The Western State Hurricanes

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Western State Hurricanes
Origin Seattle, Washington
Genres Indie rock
Years active1997–1999
LabelsNone
Associated acts The Long Winters
Harvey Danger
Death Cab for Cutie
Bun Family Players
Members John Roderick
Stephanie Wicker
Bo Gilliland
Michael Shilling

The Western State Hurricanes was a short-lived Seattle-based indie rock band in the late 1990s. It is best known as a precursor to the more successful group The Long Winters—both bands were fronted by songwriter John Roderick, and many Western State Hurricanes songs were later revamped into Long Winters songs.

Contents

Biography

Formation

While attending classes at the University of Washington, and performing with his band the Bun Family Players, John Roderick had the opportunity to network with fellow musicians in other Seattle-area bands, such as This Busy Monster and Harvey Danger. In October 1997 at the final Bun Family Players show, John met Algae front-woman and guitarist Stephanie Wicker.

The two began recording songs written on acoustic guitar, striving for "singer/songwritery boy-girl harmonies." [1] After experimenting with programmed drums and bass, they eventually decided to bring in additional musicians to play along. Bo Gilliland became the bass player and Michael Shilling joined on drums. [1]

The group played their first show on May 4, 1998, in Seattle to a sold-out crowd at the Breakroom, opening for Sycophant. Roderick would later recount, "We were all shitting our pants. But we played the show and it was just awesome." [1] The band recorded a demo with notable producer Phil Ek and sold hundreds of copies at concerts.

Failed Sub Pop deal and breakup

At the Hurricanes' third show, Jonathan Poneman from Sub Pop approached Roderick to talk about signing the band. Weeks of negotiations followed, and the deal fell through. "At one point, when we were getting into a heated discussion about how much he was going to give us to record, I put my feet up on his desk and my hands behind my head," Roderick later said. "I was like, 'Let's talk turkey.' And he was apparently really offended by this." [1] At this point, Poneman apparently became uninterested in putting out any music by the band.

An ill-fated attempt was made at creating a full-length album. Roderick later spoke of the failed sessions: "We didn't go to a studio. We had this whole indie cred idea that we were going to do a basement recording on somebody's Tascam. But the dude was a mess. He was a bad engineer and a bad guy." [1]


The band played the SXSW festival in March 1999 with burgeoning fellow northwest-based indie pop-rockers Death Cab for Cutie. The group played only a handful of further shows; their final concert took place on April 17, 1999, at the Showbox in Seattle.

Following the dissolution of the band, Roderick traveled alone through Europe for several months. Upon returning to the United States, he became the touring keyboardist for Harvey Danger during their King James Version tour. Shortly afterwards, Roderick formed the Long Winters with Sean Nelson and producer Chris Walla.

Revival

In 2019, Roderick brought the original tapes for their 1998 self-titled demo tape along with 1/4" 16-track tapes from their abandoned full-length album to Studio Litho in Seattle and began to resuscitate the original recordings. As of June 2019, Roderick and producer/engineer Floyd Reitsma had remixed and mastered 10 of these tracks, many of which had in the interim been recorded in a different style as songs by Roderick's The Long Winters. [2]

Western State Hurricanes Debut LP

The Western State Hurricanes debut LP was launched as an Indiegogo campaign on Latent Print Records, September 2019, consisting of the following tracks:

  1. Unsalted Butter
  2. Samaritan
  3. Carparts
  4. Copernicus
  5. Medicine Cabinet Pirate
  6. Through With Love
  7. Delicate Hands
  8. Mimi
  9. Nora
  10. Samaritan Reprise

The album was released digitally and on colored vinyl in February 2020. The band appeared in concert on local Seattle radio station KEXP on February 6, 2020. [3] To mark the release of the album, the band also played two shows at the Tractor Tavern on February 7 & 8, 2020.

Discography

Related Research Articles

The Afghan Whigs American rock band

The Afghan Whigs are an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Originally active from 1986 to 2001, they have since reformed. The group – with core members Greg Dulli, Rick McCollum, and John Curley (bass) – rose up around the grunge movement, evolving from a garage band in the vein of the Replacements to incorporate more R&B and soul influences into their sound and image. After releasing their first album independently in 1988, the band signed to the Seattle-based label Sub Pop. They released their major-label debut and fourth album, Gentlemen, in 1993. Pitchfork described them as "one of the few alt-bands to flourish on a major label" in the 1990s.

The Beatles' bootleg recordings are recordings of performances by the Beatles that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings, but also includes video performances. Starting with vinyl releases in the 1970s, through CD issues in the late 1980s, and continuing with digital downloads starting in the mid 1990s, the Beatles have been, and continue to be, among the most bootlegged artists.

The Shins American indie rock band

The Shins are an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1996. Its current lineup is James Mercer, Jon Sortland (drums), Mark Watrous, Casey Foubert (guitar), Yuuki Matthews, and Patti King (keyboards). They are based in Portland, Oregon.

