Music History, Part 27: The Early Seattle Years 1990-91 - Treepeople live, Treepeople touring

Disclaimer: Memory is a funny thing, and an elusive one. Meaning; I might have some of this wrong, as 1. My memory is not always accurate, like anyone and 2. It is from my perspective only. Any friends  who were there, feel free to correct me or add things I have missed. It helps! Also, no gossip on anyone here, it ain't about that. Personal details are on a surface level, and friends, girlfriends and others are re-named to respect their privacy. People in bands generally put their names out there on albums and in interviews anyway, and are not in the habit of staying anonymous, and therefore are named here. That said, anyone who is in the blog that wishes me not to use their name has only to ask.

Seattle Years Disclaimer: As I enter the Seattle years in this music blog, the above disclaimer goes double, because so much happened and there are so many details to cover in this 14 year period; so many shows, so many bands, so many friends and so much change in my life. As a result of this and the fact that the four of us who formed Treepeople found ourselves in the midst of a scene which blew up around us and attracted the eyes of the world just 2 years after our arrival, not to mention the 12 years I played music following that, I am bound to, hell, I will forget something.

This means two things: I will be coming back to entries and adding things to them over the months following publication, and, that the part of the above disclaimer where I ask for help from people in keeping me honest and in remembering things is crucial to them. I thank anyone ahead of time who was there, and, those who weren't there who have access to valid info, for helping me to correct errors in dates or chronology. Yes, I have the Internet, but many bands, scenes and things I will cover did not receive the attention I feel that they deserved and thus I will recall them mostly from memory, or rather, memories; mine and those of friends. Also, friends who were in bands which I do not happen to mention, please don't take it personally, just remind me. I have created a monster in undertaking this blog, one which I am determined to ride until the end!

Lastly, as mentioned, this scene gained national attention, and thus, needless to say and as we all know, many bands/people became famous, became rock stars, were/are admired by millions, etc and etc...This makes another part of my original disclaimer even more important. This memoir is intended to tell my story, from my perspective. I have no intention of creating a place where people can seek gossip about famous people, nor is it about 'name-dropping'. I write of my impressions of people, bands, and the Seattle scene from the '90s into the early 2000s. I protect those who are my friends fiercely because a symptom of being known is frequent intrusion into their lives beyond a level that I feel is acceptable. Thank you for indulging me this disclaimer. Onward>>>

Treepeople live

One of the weird things about being in a band, or doing any kind of live performance, is that you never really know what it is like for someone to see you live. 'Videos', you say? Back in 1990, there was no Internet or cell phones with video cameras as there are today...and we hadda walk to gigs barefoot in the snow (which was fulla broken glass) carryin' all our 'quipment!...You kids today don't KNOW how good you have it!...Wait...What? Where was I? Oh yeah, no Internet, no cell phone cameras...so as for live shows, once they were over, the experience of seeing the live music itself existed only in memory. This is a strange concept now. At any rate, there really is almost no video record of the original line-up of Treepeople playing live...almost. A few years ago a friend sent me a link to some YouTube videos of footage someone took with a 'camcorder' (look it up, kids!) of Treepeople playing live at some artist warehouse space in 1990 (see links below). We played this show with a Salt Lake City band called The Stench (there are links to videos of them as well on this same YouTube page). As far as I know, this is the only video record of the original Treepeople line-up. If anyone else has footage, please get it to me!

Some notes on the videos: There are two people in the videos (that I know of) who are no longer with us; Pat 'Brown' Schmaljohn, who was the bass player for Treepeople (and the notorious front-man for the preceding band which morphed into Treepeople, State of Confusion) and the aforementioned unofficial manager of Treepeople, and later the founder of UP! Records, Chris Takino. Chris can be seen just to the right of the band, bobbing his head occasionally and looking cool. 

