The Final Treepeople Tour, August, 2023: A Retrospecive

 Journal entries (somewhat augmented):

Treepeople ‘Jaunt Tour.’ August 2023, final shows

8/1/23

The drive up the Columbia River Gorge [on the day before, Monday, 7/31/23] was beautiful, as it always is, traffic was light, it was a gorgeous day. [ok, so this is probably the least scenic stretch of the drive up the Gorge, but I was ya know, driving, and the scenic stretch is the part of the drive where you really have to focus. Even so, I probably shouldn't eh…take photos while driving, period. 'Nuf said.]

Part of getting ready for these shows has always been about listening to the songs of the set over and over again so that a groove is dug into my/our/brain/brains.This method works but it is a bit maddening and tends to make you sick of your own band! A joke between me and Scott (who also applies the groove digging method) is “I am SO sick of Treepeople!” 

So on the drive to Boise, I didn’t listen to any Treepeople. I had borrowed Dug Martsch’s van, it worked out well as he had lived in Portland for a short time and had left it there, so he needed it driven to Boise, and I needed to bring my drums (I HATE playing other people’s kits and am very attached to mine, a ‘66 Ludwig, made the same year I was, as I always say,  thus the 8 hour drive vs the one hour flight (it takes me the same amount of time to fly to Boise as it does to commute by bus to work in Portland!) so it was a win win. 

My babies, purchased in 1990 for $500, made the same year I was; 1966

His van had a CD player, so I listened to some comp CDs I made when I lived in Boston (2003 - 2008), it was a little snapshot of what I was listening to at that time: Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Satisfact, 7 Year Bitch, Flaming Lips, Cheap Trick (the debut lp, of course), Throwing Muses, A Tribe Called Quest, my ‘guilty pleasure’ at the time, Queens of the Stone Age and many other bands. The tunes propelled me through the Gorge and into the shrub desert that leads into Boise proper.

8/2/23

The day of the first rehearsal wasn’t until Wednesday, 8/2/23, so I had a decompression day on 8/1/23, which I needed, as I was coming off a very stressful week at work. I did some reading, took some old man naps, and watched some news. Then off for a nice salmon dinner at a bar near the hotel I often stay at, a new tradition now when I am in town, which also includes a shot of Makers, neat, a tumbler of ice with a few limes from which I mix a cocktail of whisky, some ice, melted ice water and squeezed limes. Though we are only ramping up for two shows in town before hitting the road, this is similar to how one kills time on tour, and interestingly, similar to how one does the same when you retire. On an interesting note, one night I randomly sat next to the driver for The Breeders, who had some amazing stories about her journey as one of the few women drivers in the biz, and the sexist bullshit she has had to endure.

I am about to release a solo EP, a first for me [I have released home recording demos over the years, but that's it]. I am both excited and nervous about it. I mention it, for beyond blatant just self-promotion (which I am allowed on my own fucking blog) as it is the next focus in my musical life. As my friend and producer (who produced this record) Steve Fisk said in relation to Treepeople members and solo music after Treepeople; "No one's heard from you yet."

I did have to chat a few times with the guy who is covering for me at my big, complicated, demanding job, but I have promised myself not to log into my email at all anymore this whole trip. I am grateful for my job, and I don't hate it, in fact I plan to retire in it. But ya gotta disconnect. Rock n roll ain't a bad way to do that.

We rehearsed at a place called The Warehouse in Garden City where a number of local bands rehearse, a nice room. It took us awhile to set up and get going as is often the way the first day; setting up is slow, you need to figure out the best arrangement of equipment for the best sound for the room…Dug had recently toured in Europe with his band Built to Spill, and had recently played some out of town solo shows, so he is a little behind on rehearsing Treepeople songs, he will catch up, he's a pro, and he already sounded pretty good. In fact, we sounded way better than I expected, considering we haven't played together in 4 years (since just before COVID in 2019, when we played at the VAC in Boise). These songs are challenging (especially on drums!) but we were determined. 

End of journal entries.

First day load in at The Warehouse

8/3/23?

