How did you get into Soul Asylum?

[I Love Dim Light]

Dells, i didn't know what the song was about. It was pre-Internet era, and i was a Russian girl studing English in school. (a friend of mine whose class was studing German used to sigh with envy: ' Lucky you ! All songs are in English! )
I could understand only separate lines, say " Can you help me remember how to smile " ( i thought, ' Americans! They're so sentimental !').
I didn't know that " runaway train " means "train with broken brakes", so the song's name, translated literally into Ukrainian, sounded very strange to me.

I had a suspicion that the song wasn't about children. It was only the story about the video that made me dislike the band.
Partly it was because of the (American) film i saw that summer, where a father was looking for his daughter who was in a gang and run away to hide from children of another gang. The film had huge impact on me and this was why i thought about "children with problems" first of all.

As to your interpretation, there was a time when i thought the same. It was before i found lyrics on Internet ( frankly speaking, even after reading the lyrics i didn't realize that it's about drugs), but when i already knew what is "runaway train". And when i was right in such situation.

Back in '93 it was not only the most beautiful song, but there was (and is )
something magic about it. I've read in some article where Dave says something about promoting hope and faith, well, this is what Soul Asylum music makes you feel.

[LittleTooClean]

This is a long time in the making so I will try to tell my story...


I had a friend who gave me a copy of " Made To Be Broken" in 1986

I listened a few time's and I thought I got it.

It was only my mistake to half think this band that had much more then I originally thought.

I saw them live in Chicago MANY times.
Most of the time @ The Metro . !!!
Traveled to Minneapolis many time's as well including a New Years Eve show @ The Hyatt Regency in 1991 I will never forget.
My wife and I used to travel around the country when we could to see as many shows as possible.
These shows where/are things music history is written about.


We were even lucky enough to get tickets for the " Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame " opening concert to see the band play with Iggy Pop & Lou Reed.
That was a extra special concert !!
Not just because of Soul Asylum but the entire 7 1/2 hour show !!

Most of my greatest musical memories have been with Soul Asylum.
Stage diving, body surfing and the early wrestling that use to go on in the audience.
Nothing better then " Closer To The Stars " being played and the entire place is a sea of jumping HAPPY people.


I have seen 100's of other bands but for me it's about the friends and the ROCK.

For those not around during the Dave, Dan, Grant and Karl era I have to say it was the longest and the best line-up for me.

I have always had a big feeling of friendship and a team of " Let all kill everyone"

See a few live shows and you are hooked.

I lost track after 35 + shows and all I can Say is THANK YOU SOUL ASYLUM for so many things over the years.

Of course Dave & Dan for LOTS of great times and great songs over the decades.

Also to Karl Mueller for his shorts ...all the many great songs he wrote ... every evening... being the all around good guy and fan .

Many years latter it's still the same on certain levels.

It's still a GREAT time with GREAT songs for everyone to have a GREAT nite with a GREAT band.

Thank you Soul Asylum for the Many YEARs of Joy !

Mike W

[lucy]

I feel much the same as you Mike - many of my memories of the most fun I had during college are taking road trips to Soul Asylum shows in other parts of the state. Only 1 Chicago Metro show for me though and not until 1995! My first show was 1985 in Green Bay, WI when I was in high school and I went to see X and Soul Asylum played first. Unbeknownst to me, they would become my very favorite band and would be writing about them and still going to see them!! 24 years later!! I feel so lucky to have had this great band that I love that has stood the test of time over most of my life and still playing great shows and (keeping my fingers crossed) still putting out great new music. Hint hint hint... : )

I do certainly miss the Karl years too- Dave making fun of his outfits and especially when they'd play Made to be Broken. But I feel like Tommy has definitely filled in the gap as best as anyone possibly could. And I just love him. And Michael Bland is such an awesome drummer and a great character. So here's to 24 more years of Soul Asylum! What do you says guys??

[CULater]

I'm right there with you guys. There was a time back in the early 90's that my husband and I managed to see them about 11 times over the span of a year and a half between various shows played between Chicago and Minnesota. If there was back-to-back shows, we'd see them both...good times!

I think it's pretty amazing what they've been able to accomplish. They have such a large, loyal fanbase, they've been in the mainstream with so many recognizable songs, and yet they are now in a position to just do shows and be so approachable for their fans. They've really managed to find the perfect balance, in my opinion. I don't know how they did it, but I'm glad for it!

