i was going to do an update on deerhunter, but they decided to go on "hiatus" (sounds like a break-up to me). so in honour of their departure from the world (as of yesterday), i have decided to do a very special update on great bands who are no longer with us. starting, of course, with the offending party themselves.
for those of you who are familiar with deerhunter, the break-up (excuse me, "hiatus") can come as no surprise, seeing as they're all crazy. evidence follows:
1. they kicked out their first drummer, dan walton
2. their first bassist, justin bosworth, was a heroine addict, got clean, then promptly died of a head injury while skateboarding
3. at a recording session in new york, deerhunter actually managed to accomplish nothing due to their lead singer, Bradford Cox's "mental and physical state at the time" and disagreements with their engineer
4. in august of 2007, they parted ways with guitarist Colin Mee because he didn't show up to some shows
5. they like to post things like porn and descriptions of poop on their blog
despite this (or perhaps because of it), deerhunter was a pretty great band and they will be sorely missed. not that they won't be back, of course. i mean, it's just a "hiatus" after all.
next on the list is the blood brothers, whose death i am still mourning. the blood brothers, at least, had a legitimate reason to part ways. the band formed when the members were still in high school and stayed in existance for 10 years. while i am devastated at their departure, i think if they had stayed together any longer it would have been the equivalent of marrying your highschool sweetheart, which is just wrong. that said, they are sorely missed as they were possibly the only hardcore band i could ever have liked and they lent the genre some much-needed talent.
now for something a little older, my favourite no longer existant band, neutral milk hotel. formed in the early 90's, these guys are pretty much the reason the independent music scene is what it is today. they made it all the way to 1998 and then went on an indefinite "hiatus" (see what i mean?). to make matters worse, jeff magnum himself pretty much disappeared after doing his last live show in new zealand in 2001. he now lives in a cave or something with osama bin laden and doesn't see fit to grace the world with his presence. it's really too bad the great ones are all crazy.
and now for something completely different, let's talk about ugly casanova. no, they haven't officially broken up (although i'm not sure they ever officially existed either), but as they'll probably never make another record, i feel safe talking about them in this update. for those of you who don't know, ugly casanova features edgar graham (aka isaac brock from modest mouse pulling an andy kaufman). isaac brock, it seems, made up an alter-ego for himself, formed a side-project, signed a record contract (with sub-pop), released an album and promptly got in deep shit with the record company with which he was already signed (epic). thus the likelyhood of another album from these guys, who are like modest mouse only sillier, is slim to nil. i think we can safely say RIP, ugly casanova, you were highly entertaining while you lasted.
the unicorns. they were born unicorns and they died unicorns. this adorable band lead a short life (2000 to 2004), but what more can you expect from a band that is little more than a novelty act? they missed the ark, i suppose, which is really too bad because they were funny and cute in a way that nobody is anymore. the good news (sort of) is that the members are still active (sort of) in other projects (sort of). at least they haven't pulled a jeff magnum and dropped off the face of the earth. still, we can all mourn the death of this endangered species.
and that's it, i suppose. for your listening pleasure i have compiled a playlist featuring songs by these five bands. and try not to be too sad, guys. it's not like the death of these great bands means you can't listen to their music anymore. i mean, if that were true, classic rock fans would be super SOL.
-jocelyn
