Tomorrow starts the first of 3 Slint reunion shows here in Chicago. I am super excited about them since I never got a chance to see the band play when they were together and thought I’d never get the chance in my lifetime to see them since they broke up in like 1991.
My first exposure to Slint was shortly after their now-classic Spiderland album came out. My friend, Dark Dave, made me a tape of both Slint albums. I instantly fell in love with the band and went out and purchased the Spiderland album. I was unable to purchase Tweez because at the time it was out of print. I was able to find a copy that a friend of mine at the time had and she traded it to me for some rare Skinny Puppy promo item. Eventually Touch and Go reissued it.
I played the hell out of those records, especially Spiderland which incidentally I bought on one of my many visits to the Poison Town. That album is one of those ones I’d pick if I was stranded on a desert island and could only have a few things to listen to. I play it for just about everyone I have ever come in contact with if they’ve never heard the band before and I’ve made quite a few fans out of people over the years.
Slint were pioneers at the time and pretty much invented a style of indie rock now commonly referred to as “math-rock”. At the time Spiderland was released, no one sounded like that at all. Years later they have been often imitated but never duplicated. Luckily for some reason, the band decided to do a small reunion tour, and while the tickets weren’t cheap, I’m sure it is going to be worth the money. The first two shows are at the Metro, which I’m not really a big fan of these days but it’ll be worth the trouble to see them. The last one is at Park West, a place I’ve never been to before in all my years of going to shows.
I will be attending the shows with Dark Dave, who was the one who initially introduced me to the band and is a long time friend and former contributor to Spontaneous Combustion. Hopefully I’ll get a good spot where I can take a few pictures and if I do, I’ll post them up here.
I saw them here a couple weeks ago. They were really good, don’t expect a lot of stage presence but the sound is amazing. Are you seeing the Metro shows or did you get tickets to the Park West one? That would be cool because the sound at Metro can really blow sometimes.
I’m going to both metro shows AND the park west one. As much as I dislike the metro dating back to when they “remodeled”, the sound is the one constant thing I thought was good there. The place was still a lot better before they ruined it by putting that stupid star trek looking bar upstairs that ate up more than half the balcony, where I used to like to sit.
Have fun (if you haven’t already gone). Caught them in DC on Tuesday. I fully agree with GDD. Great music. Not much to watch. Very glad I went though.