Foreward…
We here at B3nson have a tendency to focus on what is currently happening in the capital region music scene and sometimes we even focus on what is going to be happening in the capital region music scene. This is for good reason: there’s a lot of awesome stuff going on out there and there’s always a lot of awesome stuff just over the horizon. But, sometimes, it’s good to take a step back from all of that and take a look at some things that have already happened. Maybe they happened before you were here, maybe they happened and you missed them. Maybe you were there and need a little trip down Memory Lane. That’s what this column is all about. We’ve had some great talents here in Albany, and sometimes they get overlooked or sometimes they go on to do other things. But with so many good stories to tell and so many great songs floating around it seems like a shame not to share them with people.

Many Albanians define this image as 'The Good Old Days'

The internet is a funny thing. It’s weird to think about a time – and there was one – before every single thing that happened in the real world was documented, forever in cyberspace, via photos, pixelated video’s, or detailed blog rehashings. This is increasingly noticeable for me when trying to write about the history of underground music in the capital region. I remember the websites, the mp3.com accounts, and the old listings on crumbs.net. But as time passes and bands break-up, after a short-lived string of shows and a couple of demo’s, all is forgotten to future generations; forever drifting in fragments until tripod.com deletes their website and all that is left is the memory of when web rings were an effective means of promotion.

Blotto: the key to success in the 80s = Sex Appeal

Albany gets a lot of flack for not having generated many success stories. For a very long time our only claim to national fame was Blotto’s “I Wanna Be A Lifeguard”. Then, in the early 90′s, the Figgs began making waves with their back-to-basics garage rock, predating the ‘Real Rock Revival’ by almost a decade. And if you were tuned into the heavier underground, the names Burning Bridges and One King Down were probably pretty significant to you. We’ve also had some success-stories-that-should-have-been: the bright future of Count The Stars which was tragically cut short by a bus accident (no fatalities, but a change in priorities afterwards), and the maddening refusal of the indie-rock mainstream to accept the very hardworking and highly entertaining Mathematicians into their ranks. Not to mention stalwarts like After the Fall and End of a Year who keep chugging right along just below the radar. However, in recent years we’ve had many burgeoning success stories surrounding locals like Sean Rowe, Aficionado, and the indie dominance of Phantogram. But just because our region is often overshadowed by a much bigger city to the south, that doesn’t mean that our musicians aren’t first rate.

Some of you may know this place as 'The Fuze Box'

It’s common practice in indie circles to try to one-up each other in knowledge about the bands that have shaped underground music (and ever-increasingly pop music, as well), the bands that inspired those bands, all the side-projects that came as a result, every band they ever shared a stage with, and all the bands that their producers ended up working with. I may (or may not) be exaggerating a bit, but odds are if you are reading this now, then you probably know what I am talking about. I’m not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just a fact. People who are obsessed with music tend to talk about it a lot… I know this because I am one of them.

However, it always blows my mind how disinterested music enthusiasts tend to be regarding the music that is cultivated in their own backyard, or how even local music enthusiasts don’t seem that interested in what came before their current string of musicians. There are, indeed, local music connoisseurs and there are plenty of local music enthusiasts – but few local music historians. I’m not going to say that I qualify as a local music historian; however, it’s a subject that has interested me since I started getting involved in the capital region music scene. I find myself constantly making references and telling stories about these bands to people who, I realize a little too late, have no idea what I’m talking about. In the 13 or so years that I’ve been around I have seen some amazing bands come and go with little or no fanfare. I decided that I want to collect personal accounts, recordings, videos, and any other media that I could find about them to share their legacy, even if it wasn’t anything more monumental than a couple of poorly received shows and a few great songs recorded in the most amateur way imaginable.

Phantogram: the key to success in 2011 = ?uestlove

I originally wanted to make this a podcast series, to actually combine audio of people telling their stories along with the music itself, but that has proved to be a monumental undertaking, so I’m hoping that this series will help motivate and push that project forward. I’m not claiming that this is a definitive collection of local music, either. My knowledge has incredible limitations. Some of these bands I knew personally, but some of them I might have caught only once in a dreary Albany basement after one-too-many trips to the keg. Also, I encourage anyone to help me fill in the blanks, add information, media, or even their own personal accounts to any of these entries. I’m also trying to be respectful of the people that were involved, I understand that as you grow as a musician sometimes the earlier stuff can be a bit embarrassing and you may not want people to have access to some of this material, or you don’t like the idea of it being given away for free. So, that said, if anyone wishes that any content be removed, please get in touch with me and we’ll make it happen.

I’m hoping that these articles excite people to dig deeper into what we’ve got here in the capital region. I understand that this is the type of thing that you could say about a lot of places – rich history, great dive bars, great bands that never ‘made it’ – but we’ve really had some wonderful and under-appreciated talent. Maybe I tend to romanticize things a bit too much, but there’s a feeling that washes over me when I listen to these old recordings that I can’t explain. It takes me back to the sweaty basements, the countless shows at Valentine’s, and mixtapes long since worn-out. It’s probably a bit naïve of me to presume that other people will develop the same relationship with them that I have, but I’m hoping that even if you weren’t there when it happened, maybe you can get something out of it, too.

That being said, stay tuned for the first edition of 518 Mixtape here at b3nson.net.

All stories are subject to discrepancies that are inevitable when trying to remember exactly how things went down many years and hundreds of beers ago. If you have details pertaining to any of these articles, or would like to add supplementary media, music, personal accounts, or anything else, please email ferguson@b3nson.net. Also, if you were once in any of the bands mentioned and would like to include anything, edit anything, or omit anything, please let me know. If you are interested in contributing your own article about a favorite Capital Region band, please contact me. I would love to get more stories and insight!