Also in the crowd is the aforementioned 'Paula 'Fallout' Sen, bass player for the hardcore punk band Whipped and member of many other great bands later on such as Shug, and who was an early financier of Treepeople. She is the young woman with tied-back, curly dark hair dancing and bopping around in the crowd (looking incredibly young, now she is a badass lawyer, living in Philly and practicing in Jersey) and next to her, with the ginger bob hair-do and a white T-shirt is Nate Mendel, previously the bass player for the Tri-Cities band Diddly Squat, and at the time of this video bass player for the hardcore punk band Christ on a Crutch and who currently plays bass in the Foo Fighters. Also seen, sitting to the left of the 'stage' with a bi-level, bleached hair-do is Eric Akre, the super-skilled drummer who also played in both Diddly Squat and Christ on a Crutch, and who would eventually replace my replacement (so to speak) on drums in Treepeople after I quit the band. There are other members of the Seattle music scene at the time in this video, feel free to point any out. Thank you Mark Swanson for posting these videos!

 Treepeople live in 1990 - Screenshot taken by author from one of the videos linked below, from Mark Swanson's YouTube page

Treepeople live 1990 - Party

Treepeople live 1990 - In My Head 

Treepeople live 1990 - Fishbasket 

Treepeople live 1990 - This Point 


Watching these videos I can get some sense of what we were like to see live, but not really. I am too close to it, even 25 years later. I hear every mistake (Pat and I are the only ones to make mistakes in this footage, to be fair to Scott and Doug!). I could try and analyze it, but to what end? As a poet friend and I often jokingly say, "It is what it was." I can say (write) that it is quite a trip to see a video of yourself 25 years younger. Let's just say that I have grown since then...mostly out. And I would sweat so much when I drummed (I still do quite a bit) that within a few songs into a set, I always took my shirt off. It wasn't me trying to be a badass or that I thought I was hot shit or anything. I mean, I was hot...literally. As Takino said, to paraphrase, I was a boiling pot that never quite boiled over. 

I can also comment on that Mickey Mouse shirt Doug is wearing. I swear to God he wore that thing for months straight. It was getting nasty after a while. I have never asked him, but I think he did it to mess with us. I drew a caricature sketch of him in it from around that time, see below:

Caricature sketch of Doug, called 'Dug Hole', I am having trouble locating the original drawing, this scan is spliced and stretched a bit so that I can't crop and paste it together, but a friend had at least this scan, luckily (thanks Angie!). Note that Doug is wearing this Mickey Mouse shirt in the live videos posted above. He wore it for several months straight. - Artwork by Wayne R. Flower (it originally appeared in Street Magazine)

We did a record release party for the 'Time Whore' record at Squid Row tavern with The Purdins and Christ on a Crutch, two of our favorite Seattle bands. It was Pat's idea to call it a 'record relief' party, based on a bad review The Rocket gave 'Time Whore'. He designed a great flyer for the show which included select disses of the record and band from the review (see below). This was an apt representation of the Treepeople brand of humor. I think either Scott and Pat's mom or dad were baffled as to why we would want to have a flyer like this for our record release party. I don't remember the show in detail, but I do remember it was well-attended and that it was booked by Jon Hale (aforementioned in earlier entries about his bands Commonauts and Gorilla respectively).

We also played a lot of punk shows. At that time, there was a thriving punk scene in Seattle (I assume there still is) which, as I have mentioned before, was completely overshadowed by the 'grunge' years. Treepeople was a band that could play pretty much any kind of rock show, and, since most of us came from punk rock roots ourselves, those shows were a fit. The fans of Seattle punk seemed to get what we were doing and we never felt out of place at the shows. As the author of the blog 'lamestain puts it, "...Treepeople were also one of the few local bands that bridged the gaps between the straight edge kids, the grunge scenesters, the Olympia indie rocks, and the garage rock crowd. You could find them abusing fuzz boxes and laying down dual guitar solos with everyone from Aspirin Feast to Gorilla to Subvert to Resolution to Hammerbox to Gas Huffer to Tad to Moral Crux, etc…" See lamestain at: lamestain

Flyer for a punk show Treepeople played. The band was able to play all kinds of shows and fit in with various line-ups at various types of shows

In some cases we even got paid better at punk shows! Some of these shows we played with our Boise sister bands Dirt Fishermen and Caustic Resin, both of whom, like us, could straddle that line. As I have mentioned in a previous entry, I wanted to devote an entire entry to the Seattle punk scene, and I have done just that in Part I, the next entry (#28). I am currently working on Part II. There are many bands that need to be recognized which were passed over in terms of the history of the Seattle music scene at this time.

Clubs we played at regularly were: Squid Row, The Vogue, The Central Saloon, Broadway Hall, Rock Candy, The Comet, the Lake Union Pub and a few I am sure I am forgetting.

