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Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:59 pm
by deer_lick
I grew up in LaCrosse, WI and got to see them quite a bit from the gitgo. A friend of mine came back from Madison & told me about a band called Loud Fast Rules that he had seen. Soon after that, I was working for a cleaning company and another friend had a cassette of "Say What You Will" that he would play on the boombox while we worked. "Sick Of That Song," "Draggin' Me Down" & "Stranger" hooked me in. I bought the next couple of albums and after booking & opening for The Replacements (see page 266 of "All Over but the Shouting"), my band got to open for Soul Asylum on the "While You Were Out" tour. It was our singer's sister's birthday and we had a keg at his house. After sound check we all went over there & drank. I remember Pirner singing "Happy Birthday" to her while we all raised glasses. Somewhere there's a bootleg of that show that is notable mainly because there was an issue with the PA, so they went into a 15 minute improv jam that I remember being really funky & cool.
Our band had become friends with Rick Fuller (Venison/Grunge Machine) and Phil Harder (Big Trouble House) and I was blown away when they shot early videos for Soul Asylum that made it onto MTV. I remember at one point, they were supposed to be shooting a documentary of the band that never panned out. I'm sure that's why there is a lot of Soul Asylum footage in the First Ave documentary. I really wish that would come out in theaters or on DVD.
Later, I moved to Milwaukee and worked at Atomic Records when they did an in-store for "Hang Time." My autographed record is one of my treasures (along with Johnny Thunders & Nikki Sudden autographed albums). I the time I was in Milwaukee, they played there A LOT. Easily my favorite live band for a long time. I got to see Dan & Dave in Madison while they were working out songs for "...and The Horse They Rode In On," playing acoustic shows. I remember one weekend in Milwaukee they played a show Saturday night & and all-ages show Sunday afternoon. We went to both shows & then saw Sonic Youth on Sunday night - ah youth.
I moved to Austin (TX, not MN - home of Spam) and saw them last year with Tommy on bass at this weird beach party place. The crowd was all standing around in the sand and having a great time - Lots of beer was flowing. A friend of mine from Milwaukee was/is the tour manager & played on a song or two. We got to hang out a little afterwards & talk with the band.

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:48 am
by Don Gerard
I was in a band called the Bowery Boys with LeRoy Bach (Wilco, Liz Phair, et al) in the mid-to-late 80's and we opened for SA in DeKalb at NIU. Previous to that a friend of mine who worked in the record store across the street from the record store in which I worked in Champaign, Illinois gave me a promo copy of "Made..." when it came out.

At the NIU show they were louder than God...amazing.

We opened for them again a time or two (as well as the last two Huskers' shows, the 'Mats, Run Westy Run, Jayhawks, Babes In Toyland, Rifle Sport, et al). We'd see them at the Uptown eating or drinking or playing with the Jayhawks guys and I remember going to a party at Karl's girlfriend's house, I think, with Lori Barbero.

My daughter now loves them & we took her to see them in Grant Park (Chicago) last Summer. She even dressed up like Dave for Halloween in 2006 (she was nine) http://dongerard.blogspot.com/2006/11/halloween.html

I am hoping to catch them this Summer.

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:24 pm
by deer_lick
Don Gerard wrote:I was in a band called the Bowery Boys
I used to bartend at The Toad in Milwaukee & saw The Bowery Boys a handful of times. I'm pretty sure I have a cassette in a box somewhere too. Didn't Jay Bennett or Adam Schmitt have something to do with the recordings?

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:14 pm
by Don Gerard
deer_lick wrote:
Don Gerard wrote:I was in a band called the Bowery Boys
I used to bartend at The Toad in Milwaukee & saw The Bowery Boys a handful of times. I'm pretty sure I have a cassette in a box somewhere too. Didn't Jay Bennett or Adam Schmitt have something to do with the recordings?
Ha! We used to hang with Die Kreuzen in Milwaukee...Yes, Adam recorded "George Jones vs. Godzilla" and Jay assisted.

In fact, right before Eric J (later of Honkytoast) joined the BBoys (Ken left to form Titanic Love Affair) Jay sat in for one show - opening for Soul Asylum at Mabel's in Champaign!

Plate of shrimp, as Miller from Repo Man would say...

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 1:12 am
by RadioGuy
My friends and I went to see this new band called living color at the old 930 club in Washington DC. Living Color was opening for some band called Soul Asylum during the Hang Time tour.


I was on crutches w/ a broken leg. Had no idea what was in store.
We decided to stick around and see what these guys were all about.
This was also my first club show. I had never heard any studio recordings of Soul Asylum at this point. So our first introduction to the band was up front in a small club.

