the wunder years

time to write about another old band i used to dig, and it turns out i still do.

personal experience of this band:
so this band was opening for the lawrence arms at the arms' first fort collins show, at the starlight lounge. this was back when the starlight was THE place to see a punk rock show in fort collins. before the back alley lounge, before the allegations of misconduct on the part of the owner. it was the second home of all and all the o&o bands of the time. to this day, even though the starlight is closed and i live in denver, i've been to more shows at the starlight than any other venue. probably more than all the other venues combined.

anyway, the wunder years were playing there, so i went to rocks off (back when fort collins had a respectable record store, it was called rocks off) and looked to see what i could find. there was an ep for real cheap, like 6 bucks or something. a split with a band called sorry about the fire. at the time i thought "sorry about the fire" was the name of the album. still, it was worth it for these 5 wunder years songs. especially the first one:

the wunder years - you know who you are

you can get this ep at the official springman records website. it's cheap. do it.

anyway, i went and saw them. the frontman was named brian moss. between the wunder years' set and that of the lawrence arms' i went and spoke with brian moss. see, instead of selling generic band t-shirts, they had thrift store shirts with a wunder years logo ironed on. quite clever. he dug through the pile with me to find the perfect shirt. i ended up with a sweatshirt in fact.

after that show, i picked up their full length cd, one of my favorites ever, pitstops on the road less traveled. i friggin love every song on this album. but my favorite is maybe this one, which closes the album:

the wunder years - the electric shoes

i don't think you can find this album anywhere anymore. i think the label is out of business. sucks to be you.

and then they recorded one final release, an ep that is also out of print, called fashion over function. a couple days after the release date, they played at the back alley, which i think is one of my favorite venues ever (but it did get closed down). but it was a 21+ club and at the time, i was not yet 21. i was like 18. so i actually emailed brian moss asking if it was really 21+ and stuff. i never got word back. but i went to the show early, i think i got in with an x on my hand. i was all by myself at the show. anyway, i sat at a table, and was just sitting there by myself waiting for some rock & roll, and brian came up to me. now, he had only met me once, to help me look through the shirts. but he somehow put 2 & 2 together and figured i had written the email. and somehow remembered little old me. because he came up to me and asked if i had any problems getting in etc. seriously nice guy.

they played the show and it was awesome the end. they broke up a couple days later.

brian went on to form the ghost, and pitchfork even liked the album!

and then the ghost broke up. now he's performing solo under the name hanalei.

but the wunder years, that's the real deal (not that his other projects are fake), and will always hold a special place with me.

the sound of this band:
people call them "emo" but i really don't see it. i call them heartfelt rock and roll music. not whiny, just hearty.


holy crap, i am just about done with the w's in my music listening project! only a few random x's and some xiu xiu, some random y's and some yo la tengo, youngblood brass band, you am i, random z's, and zzzz and i'm DONE!