Remember last week? I talked so much about Coachella! It was mostly bad, of course, but it seems like a lot of people responded positively to my series of posts reviewing the bands scheduled to play this year’s festival. Lest you think I was the only news-source on this ‘ere Internet dedicating space to Coachella last week, WIRED ran this article. The author points to Company Flow, fIREHOSE, At The Drive-In and Dre/Snoop as big draws because they’re exciting reunions. Then he points out ten bands that should reform to play the festival. The list includes Pink Floyd (last played live in ’06 before the passing of Richard Wright), Sleater-Kinney (really?), Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground (uh…Sterling Morrison is dead, Cale and Reed have collaborated), The Smiths (that’s soooo 2009), Fugazi (at Coachella!? HA!), and Pavement (didn’t they JUST do that? and didn’t it suck?).
Yeah, here’s a much better list for you. Ten reunions that would be so exciting I might just have to buy a ticket to Coachella just to see them.
I’d put Chavez on this list but they still sometimes play around New York so I can’t really call it a “reunion.” I just wish they’d play outside NYC! I’d also put Codeine on the list but their reunion is already in the works, so I don’t feel the need to waste a spot on them.
10 Band Reunions I’d Go To Coachella To See
Honorable Mention: Labradford – Inactive since 2001. I’d kill to see the trio of Carter Brown, Robert Donne and Mark Nelson reunited, but I don’t think a huge festival would be the right setting. At least Mark Nelson keeps putting out records as Pan American. It makes the wound sting a little less.
10. Yume Bitsu – Inactive since 2002. I’ve been lucky enough to see White Rainbow, but I didn’t really join Team Yume until about 2001, and at that point I don’t know how much touring they were doing, and if they were I doubt they came to Vermont while I was in school there. This would seem to be a decent festival band just because they included a lot of electronic/synth parts, and anything psychedelic works well in the middle of the desert when you’re out of your head on various substances.
09. Khanate – Inactive since 2006. I still regret not seeing these guys at Tonic when I lived back east. I had the chance, and I blew it. It was 2004, between Things Viral and Capture & Release. Just imagine that insane Plotkin/O’Malley combination of low-end…the intensity of those two-beats-per-minute tempos…Alan Dubin’s unhinged vocals…it’d be so much better than a Sunn O))) show.
08. Tar – Inactive since 1995. If fIREHOSE can do it, Tar can do it!
07. Bedhead – Inactive since 1998. For optimal effect they should bring Marty from the Dixie Chicks out with them to play violin. So much space on this website has already been dedicated to Bedhead (interview part 1, interview part 2), there isn’t much more for me to write. Again, I’m not sure this is the right setting, but if they announced a reunion and were to play Coachella, I’d go.
06. Abilene – Inactive since 2002. I think. I’m sure Hoover would reform long before Abilene…but a man can dream, right? You know the story, right? Alex Dunham (Hoover, Regulator Watts), Craig Ackerman (Gainer, Lustre King), Scott Adamson and Fred Erskine (June of 44, Crownhate Ruin, Hoover, etc. etc.). I’ve written extensively about the band’s second — and final — album, Two Guns, Twin Arrows. I’ve called for band members to please contact me so I can talk to them about their sadly unheralded band. Nothing. Nothing. Fucking Abilene! So amazing!
05. Cows – Inactive since 1998. I always thought if Killdozer got back together and toured it’d be a disappointment, but the show they played in LA a few years ago blew my mind. I imagine it’d be the same if Shannon, Kevin, Thor and someone on drums (Norm would be optimal, but I’d settle for Freddy) reunited. And since their sound is all punk rock and blues, it’d work even at four in the afternoon on a sweltering desert day. Hell, Shannon might even be more comfortable wearing a diaper in such a setting!
04. Unwound – Inactive since 2002. COME ON, UNWOUND! I’d go pretty much anywhere to see Unwound perform, and Coachella is no exception. Hell, if it the lineup featured 50 DJs and Unwound, and I had to pay full price for a ticket I’d definitely consider it. I meant to interview Vern about the band a couple years ago but he was going through some personal issues and we were indefinitely delayed. I think I still have his phone number laying around somewhere, but at this point it’d be creepy if I called him out of the blue. My point is, that’s how much I love Unwound. I might be willing to be labeled a creep for them. I don’t know why, but writing this story just reminded me that another really cool reunion would be Medicine. Ooh! Or Helium! Unwound would be way cooler than both of those.
03. Talk Talk – Inactive since 1992. Well, obviously I’d only be jazzed to hear the later-period songs (from The Colour Of Spring, Laughing Stock and Spirit Of Eden), but if they promised to play songs from their entire catalog I’d still go. Even if I had to endure “It’s My Life” or “The Party’s Over.” Imagine a Saturday night headlining slot where they perform all of Laughing Stock? It’d have to be one of the greatest moments in the history of live music, right? Better than Hendrix at Woodstock? The real question is, would I settle for an .O.rang show? Tough question.
02. June Of 44 – Inactive since 1999. Sorry, I didn’t get into them until I got to college in 2001. A friend once describe my favorite genre of music, which he dubbed “Evan Rock” as, “bands that sound like June of 44 or one of their related projects). At that time in my life he wasn’t far off.
01. Spacemen 3 – Inactive since 1991. Duh. Who wouldn’t pay big bucks to see Jason and Pete patch things up, find Natty and Bain and send us all into a deep trance for an hour. Reunions have been fodder for music blogs and Coachella lineup releases for almost ten years now. In 2008 an offer was extended to play at the festival but Jason said, “Why would I do that? I mean, I would have liked to go and watch the Battle of Waterloo when it happened but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go and sit in a field somewhere and watch people act it out.” Fair enough. I’m just sayin’…it’d be fun for me. And probably a few thousand other fans. [Listen to “Take Me To The Other Side” Live]
