photos by Nathan Miller

"The Fluid came out hungry. Although they were the first non-Northwestern band to sign to Sub Pop (a cred-worth footnote, if ever there was one), they never achieved the success as their labelmates Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney. There aren't even any Fluid records in print right now! (Their merch tonight was shirts that featured a Ford-like logo for their name.) They reunited for Sub Pop's 20th anniversary fest last year and, from what I heard, came off as surprised at the positive reception they got. Tonight, they played many songs from their classic Roadmouth as well as a favorite of mine, "Cold Outside," from Clear Black Paper. Frontman John Robinson bounded about the stage, though the band seemed more comfortable sticking to the back. Nonetheless, they lived up to their legacy. Now all they need to do is to get their records back in print." [Sadness is Delicious]

The Overcasters and Jemina Pearl opened the show Saturday night (1/17) at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The Fluid and The Overcasters also played a show one day earlier at Maxwell's in Hoboken.

More pictures from Brooklyn below...

Continue reading "The Fluid @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, NYC - pics"

photos by Nathan Miller

Pitchfork: Are you anxious about your first post-Be Your Own Pet show this weekend?

Jemina Pearl: Oh no, I'm super excited. It's been so long since I've played a show. I've been compensating by doing karaoke and stealing the microphone from people. So it's probably good for all my friends that I'm getting back onstage.

...

Pitchfork: Do you want to go into any more detail about the breakup?

JP: That's a loaded question, my friend. I probably shouldn't! I feel like it's been a scab that I keep picking at. It's just now starting to heal, so I need to leave it alone. I'll probably talk about it eventually, but right now it's too fresh.

Pitchfork: Fair enough. Let's move onto your new project, which includes BYOP drummer John Eatherly, right?

JP: Yeah, me and John started writing songs when BYOP was still a band. We'd write these kind of 60s girl group-sounding songs. Once the band broke up and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, John brought me some music that he'd written, but he was having a hard time coming up with lyrics and vocal parts. He moved into my house in Nashville and we would just stay up all night writing and it felt really natural.

We had both been wanting to move to Brooklyn, so we just left Nashville and took a Chinatown bus up to the city for like $40. It was kind of like, "Fuck it, there's no reason to be here." Nashville's an interesting city but it's one of those places that's better to visit. I'm sure everyone in Nashville's going to be like, "fuck you," but I'll say "fuck you" right back to them. It was really a spur-of-the-moment move. I brought two suitcases and my guitar; John brought one suitcase.

...

Pitchfork: Have you started recording?

JP: We're actually about to go do our first real batch of demos in Northampton [Massachusetts], where Thurston [Moore] lives, after the show. We want to record the album in March. And I think we're going to try and start playing around New York and New Jersey pretty frequently.

Jemina Pearl and new solo band played that first show on Saturday night (1/17) at Music Hall of Williamsburg. She was opening for The Fluid. Thurston Moore was there, as you can see in one of the pictures below...

Continue reading "Jemina Pearl now in NYC w/ new band, recording (near Thurston), played Brooklyn (pics, setlist & a video)"

According to her (and Be Your Own Pet's) label Ecstatic Peace, ex-Be Your Own Pet frontwoman Jemina Pearl is busy "writing and recording" her debut solo album. Since BYOP broke up, Jemina surfaced once in the form of a Ramones cover she sang with Ecstatic Peace label boss Thurston Moore for an episode of Gossip Girl. She'll surface again (now with brown hair?) when she opens for The Fluid at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn this Saturday night (1/17). It is apparently her first, and only scheduled, solo show, for now. Denver band The Overcasters are also on the bill. Tickets are still on sale.

The Fluid and The Overcasters also play Maxwell's in Hoboken on Friday, one night earlier (tix).

Listen to Jemina and Thurston in the video below...

Continue reading "Jemina Pearl of BYOP writing, recording, playing a show"

The members of the legendary and influential alternative rock band The Fluid have announced they will be performing select shows starting this January in Brooklyn & Hoboken, after reuniting to perform at Sub-Pop Records 20th Anniversary Festival in Seattle this past July...

...Due to timing and the band's associations with Sub-Pop and various acts of the Northwest underground scene-the group were early boosters of Nirvana, and the two acts even shared a split single in 1991-The Fluid has long been lumped in with the period's so-called grunge movement. But in actuality the outfit's unapologetically rock 'n' roll sound bypassed the shallower sludge metal and hardcore punk influences of its contemporary brethren, reaching deeper to hint at the classic styles of forbears like the New York Dolls, The Stooges, the MC5, the Rolling Stones, and the garage bands of the 1960s...

...The Fluid's upcoming shows at Hoboken's Maxwell's on January 16th [tickets], and Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg on January 17th [tickets] will bring together all five of the band's original members for one of the most rabidly anticipated musical reunions in years-and one that will give metro area fans the rare chance to once again experience firsthand the band's singular brand of timeless and powerful rock 'n' roll.

Another band associated with Nirvana, the Meat Puppets, were just here this past week and played the same two venues. Video of The Fluid performing at SP20 in July, below...

Continue reading "The Fluid - reunited & playing 2 NYC-area shows "

Sub Pop is now confirming a lot of the rumors and then some.....

Continue reading "Sub Pop Anniversary Festival - SP20 initial lineup announced"