Sunny Day Real Estate- I think I fall into a category where I can be actually lumped into an actual category at the time I fell in love with this band. I knew who they where when they came out but I was off in other (i.e. bad) bad directions musically. I think I discovered them once again shortly before they had gotten back together. I was at a place in my life where I mostly listened to punk and hardcore and everything else was pretty much out of the picture. I remember one day me and my friend Kevin were “jamming”(lol) and I started to play something somewhat slow and melodic and he was like something to the effect of “oh, you like that stuff too?” I giggle every time that memory comes back. I think I was going through a lot spiritually, and I didn’t like certain things about my faith at the time. This was a time when most of my friends pretty much were throwing away their “heathen” cds or trading them in for something Christian. There was that, and I was trying to find some identity outside of that kid who likes to draw and listen to punk. I had heard about Jeremy Enigk and how he became a Christian, and the first thing I thought about was that video sunny day had for “seven”, that cartoon image was somehow still on my brain four years after originally seeing that video in the middle of the night. Knowing about where Seattle was on the music map in the 90’s (see the movie HYPE) and thinking about how this band broke up shortly after Jeremy had found the Lord made me think about how important it was to express what you believe and be who you are. I ended up buying Diary and I remember listening to that all the time. To give you a glimpse on to how much I would listen to that album, is that it would be in the car with me and then again at home, all the time. No other cds. I would actually skip meals and just lay in my bed and listen to Diary over and over again. Pretty freakish I know, but I did it nonetheless. I obsessed over this album because it spoke to me on such a deep and personal level. “The secret voice of dawn”? Seriously, so abstract, but something that had delved into the very core of me. To this day, “Song from a man to an Angel” is one of the most beautiful and personal songs I have ever heard. I know this album is the album in many people’s mind helped bring emo to the forefront at which it is at today. But anybody who truly listened to this album knows that there is much more than some whiny guys trying to get girls. It’s deeper, and much more epic. When I discovered LP2, it was like falling in love with this band all over again although I never fell out of love with them. Those two albums made a solid foundation for the rest of their work together when they reformed for two great albums. The Fire Theft is awesome as well, and I can’t wait for Jeremy’s second solo album.
Juliana Hatfield- MTV used to play music videos believe it or not. Two shows that I watched where they would play videos were 120 minutes and Alternative Nation. I remember the first time I heard Juliana Hatfield, I liked her music but was too shy to admit that. My brother and my friends were all into alice and chains and slayer, and you know, anything not somehow related to metal wasn’t down for them. People could like REM because they knew Nirvana, and those guys were lumped with metal a lot. I always got crap for liking mudhoney, but they made better music than nirvana. Juliana Hatfield played some rockin stuff, but she had her soft and sweet points musically too. I loved hearing songs like “My Sister” and seeing the videos from the “Only Everything” Album. Although I kind of knew of the Blake Babies, I never was into them as much as just hearing Juliana’s voice. I always liked her music, but it wasn’t until 2000, long after the days where she was praised as some 90’s indie rock queen, that I began buying her cds. I found “Only Everything” for about 4 bucks in a now closed CD store in OKC and couldn’t wait to listen to it. For the whole time I was living in Weatherford, I would drive around all the time listening to “Only Everything” and eventually bought all of the back catalogue. I remember going through a really rough time in my life and listening to the “Beautiful Creature” album over and over again as this therapy that helped get me through. I wasn’t talking to anyone I knew besides family and I really just closed off in many many ways. I had music and myself to see me through, and this lady with her soft and fragile voice comforted me. Thinking about how she was blown up to be this next big thing, and then having her next big album pretty much kidnapped from her by her label to never be released driving her back away from reaching her full potential really hit home for me. Like you are this up and coming prospect, and then things happen and your prospect status is taken away, people forget about you, and you have to remember why you truly wanted to become what you were destined to be, so you can prove to yourself that you can do and accomplish things because you love them, not because people may or may not support you. That more than anything is what Juliana Hatfield’s music did for my life.
Damien Jurado- I think it was in 1998 or 1999 that my good friend Kevin bought me Damien’s “Waters Ave. South” album. We both did this show on a Christian radio station and I think I remember Kevin going to a Christian bookstore where waters was in a clearance rack because no one knew what it was. I can picture it in my mind already, some kids looking for the next Christian rock cd to buy or unfairly compare to something “heathen” and they picked this cd up and where gonna buy it because it had a tooth and nail logo on it, and saw the sub pop logo and thought to themselves that they were being fooled. What a shame, this cd is amazing! What pedro the lion always tried to be. This had the good feeling and the heart to back it up. I listen to this cd on a regular basis to this day, just an absolutely great album. At first it was so sad to hear the things he was singing about, and it’s as almost the theme of all of Jurado’s work comes in this distant association with all that he is saying. “Wedding Cake”, oh my gosh, what a great song, the sad lyrics, the backing vocals, the whole song is great. Damien, more than any other artist has this way (to me) of telling stories like he was telling them only to you. Have you ever stayed up all night talking to someone close to you and then you two share some really personal information about each other, and because of that, you have this bond? I get that every time I listen to Damien Jurado as his music speaks for the very core of me. What more can I say?
