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Vu's Echobelly CD Collection
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Echobelly was one of those bands that got away. I only saw them semi-live, and I'll explain that after their introduction.
As you know, I'm a big Echobelly fan. Like many bands of this era, I discover by reading Melody Maker and Select Magazine. I remember reading how, early in their career, that Morrissey came around to their apartment to meet them because he heard singer Sonya Madan and guitarist Glenn Johansson were massive fans. It's also kind of evident that Morrissey liked the band's songs as well (otherwise he probably wouldn't have bothered to meet them).
Early Echobelly songs were usually great pop songs, with a bent on women's rights. "Give Her a Gun" and "Father Ruler King Computer" all had elements of empowering women to break free from their oppression.
By the time their debut album Everybody's Got One (EGO) came out in 1994, they seemed to be on top of the world. They even signed on Debbie Smith from Curve, as an extra guitarist on their tour.
The nearest city (from Fresno) that Echobelly was playing was at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Also on the bill was Jale and Velocity Girl. I was a fan of all three bands, so I was really determined to make it to this gig - the only problem was that I was underage at that time, and the show was 21 and over.
Mel and I took the long drive to SF to hopefully sneak me in. We manage to catch Echobelly and Jale on their soundchecks. I met Sonya & Glenn and got them to sign their first EP, Bellyache, which I had to pay import prices for. The bonus was that I even got to saying hi to Jale and later met up with Debbie at the bar. She commented on my Morrissey T-shirt (which was handmade by a pen pal).
I'll get to the sad news, the bar would not admit me in for the actual show. So, Mel gave me her car keys and told me to meet back in a few hours. I sort of got a little lost (hey, this is before GPS, you know) and almost got into a car accident. I ended up sitting around at a donut place for a few hours and met back at the bar.
Mel tells me on the drive home that there were marriage proposals for Sonya from some men in the audience. There was a lot of audience interactions and it sounded like a good show. Even though I never actually saw Echobelly for a real show, I was happy to have attempted to see them.
On the same EGO tour, Echobelly stopped at MuchMusic in Toronto for some promotional live in studio earlier in the month. The photograph below was taken by my pen pal Linh, to show you what I had imagined only in my head of how they looked when they played at that stupid 21+ dive bar in San Francisco.
UPDATE: Glenn & Sonya are now called Calm of Zero. They did an acoustic Echobelly tour last year (2013) and have written a ton of new songs.
As you know, I'm a big Echobelly fan. Like many bands of this era, I discover by reading Melody Maker and Select Magazine. I remember reading how, early in their career, that Morrissey came around to their apartment to meet them because he heard singer Sonya Madan and guitarist Glenn Johansson were massive fans. It's also kind of evident that Morrissey liked the band's songs as well (otherwise he probably wouldn't have bothered to meet them).
Early Echobelly songs were usually great pop songs, with a bent on women's rights. "Give Her a Gun" and "Father Ruler King Computer" all had elements of empowering women to break free from their oppression.
By the time their debut album Everybody's Got One (EGO) came out in 1994, they seemed to be on top of the world. They even signed on Debbie Smith from Curve, as an extra guitarist on their tour.
The nearest city (from Fresno) that Echobelly was playing was at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Also on the bill was Jale and Velocity Girl. I was a fan of all three bands, so I was really determined to make it to this gig - the only problem was that I was underage at that time, and the show was 21 and over.
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Bellyache (Autographed)
Pandemonium Records
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I'll get to the sad news, the bar would not admit me in for the actual show. So, Mel gave me her car keys and told me to meet back in a few hours. I sort of got a little lost (hey, this is before GPS, you know) and almost got into a car accident. I ended up sitting around at a donut place for a few hours and met back at the bar.
Mel tells me on the drive home that there were marriage proposals for Sonya from some men in the audience. There was a lot of audience interactions and it sounded like a good show. Even though I never actually saw Echobelly for a real show, I was happy to have attempted to see them.
On the same EGO tour, Echobelly stopped at MuchMusic in Toronto for some promotional live in studio earlier in the month. The photograph below was taken by my pen pal Linh, to show you what I had imagined only in my head of how they looked when they played at that stupid 21+ dive bar in San Francisco.
UPDATE: Glenn & Sonya are now called Calm of Zero. They did an acoustic Echobelly tour last year (2013) and have written a ton of new songs.
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Echobelly at MuchMusic, Toronto (11/24/1994) photo by Linh |
Not going to this show is one of the great regrets of my life.
I was in grad school at the time, and I had to proctor a German exam early the next morning and help grade the exams all that afternoon. Since I wouldn't get home until the wee hours and probably wouldn't get any sleep at all, I reluctantly opted not to go to the show. 24 years later, I'm still kicking myself.
I got to see Jale (with a new drummer) on their next tour, and I had already seen Velocity Girl, but I never got to see Echobelly.
Posted by: Arden | 07/07/2018 at 09:34 PM