Aside from the music, the one thing that most endears me to alternative/punk music is the myth/legend/bullshit that surrounds it. One of the downsides to the onset of technology is the ability to immediately debunk most of these myths and stories by pulling up YouTube…or some long forgotten MRR column. Sometimes it’s just fun to hear the stories, you know, “Dude the guy from Chickenhead totally drove his motorcycle through the wall to start their set!” Or that 10 people were blinded by the Flaming Lips’ light set up in the VFW Hall. I love that shit.
The first Holopaw record has plenty of crazy stories that swirl around it and most sound so fantastical that there is no way they could be true… right? Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse) funding the first half of the session and breaking a guitar named the Sustainiac!, because it couldn’t live up to its moniker; the band performing an exclusive set for the Sub Pop brass who were just basking in the signing of Iron and Wine; agreeing to do the record when there were only two members of the band that lived on separate sides of the country. All these stories and rumors couldn’t be true, could they? Buckle up, as this ride is pretty wild. You too will fall in love with the Bigfoot of Gainesville pop records, Holopaw’s self-titled full length.
About The Top Shelf
Dave Drobach and Matt Sweeting can talk about records. They have experience that can only come from combined decades of touring in numerous bands and working at a record label. No Idea’s finest bring in the creators of great albums we have all come to love, to sit down, reflect and reminisce on these recordings.
There are three pieces to a Top Shelf interview. The interview team of Dave and Matt, a band member and the vinyl record itself. The record is played in its entirety, stopped in between songs to discuss the writing, recording and touring that happened around the record. Top Shelf session interviews are recorded live in the Grow Radio studios during the weekly show they run called “2nd Avenue Shuffle.”
These are your favorite albums, with commentary found nowhere else. Archived monthly at Lead Us Down.