[Nina]

First, hello all SA fans. I've been lurking here for a couple of days and finally decided to register. I guess I can say I'm one of the younger fans. I'm 23 years and I'm from Norway

I think it was around 1 1/2 year ago when I was looking at different youtube videos because I was bored and suddenly I was watching this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKlxLJPY ... re=related. I thought what a great song and that guy singing is totally hot (something I thought was weird since I've never found scruffy looking guys with long hair hot). I kept watching that video for a while and listening to Runaway Train on Spotify, but never took the time to look at more videos and listen to more songs. Until recently when I looked at the video again and from there I've been listening to every song and watching every video I could find

Better late than never finding such a great band

Just a quick question at the end.. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on the Candy From A Stranger & Live at the Palais Royale CD? I see "I Should Have Stayed In Bed" is on that CD and I really want that song

[Homesick]

Welcome, Nina from Norway. We're glad to have you here. Hälsningar från Sverige!

I managed to find a single used copy of Candy + Palais Royale at Amazon.

[Nina]

Thank you! And thanks for posting the link. Now I just need to wait for it to get here

[dells]

First, hello all SA fans. I've been lurking here for a couple of days and finally decided to register. I guess I can say I'm one of the younger fans. I'm 23 years and I'm from Norway

I think it was around 1 1/2 year ago when I was looking at different youtube videos because I was bored and suddenly I was watching this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKlxLJPY ... re=related. I thought what a great song and that guy singing is totally hot (something I thought was weird since I've never found scruffy looking guys with long hair hot). I kept watching that video for a while and listening to Runaway Train on Spotify, but never took the time to look at more videos and listen to more songs. Until recently when I looked at the video again and from there I've been listening to every song and watching every video I could find

Better late than never finding such a great band

Just a quick question at the end.. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on the Candy From A Stranger & Live at the Palais Royale CD? I see "I Should Have Stayed In Bed" is on that CD and I really want that song

Welcome to the site, Nina, we're very pleased that you chose to join us, and yes, better late than never to discover a great band.

Re the Candy From A Stranger + Live at The Palais Royal bonus disk, that was an exclusive offered only in Canada back when CFAS was first released. I have no idea if that exclusive Canadian release was done for just the first shipments to Canada, or if all Canadian stores continued to get that exclusive with restocks, so it may or may not be possible to still get one direct from a Canadian store. We have a few Canadian fans on here who might be able to shed light on if it's still available within Canada or not. If it's no longer available in Canadian stores (back "in the day", I located a kind store manager who was willing to take my credit card payment via phone, and ship a copy to me in the United States) and you really want the physical CD of the Palais material, you can of course haunt ebay and Amazon until a used 1 turns up, or you can check with online retailers who list on the Global Electronic Music Marketplace (http://www.gemm.com), and hope a Canadian store is hoping to move an old copy from inventory. I would recommend carefully checking the reviews and ratings for the merchant there before buying, but I was successful in finding a couple of my prized Soul Asylum imports using that source, so I hope the http://www.GEMM.com can be useful to you at some point.

If finding 1 new proves to be impossible, and buying used is your only option, but too expensive, since no royalties would get to the guys on a used purchase, you can get back to me at a later time if you want mp3s of the Palais material. I don't want to hear from you re mp3s until you've explored options for buying a copy that will give a royalty cut to SA first, though

dells

edit:
I see you already found a used 1 thanks to Jacob's link, while I was writing this novel, lol, but if anyone else is interested, I did just find a new 1 avail via a merchant on GEMM:
http://www.gemm.com/item/SOUL--ASYLUM/C ... 104014306/

an FYI: I also saw a few of the Candy sampler disks available (the indy store exclusive sampler disc that includes Losin' It and Lucky One):
http://www.gemm.com/item/SOUL--ASYLUM/C ... 444285792/

[Nina]

Thanks dells for the nice welcome. And the help even though I was extremely fast buying the used copy. I get all paranoid about someone looking for the same thing as I am and buying it before me Still many CDs I need to get my hands on though. And mp3s are always my last, desperate choice to get CDs/songs I'm having a hard time finding

[EL DANGEROSO]

dont worry about buying used cds nina im sure alot of us have.sometimes its the only way to buy a cd hope you can buy all of there cds at some point. LET YOUR DIM LIGHT SHINE is amazing if you already dont own it and welcome to the site.