, too young to remember anything. All the stuff in the 2000s that was famous I pretty much hated, so go figure something I actually like would have gotten famous. It also led me to discover all the other great bands of that time and place, since the famous ones were so good I kept wanting more and more. So, thanks for this blog. I always felt different from everyone around me because I hated all the music/clothes/fads of '98 on up. This helps a lot, and even though i'm not sure if there is anyone with the same circumstances that knows about, listens to, or cares about this stuff, I'll always be here. It really makes me want to flee to Seattle and play some music. Go to Seattle where the rock's so heavy. Though I don't know if it still is.

Alec Night Train said...

We used to book em regular in Bolton (The Cotton Tree)..great band, and always had a great sound! Wondered why they just disappeared!?