A "pit" of sorts broke out. My leg was in a cast, the club was going insane, the band was rocking on a whole other level that I cant even explain. I had never seen or heard anything like it.

Becuz the "dancin'" was so intense, I was trapped against the stage
with no exit plan. Karl & a roadie who later came out and sang "one tin soilder rides away" helped me on to the stage to escape the audience.

I sat on stage against the wall near Karls gear. All thru-out the show, Karl would wander over to me and act as if he were about to stomp on my cast in good fun..He would later hand me my first beer. ( an ice cold rolling rock )
I was under-age at the time, and will treasure that night the rest of my life.

They are one of the few bands that continue to get better with each release. I never understood why A&M didn't push HORSE produced by Steve Jordan.. It is one of the greatest rock albums ever made IMHO.

Thanks for always delivering the goods.

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 9:17 am
by lucy
Hey, Radio Guy-

I saw Soul Asylum on the same tour with Living Color at UW Milwaukee and I remember telling Corey Glover when they finished and he was helping clean up their gear that normally I get impatient with the opening bands at SA shows because I want to just see SA, but that they were pretty good. He seemed appreciative of my tolerance at the time.

My friend Jim jumped off the stage at this show and broke his collar bone, so we spent the night after the show taking him to the hospital.

So it seems that there are lots of memories of injuries, but what a great show it was! Dave was wearing his Ferret t-shirt. But I only remember that because I took photos.

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:36 am
by BlackGold_91
i first got into them cuz i was on youtube watching this top songs of the 90s list at random and it showed Black Gold and i thought wow they sound pretty amazing so i went to look for some of their other stuff and honestly i think they are pretty radtastic. :D

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:26 pm
by stuck_in_the_90s
I realize that this is a bit late, but i just joined and i just started listening to Soul Asylum this June, the day after my year in the eighth grade ended(I'm guessing that I'm one of the youngest people on this site.)
I got into Soul Asylum because I love 90s music and because of vh1. vh1 had the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s aired in December and i was hooked to watching it to find out more great artists that I might never have heard of(at the time I had, and I still have, a limited taste in music. I only listened to Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Madonna, and Smash Mouth, most of which I can no longer stand to listen to.). It aired right before Christmas and luckily I got an iTunes giftcard which allowed me to buy Bare Naked Ladies, Jamirquoi, and some other stuff. Two months later I was bored so I started looking up some of the other songs that were on the countdown, but the only one I remembered was the one about the two old people who drove off the cliff, which the name of both the song and the band escaped me. I became obsessed in finding the band and I eventually found out that the song was The Way by Fastball(I know this story has nothing to do with Soul Asylum yet, but I promised that this info is relevant.). I listened and watched the video for a full hour and half memorizing the lyrics. I bought every song they had on iTunes and found out everything about them. I even developed a little crush on lead singer and bass player Tony Scalzo.
This June, because I got straight A's through the whole year and got 100's on my algebra and French regents, my parents got me a new iPod that could hold more songs, so I looked up more music. The first place I looked was the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, 50 that almost made it. I looked through most of the songs, but some of them I had already heard. The only song on that I listened to all the way through was Runaway Train by Soul Asylum. The whole time I was listening to it I was thinking 'How did this song not make the cut? Are people that crazy as to not put it on the list?' Of course I bought that song, but I didn't have very much money that I could use buy an entire album. That same week I went to the military base on Bear Mountain and bought myself a $50 giftcard just so I could buy the rest of the cd. Originally, I only planned to buy GDU, Misery from LYDLS, and TSL, but I eventually bought the rest of LYDLS. Unfortunately, I have yet to get any other of their cds, but I'm sweating it out until Christmas when I hope I get another giftcard, or better yet one of their actual cds.
Sorry about that, I tend to go into to much detail. I'm probably one of the only teenagers that you'll ever be able to find that actually likes to write essays.
http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greate ... copy.jhtml
In case any of you were wondering, that is the list that is lacking of Soul Asylum. Most of them also have a music video somewhere on the site.

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:44 pm
by mystic_spiral_3
Wow, I think it's really cool to have a new young fan of the band. Welcome!

I like 90s music too...that's when I discovered many of my favorite bands. I also watched the VH1 countdown you mentioned, and was disappointed that SA was not mentioned.

Enough of us have written lengthy posts here on occasion, so don't worry about that. :)

Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:14 am
by philipgar
stuck,
I'd recommend checking out some used CD stores. You will likely be able to find a couple Soul Asylum albums there for cheap. I know GDU and LYDLS are regularly $7 or $8 at them (if not less), and sometimes you can luck out and find their older stuff for even less.

Phil