The Microphones American indie rock band

The Microphones are an American indie folk, indie rock, and experimental band from Olympia, Washington. The project was founded in 1996 and ended in 2003, with a short reunion following in 2007 and revivals in 2019 and 2020. Across every iteration of The Microphones, it has been fronted by Phil Elverum. Elverum is the principal songwriter and producer behind the band's albums, but he has also collaborated with other local musicians on his other recordings and tours. Many of Elverum's recordings from the project's initial period were released by the label K Records.

Harvey Danger Alternative rock band

Harvey Danger was an American alternative rock band that was formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1993 by journalism students at the University of Washington. The band rose to prominence in 1997 with the single "Flagpole Sitta", which was later used as the theme tune to the British sitcom Peep Show. On August 29, 2009, the band played its final show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle.

Menomena American indie rock band

Menomena is an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, made up of Justin Harris and Danny Seim. Both members of the band share singing duties and frequently swap instruments while recording. In concert, Seim plays drums while Harris swaps between a number of instruments.

Sean Nelson Musical artist

Sean Nelson is an American musician, journalist, music critic, and filmmaker. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock group Harvey Danger and is the arts editor for The Stranger newspaper in Seattle, Washington.

Chris Walla Musical artist

Christopher Ryan Walla is an American musician, record producer, and film music composer, best known for being a former guitarist and songwriter for the band Death Cab for Cutie.

The Long Winters are an American indie rock band based in Seattle, Washington.

John Roderick (musician) American musician and writer

John Morgan Roderick is an American musician, singer, songwriter, podcaster, and politician. He is the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band The Long Winters, was a touring member of the rock band Harvey Danger, and co-hosts the podcasts Roderick On The Line, Road Work, and Omnibus.

Band of Horses American rock band

Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington by Ben Bridwell. The band has released five studio albums, including 2010's Grammy-nominated Infinite Arms. The band's lineup, which included Mat Brooke for the debut album, has undergone several changes. The most-recent lineup of Bridwell, Ryan Monroe, Tyler Ramsey, Bill Reynolds, and Creighton Barrett, was together several years and recorded three albums. That lineup ceased when Ramsey and Reynolds departed in 2017.

<i>Luna Sea</i> (Luna Sea album)

Luna Sea is the debut studio album by Japanese rock band Luna Sea, released on April 21, 1991 by Extasy Records. It sold over 30,000 copies by July 1992. After reuniting in 2010, Luna Sea re-recorded the whole album and released it on March 16, 2011 through HPQ.

The Lonely Forest is an American indie rock band from Anacortes, Washington with two EPs and four studio albums. In 2011 lead singer, John Van Deusen, was selected for Seattle Weekly’s best male vocalist award and the band appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The group went on indefinite hiatus in 2014.

Math and Physics Club are an American indie pop band based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Its members are Charles Bert and Ethan Jones. James Werle played lead guitar until he died in 2018. Kevin Emerson (drums) continues to play on recordings though no longer a full time member of the band. The band has released three EPs and four full-length albums on Santa Barbara-based Matinee Recordings, with UK distribution on Fika Recordings. They are often associated with Australian labelmates The Lucksmiths and twee pop band Tullycraft, and Pitchfork Media described their work as "music to hold hands to" after The Lucksmiths' song on the album "Why That Doesn't Surprise Me".

<i>Weekends Away</i> 2005 EP by Math and Physics Club

Weekends Away is the first EP from Seattle, Washington indie pop band Math and Physics Club and was released in February 2005.

Grand Hallway

Grand Hallway is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Tomo Nakayama. Their sound is described variously as chamber pop, indie folk, and art rock.

Alien Crime Syndicate, often abbreviated to ACS, were a rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1997. From 1999 to the band's breakup in 2005, the lineup consisted primarily of Joe Reineke, Jeff Rouse, Nabil Ayers (drums), while guitarists Jason Krevey, Mike Squires and Mike Davis were also members of the band.

Mike Squires (musician) American musician (born 1971)

Mike Squires is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist in the hard rock group Loaded, the group led by Velvet Revolver and Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan.

Bob Dylan bootleg recordings are unreleased performances by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, that have been circulated throughout the public without undergoing an official, sanctioned release. It is commonly misconceived that bootlegs are only restricted to audio, but bootleg video performances, such as Dylan's 1966 film Eat the Document, which remains officially unreleased, are considered to be bootlegs. Dylan is generally considered to be the most bootlegged artist in rock history, rivaled only by the Grateful Dead.

Roddy Hart Scottish musician

Roderick John Hart is an Emmy Award-winning Scottish singer–songwriter, film composer, and broadcaster from Glasgow. As a solo artist, he has released three records – Bookmarks, Sign Language and Road of Bones – and one EP The Dylan EP. Hart now releases albums with his band The Lonesome Fire, the first of which was Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire produced by Patti Smith and Morrissey producer Danton Supple. Released in late 2013 the album was nominated for the Scottish Album of the Year Award in April 2014. Their second album - Swithering - was co-produced by Paul Savage and released in late 2016. The band made their American network TV debut on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 17 February 2014 and proved so popular they were invited back the following week to perform a week long residency on the show.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 The Stranger Interview with John Roderick 2-21-2002
  2. ↑ "Roderick on the Line #342".
  3. ↑ "Western State Hurricanes - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.