Note that I don't have a journal entry for 8/3, but our friends Meredith Swassing, Daniel Yoshida and Kenneth Cole were there, and Kenneth & Meredith recorded some great videos of our rehearsal that day.

Treepeople rehearsing Fishbasket, 8/3/23, in Boise, Idaho ~ Filmed by Kenneth Cole

Snippet of Treepeople rehearsing the song Handcuffs, 8/3/23 ~ Filmed by Meredith Swassing

Boise, 8/9 & 8/10/23

We played 5 shows with only a week's worth of practice, 4 years since playing together last: Two shows in Boise to kick it all off at the fabulous new arcade Realms, the first show opened by State of Confusion, the hardcore Punk band 3 of us in Treepeople formed in the mid '80s (then the band morphed into Treepeople). Incidentally, SOC had the honor of playing the first ever show on that stage, at a party at the end of our week of reunion shows in April of 2023. Thank you, Meredith, for your persistence and insistence on that happening. It's a family biz, you see, opened by her son and ex husband.

One interesting thing that happened at this show was that the guy in Boise who makes and sells merch for both Treepeople and State of Confusion also road-manages the legendary LA Punk band FEAR and he asked if State of Confusion wanted to play a show with them the following week; “Um, yes, please.” (more on that later in a separate entry on the State of Confusion reunion shows).

All the shows were supported by the mighty Prism B*tch (who did their first ever tour with us back in 2018).

Photos of Prism B*tch and all other photos are by the author, unless otherwise noted

The second Boise night our direct support was our sister Boise band Dirt Fishermen, who we came up with in the early days in Boise and played many shows with. It was perfect that our last Boise show was with them. They ripped it up, as usual.

We got our sea legs with these shows, and people had a lot of fun, but also, as with all these last shows, it was bittersweet; Boise spawned us and has always been good to us and we thank you. 

Then Treepeople hit the road. Our old friend and Merch Guy Supreme, Dave Wall, ate ice cream with a Buck knife. I was impressed enough to take a photo:

Portland, 8/11/23

Portland was up next at the beautiful old theater The Aladdin, where we played to a nearly full house of warm and friendly Portland fans with Seattle's Patrons of Husbandry, featuring one of our favorite Seattle songwriters, Rusty Willoughby. They played a beautiful, flawless set, Portland loved it and so did we. 

Prism B*tch was up next, and they were made to play on a stage like that and killed it that night.

Prism B*tch in action, click for video ~ Filmed by the author

The Aladdin begins to fill up. A wonderful show, thank you Portland!

Fan filmed 'medley' of Treepeople set at the Aladdin, Portland, OR, 8/11/23 

~ Filmed by Rezellen

Seattle, 8/12/23

We were asked by the Seattle radio station KEXP to play on their live room show, so we left Portland about 7 am to make load in. As often happens after playing a show, I took forever to unwind and be able to sleep, and thus I got a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep before we hit the road. 

When we rolled up in Seattle at KEXP, and began to unload, Scott realized he left his guitar in Portland! Oh shit! Luckily Doug had a spare guitar, Scott played his familiar red Stratocaster. The staff at KEXP were lovely to us and it was super fun! Thank you KEXP! (Note: As of this writing this has not been released, but will be soon, and I will of course post it here).

A note about KEXP: When out of towners bought the beloved college radio station KCMU years ago, we in the Seattle scene were bummed and assumed they would ruin it, but they sure proved us wrong!

Dug showing Lilah Rose of Prism B*tch how to play the Treepeople song Funnelhead @ KEXP 

 

Click here to see Treepeople on KEXP, 8/12/23

The Seattle show on 8/12/23 is being described by many folks (old friends from our Seattle years who we trust and who don't blow smoke up people's asses) as 'epic.' As I have written on social media, I agree (and as you may know about me, I also don't blow smoke up my own…nevermind). 

It felt great playing in our second home town to so many dear old friends, including people to whom we owe a great debt, like Steve Fisk, John Goodmanson and Stuart Hallerman. 