In doing research for this entry, I found references to the fact that Treepeople played at the historic International Pop Underground Convention in Olympia, Washington in 1991, (put on by K Records). I remembered being there, but I don't really remember playing. This is a bit embarrassing, considering it was such a seminal event, and so many bands played, everyone from Fitz of Depression to Fugazi, and some bands who are fairly well known now played their first show ever there. I have a memory of being there, of walking around in the parking lot and seeing Ian MacKaye chatting with Calvin Johnson. I also remember being impressed watching Fitz of Depression play.

I remember there was definitely a buzz in the air of something important happening, and there was something important going on, this was a bold anti-corporate rock event, as K Records' IPUC manifesto put it, they were doing the convention "...Because the corporate ogre has infected the creative community with its black plague of indentured servitude..." The interesting thing about this attitude is that it happened just before Nirvana broke (Kurt Cobain lamented that Nirvana was on tour and thus couldn't play the convention) and then things got really ugly in terms of major labels swooping in to Olympia and Seattle.  

Treepeople just weren't very keyed into the Oly scene at that time, or ever, really, and we were happy to play this convention, but it wasn't as big an event for us as for other bands. In an article written in the Seattle Weekly 10 years after the convention, Doug Martsch was quoted as saying,"We showed up and played, and that was about it," (a great article, by Chris Nelson, find it here:  The day the music didn't die). According to the site setlist.fm we played on Wednesday, August 21st, with Fitz of Depression, Terry Lee Hale, The Smugglers and Tsunami (I have seen other sites say that Built To Spill, Martsch's band after Treepeople, played at IPUC, but they hadn't even formed yet!) We didn't really have any Olympia connections then, though Doug and I would later, after we had both quit Treepeople, when we both played in Halo Benders with Calvin Johnson. I will get to all that of course, and I may write more about the IPUC in greater detail, as it does deserve more space, as does the Olympia music scene. This entry has gotten a little out of control as it is! For more info on this convention (and on the history of K Records) I highly recommend a documentary called The Shield Around the K  (<title is a link to the film).

 

Logo for the International Pop Underground Convention (in case that wasn't obvious enough).

Treepeople on the road (sooo not punk rock)

Treepeople didn't tour much when I was in the band, that is to say, as the original line-up (but the following line-up did tour extensively very soon after I quit). Also, we only toured the west coast and only as far East as Tuscon, Arizona. My memories of these tours are spotty, as there simply weren't that many of them and not many shows of note. I asked Scott Schmaljohn what he remembers of touring with the original line-up and he is in the same boat as me, though one memory came to mind; "Remember when we carved the palm tree leaves into faces in Tucson?" I actually don't remember that! I do remember that trip because we went to meet the guy who put out our record 'Guilt, Regret, Embarrassment' (A.K.A 'GRE' pronounced 'gree') on Toxic Shock records, Bill Sassenberger. This road trip is a bit out of sequence here, and even though some of the touring I mention here also is, I haven't gotten to discussing that record as yet, so I will save it for that entry. I may very well devote an entire entry to Guilt, Regret, Embarrassment.

Pat had taken out a loan and bought a decent, relatively new, white Ford econline van (the tour van of choice for many bands at the time) and he booked shows as he did for our band before, State of Confusion, but it wasn't the same as in those days. In the five short years since we had started touring in SOC, the touring landscape altered significantly. It was less friendly, there were less party shows and couches to crash on. It was more of a college scene in terms of the type of music we played and the fact that we were getting a decent amount of college radio airplay.

Pat took out a loan and bought a white Ford econoline van for Treepeople to tour in, much like this one. The econoline was the van of choice for touring bands in the '90s

 

Our record (Time Whore) was being distributed by Sub Pop, thanks to Chris Takino, and our friends who were getting more attention were talking us up when they went on tour (like Tad) which helped. Another new thing for us in this different touring world was booking agents who booked the tours for us. This must have been tough for them, because we really didn't have much of a name outside of the Northwest, so getting us on decent shows was often difficult.

We had changed, too, and had different expectations than the younger, rough-around-the-edges punk rock adventurers we once were. We didn't really want to get drunk and stay up all night anymore. We had comics and books with us which we enjoyed reading while relaxing during down times. 

