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Sebadoh | |
|---|---|
 Sebadoh performing live in July 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Discography | Sebadoh discography |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Labels | |
| Members | |
| Past members |
|
| Website | sebadoh |
Sebadoh (/ˈsɛbədoʊ/) is an Americanindie rock band formed in 1986 inNorthampton, Massachusetts, byEric Gaffney andLou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalistJason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his songwriting whenJ. Mascis gradually took over creative control ofDinosaur Jr., in which Barlow plays bass guitar.[1]
Along with such bands asPavement,Beat Happening andGuided by Voices, Sebadoh helped pioneer alo-fi style ofindie rock characterized by low-fidelity recording techniques that employedfour-trackcassette tape machines.[2] The band's early output, such asThe Freed Man andWeed Forestin' (both released 1990), as well asSebadoh III (1991), was typical of this style. Following the release ofBubble & Scrape in 1993, Gaffney left the band. His replacement and erstwhile stand-in, Bob Fay, appeared onBakesale (1994) andHarmacy (1996), but was fired before the sessions for the band's major label releaseThe Sebadoh (1999), featuring drummerRuss Pollard.[3]
The band then went on a 14-year recording hiatus, during which time members pursued other projects while occasionally touring as Sebadoh. The group, fronted by Barlow and now featuring drummerBob D'Amico, returned in 2012 with theSecret EP and, in 2013, a full-length album titledDefend Yourself, which were both self-recorded. The albumAct Surprised followed in 2019.[2]
Lou Barlow was the bass player for alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. (originally Dinosaur) in the 1980s. While both Barlow and leaderJ Mascis wrote songs, Mascis' material dominated the group's output because Barlow was intimidated by the guitarist's songwriting efforts.[4] Barlow spent progressively more time recording his own songs at home. Barlow andEric Gaffney released theWeed Forestin' cassette in 1987 onHomestead Records under the name Sebadoh, which was anonsense word Barlow often muttered in his recordings.[5] Both Barlow and Gaffney contributed songs toThe Freed Man (1988) cassette. Homestead Records headGerard Cosloy heard the cassette release ofThe Freed Man and released it as a full-length album on Homestead in 1989. Soon after the cassette's release Barlow was kicked out of Dinosaur Jr. Over time Sebadoh's releases became a way for Barlow to address the issues of control that manifested as the tension in and his ejection from Dinosaur Jr; Barlow said "I got a lot of hatred out just by writing those songs."[6]Jason Loewenstein joined in summer 1989, the first release that he played on being the "Gimme Indie Rock" single in 1991.[7] Only ten 'band' shows were performed throughout Western Massachusetts, Boston, and New York over the period 1989–1990 before the third album,Sebadoh III, was released.[7]
After touring withFirehose in 1991, they signed toSub Pop (Domino in the UK andCity Slang in Germany) in 1992, and released the two EPsRocking the Forest andSebadoh vs. Helmet just two months apart. These EPs had their track listings truncated and shuffled around and made into the American full-length releaseSmash Your Head on the Punk Rock.[7] Their fourth albumBubble & Scrape was released in April 1993. The same year, the band's "Soul and Fire" EP humorously described the band's musical goal as "driving dozens of college-age lemmings off the cliff of limited imagination."[8]
FollowingBubble & Scrape (1993) Gaffney left the band. Gaffney has stated that he left Sebadoh "because I felt like it" and went on to explain that: "I wanted to start a band where I was the songwriter/guitar player and so I did. I also had the garage practice space and booked all our early shows. This was summer 1989, when The Freed Man LP was released on Homestead was when I called those guys on the phone to ask if they wanted to start a band, met with dead silence. Me on the other end saying, “Are you still there?” I only started playing drums when the other guys wanted to play their songs because I didn’t want to learn bass lines, and drums are my first instrument. Four years later I let the whole thing walk away from me. It was like The Blob—you want to just run out of the theater! (lest you be consumed by “The Blob.”)."[9]
Barlow has stated that the mood in the band upon Gaffney's departure was "euphoric," explaining that: "Eric was a difficult guy. He was really struggling with the band becoming more popular; he was really struggling with sharing the spotlight with me. He’s an absolute leader, and deserves a spotlight of his own, but I had kind of forced him into this band where he and I were going to be trading off, thinking that was a really great idea. Eric Gaffney did not want to be doing that. Eric Gaffney wanted to be front and center—which is great, I mean, I believed in him. I’m an Eric Gaffney fan, that’s why I was playing in a band with him, but Eric Gaffney was not a Lou Barlow fan. So him leaving the band was awesome. All of this resistance just disappeared for a while, and it was really nice."[10]
Gaffney's replacement, Bob Fay, appeared onBakesale (1994) and the follow-upHarmacy in 1996.[11] Fay was fired before the sessions forThe Sebadoh (1999) and replaced byRuss Pollard, a friend of Loewenstein's from Louisville. The band went on a tour to promote this album, including a stop inToronto in March.[12] The band then went on hiatus, with Barlow concentrating on his other project, theFolk Implosion,[7] and Loewenstein working on material for his debut solo albumAt Sixes and Sevens, released in 2002. The two reunited to play concerts in late 2003 and early 2004.
In March 2007, the "Sebadoh Classic" lineup of Barlow, Gaffney and Loewenstein went on tour together for the first time in fourteen years.[13] This coincided with a new series of reissues which repackaged some of the early albums with extra discs of unreleased tracks. First came a reissue ofSebadoh III, thenThe Freed Man, andBubble & Scrape.[14]
The reunion tour continued into 2008, and in May included a live performance ofBubble & Scrape (1993) in its entirety as part of theAll Tomorrow's Parties curatedDon't Look Back series at London's Koko venue.
In 2011, Sebadoh toured in support of reissues for theirBakesale andHarmacy albums. ThoughBakesale was reissued on time, as of June 2015,Harmacy has still not been reissued.[15] Taking the place of Gaffney on drums wasBob D'Amico, who plays with Loewenstein in both Circle of Buzzards andthe Fiery Furnaces.[16]
In March 2012, Lou Barlow reissued the early recordings ofWeed Forrestin' on the Sebadoh bandcamp, available in a digital download, double cd, vinyl, and deluxe edition with theChild of the Apocalypse sessions as a cassette tape. Fifty copies of "Weed Forrestin" came as a surprise bonus with purchases of the limited edition re-release of Dinosaur Jr.'s first three albums in a cassette boxed set released by Joyful Noise in 2012.[17]
They were chosen byJeff Mangum ofNeutral Milk Hotel to perform at theAll Tomorrow's Parties festival that he curated in March 2012 in Minehead, England.[18]
In July 2012, Sebadoh releasedSecret EP on the Sebadoh bandcamp, available in a digital download. CD copies were only available at the shows of their 2012 tour. In June 2013,Joyful Noise released it on vinyl.
Their eighth studio album,Defend Yourself, came out on Joyful Noise Recordings on September 17, 2013. It debuted at No. 1 on the "New Alternative Artists" Billboard chart, since the band had been together for roughly 27 years at that point in time.[19]
On March 1, 2019, the band announced that their ninth studio albumAct Surprised will be released on May 24, 2019, viaDangerbird Records. The same day the first single off the album, "Celebrate the Void" was released.[20]
According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllMusic, "Sebadoh embraced intentionally raw and unsophisticated home recording as the element that tied together their self-conscious sentimental pop with their noisy experimentalism." Lou Barlow's vocals have been described as "gloomy but tuneful."[21]
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