And later, Scott and I discussed how we both felt our departed member and Scott's brother Pat in the room that night. 

Pat 'Brown' Schmaljohn, ripping it up at the very beginning of the band at rehearsal in 1988, playing my gone but not forgotten State of Confusion bass

On a negative note, we had already scheduled an early show, starting at 7 pm, but The Crocodile informed us last minute that there was a 'dance party' scheduled after our show and we had to start at 6 pm! While we love the Crocodile staff, always, and the new room, while austere, sounds killer, this was bullshit and our aforementioned old friends were kicked out! Boo Crocodile! (though in full disclosure, many of our  Seattle fans are older, like us, and some were happy about an even earlier show!)

Seattle friends from way back at the Crocodile show (Left to right behind me, in the center): Film score composer/drummer Steve Cavit, Cedric Ross (AKA Fred Roth) of the bands Imij, TAP and The Fred Roth Review), Stuart Hallerman, owner Avast Studio. Note that, nope, I was not high, quit that stuff years ago, but I do have neural issues on my left side and thus my left eye is droopy! ~ Yours, Self Conscious Wayne).

Seattle friends from way back at the Crocodile show: (Left to right behind me, in the center): 

Cedric Ross (AKA Fred Roth) of the bands Imij, TAP and The Fred Roth Review, John Goodmanson, producer/musician, Steve Fisk, producer/musician

This show was opened by our favorite Seattle band, whose studio Electric Eel we rehearsed beneath in the '90s, The Purdins. They tore it up with their introspective, sad but humorous pop Punk.

Prism B*tch brought it again, as they do every night, and as I have mentioned, they won many new fans that night. 

Sadly, I have no live Prism B*tch photos from this show as during their set I was taking a nap upstairs in their hotel room, which they graciously offered me, as I only had 2.5 hours of sleep the night before, so I will just use this awesome photo from their Instagram:

Treepeople, playing the tune Handcuffs, Seattle, 8/12/23 - Scotty was on fire that night! Seattle was our best performance for sure. 

~ Screenshot by author from Janet Crisp's video, see actual video here 

Bellingham, 8/13/23 - Last Treepeople show ever…😕

Bellingham was fun, a smaller show like the ones we came up playing. We were conscious of the fact that it was our last show ever, but it was a chill night, and a relaxed, looser set. The crowd had a great time and so did we.

[in the first post of this entry somehow this next section on the openers got cropped, apologies to the bands!]

Opening was the mighty band from Spokane, Washington who we played with at Treefort once, Itchy Kitty. They were incredible and topped it off with a killer, intense version of Talking Heads' Psycho Killer.

Prism B*tch were relaxed and in the zone and had people dancing. A great show all around!

The always killer Itchy Kitty, who murdered it that night

The ever awesome Prism B*tch

After the show we drank and laughed and partied like we were young again, complete with wacky antics and a trading of stomach punches and face slaps between Dug and Teresa, some ritual, and then the throwing and catching of peanuts in the mouth, while the slow realization that this was it settled in; the long journey, that started with the forming of a hardcore punk band called Dissident Militia in Boise, Idaho in 1983, had ended. Then, sipping whisky in the hotel and telling tales and finally, sleep.

Wayne and Teresa, drummer friends for life!

Group shot of the whole 2023 'jaunt' tour crew. Photo by Lauren Poole

The next morning we had a nice breakfast with our road crew and Pr*sm Bitch and then we all went our separate ways....✋

The last breakfast with the whole crew. ~ Photo taken by our wonderful waitress (on a personal note, it blows me away how much I look like my dad as I get older. RIP)

What a ride. What an honor. Thank you friends and fans for all of your support over the decades!

❤️ Treepeople

PS - Why the last shows? I have a disability, a numb left leg and partially numb left arm and hand, and it is getting harder and harder for me to play punk drums. I want to go out while I still sound good! This doesn't mean I am done drumming or playing music! I just can't play fast drums or bass anymore (and that is also partly why the State of Confusion shows were also the last). ~ Wayne

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...