We were a hell of a lot more serious about our equipment and taking care of it. For me, touring as a drummer was a whole new experience in that respect. Most drum kits have dozens of parts and hardware to keep track of, and you have to set up and break down a pretty elaborate combination of things in comparison to guitar or bass. Also, when shit breaks, it is two or three times more expensive as bass or guitar or amp breakdowns (well, some amp repairs on the road are pretty outrageous). We had TUNERS! 

We had guarantees (sometimes) and occasionally even a 'rider' - which is an amendment to a contract (oh yeah...we had CONTRACTS!) in which you ask for specific refreshments, snacks and things like towels and water. This only happened when it was a booker booking the tour. Standard stuff. Not very punk! But was certainly appreciated when requests were actually met. 
  
Treepeople played on the radio in Claremont, California at the college. I have a cassette of the performance which I have digitized (see Soundcloud links below). This was a new experience for us, I believe it was the first and only time this original line-up played on the radio. You can hear that we are a bit nervous and I play the songs a bit fast (a common trend with most bands, even professional ones, when they play live...Don't believe me? Pick a favorite live album and directly compare the tempos of live vs studio songs). At one point guitar strings are broken and Pat fills in the time with political banter; he discusses a law up for vote which proposed using suspected drug users for free labor for corporations. A glimpse into a possible alternate path for him; a political radio talk show by Pat Schmaljohn, which would have been something else! 

See below for sound files of a few songs of Treepeople live on KSPC in Claremont, Califonia, 1991 (from a digitized cassette - Note that the song 'Bed O' Nails' was originally a song from Doug Martsch's first band, Farm Days, which carried over into Treepeople's repertoire. Bed O' Nails can also be found on the first Treepeople demo tape, 'No Mouth Pipetting'. Also Note that Doug's guitar is pretty low in the mix. The production & engineering was done on this recording by Bob Durkee)

Treepeople live - KSPC - 1991 - Tongues On Thrones

Treepeople live - KSPC - 1991 - Radio Man

Treepeople live - KSPC - 1991 - Bed O' Nails 

You can also hear how tight we had become as a band on this recording. It is really one of the only recordings of the original line up live, let alone on the radio, now that I think about it. And at this point, if you have been with me along this journey of the blog through time, do I even have to ask? If you have any live recordings of this line-up...yeah...get them to me!

Cassette of Treepeople playing live on KSPC radio in Claremont, California, 1991 - The label is my obvious lazy scrawl. I am not entirely sure why I included a photo of it. But here we are. 


One aspect of touring with a band is that you have to find jobs that you aren't too connected to, or, are with companies that don't care if you take time off here and there. In my case I worked at jobs for companies that fit the former model. But as I mention here, this line-up of Treepeople didn't tour much, so it wasn't really an issue. I got a pretty sweet dish-washing job at a place called 'The Ritz' on North Capitol Hill. The Ritz was a restaurant that catered to rich, older gay men and had the feel of 'dad's house'. There were a lot of dark, exposed wood beams, red leather seats, dim lighting and a lot of cigar smoking. The menu was meat and potatoes fare, but fancy meat and potatoes, to be sure; prime rib and steak, etc.

The kitchen was run by an amazing woman, a Samoan lesbian whom I got along with famously (she even made me an 'honorary lesbian' once). I did a lot of prep-cooking and had great conversations with my boss and her excellent staff. I got the job through Scott, as he was cleaning the place and heard they needed a dishwasher. 

A new owner bought The Ritz, a very nice man with good-intentions, but unfortunately he didn't really understand the clientele. He made the menu healthier fare, made the place non-smoking (again, this was before the state-wide smoking bans in place everywhere now) which pushed the regular customers elsewhere. The place eventually was sold and became a place called Coastal Kitchen. 

It was in the kitchen of The Ritz, as I prepped some vegetables one night, that I heard Nirvana on the local commercial rock radio station, 'The Cube'. It was of course the song 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. I was shocked. I said to my boss, "This is Nirvana. Weird, what the fuck are they doing being played on this station?" We all know where that led. And Treepeople and Nirvana would cross paths for the first time shortly after this, playing together at a show in the city where I now live; Portland, Oregon, at the last gig I would play with the band. I am getting a bit ahead of myself here, but we will get there...