forgetters were supposed to record a 7″ in October, but for those of you who can’t wait for it to come out, I found this recording on the Twitter of forgetters at Lit Lounge on 9/19/09 might be able to tide you over. It’s 7 songs in a tight 23 minutes, and it sounds pretty good (better than the Thorns of Life Gilman St bootleg). Unfortunately, I don’t know the music well enough to provide a track listing, and and more unfortunately, this is all 1 MP3 track.
Although there’s some song overlap, I like forgetters better than Thorns of Life, so there.

forgetters, Lit Lounge, 9/19/09

(I’d like to give credit to they that recorded this. If it’s you, let me know.)

Forgetters at great scott When I interviewed Blake Schwarzenbach a couple weeks ago about his new band, forgetters (small f, no the), Schwarzenbach had mentioned that when Thorns of Life started last year, they weren’t interested in trading on anyone’s past to get a head start. That’s apparently still the case as forgetters took the stage at Great Scott on Sunday night for around 125 or so people, the last of 3 bands on a $6 bill. I imagine if they felt differently about playing up the past, the show could have been at a bigger venue, promoted differently, and more widely attended. At the very least, the ticket price at Great Scott could have been doubled. Still, 125 fans for a band’s 5th show is a strong showing, and I expect it will be a harder ticket it the next time they’re in town.

On stage, everyone looked to be having a good time, and Blake is back to eyes shut, neck strained screaming. I never saw Jawbreaker, but I didn’t see this the 2 times I saw Jets. The band seemed more polished than I’d expect for a 5th show, though there was a flub or two (’Fuck You, Dad’ stopped after a few beats, reintroduced as ‘I’m Sorry, Dad, and started again). Although I don’t think I’ve heard any of the songs, a lot of them sounded familiar. There was the syncopated drumming of Kevin Mahon that punctuated a lot of the early Against Me! catalog. Aside from the drums, the songs sound like a mix between pre-Dear You Jawbreaker punk with bits of Jets to Brazil pop sprinkled in, which, you know, is nice. I don’t know how to explain it, but the songs sounded like they wanted to be recorded, which bodes well for the 7″ recording in October. Most importantly, the songs are good enough to stand on their own. They’re good enough to allow forgetters to build a following of it’s own, without trading on anyone’s past. I could probably get away with saying that everyone at Great Scott on Sunday was there because of Jawbreaker, but if forgetters lasts for 5 years (or more) as Schwarzenbach expressed hope that they would in our interview, that won’t always be the case. I’m looking forward to seeing them again after hearing their record.

Photo by Flickr user n1njadrumJawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, Thorns of Life, and now forgetters. Blake Schwarzenbach, after not performing publicly for several years following the disbanding of Jets to Brazil, caused a stir when Thorns of Life debuted late last year. After only a handful of performances and a recording session rumored to be troubled, it was said Thorns of Life had reached the end, as well. This was confirmed a couple weeks ago when Schwarzenbach resurfaced playing in a new band, forgetters. They play Great Scott in Allston on October, 4, and I recently had the opportunity to speak with Schwarzenbach over the phone.

We discuss the plan for forgetters, English, the nonpossibility of a Jawbreaker reunion, books, healthcare, politics, and more. Instead of breaking the interview into sections it’s all in one post below. Enjoy!

Why don’t you start off by telling me a little bit about forgetters and what you guys are about and what you want to try to do.

We’re a 3 piece band from Brooklyn and we’re still kinda getting know to each other as a musical entity. But songs have been happening very quickly for this group so we don’t have any huge plans to continue gestating. And we want to play a lot.

So you guys are done with the birth period and you’re gonna get out there.

Yeah! I mean we’re still writing a lot of songs. I’ve got a little backlog and there’s also been some spontaneous creation, which I’m always looking for. So it’s hard for us right now because we’re getting a lot of show possibilities and at the same time, we’re trying to catch up with learning songs, in order to play them. So it’s a good problem, but it is, nonetheless, something we have to negotiate.

Are you guys going to put together a tour, or just keep to weekends?

We’re starting out with weekends and we’ll be recording a couple songs in October for a 7″. I think the plan is to be incremental and modest in our aspirations. We’re trying to live in real human time.

So a 7″ in October?

That’s the recording. It will take longer to come out, obviously.
Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Flickr user jpdefillippo138Word late this afternoon about Thorns of Life breaking up and Blake Schwarzenbach playing a show last night with a band called ‘forgetters’ (no the, and no capital f). It’s only fitting I post about this as I’ve tried to keep up on Thorns of Life since last November when they burst onto the internet with a couple unannounced living room shows in Brooklyn. There was an announced recording session with J. Robins which didn’t go so hot. And there were rumors of an album coming out called Legislators and Prophets, but that never happened. And there were rumors that Cometbus had left the band.

There are now rumors that the drummer in forgetters is ex-Against Me! drummer Kevin Mahon, who is not the ex-Against Me! drummer that everyone thinks of when they think of ex-Against Me! drummers.

No word yet on whether this blog will cover forgetters as breathlessly as we covered Thorns of Life.

According to Facebook, Blake Schwarzenbach from Thorns of Life, Jets to Brazil, and Jawbreaker will be writing at Huffington Post starting “Monday, July 25″. Seeing as how today is the 25th and Monday is the 27th, it’s not clear if this is a joke, but I’ll definitely be looking for totalaccord@huffingtonpost.com on Monday. I’ll post something on the article if it happens. Still no word on the album that was rumored to be releasing on June 30th.

Rumor Update 3 (3 months later) Since the album is supposed to be released in 10 days and there has been no announcement from the band or the label the album was supposed to be released on, I’m going to go out on a limb and say Legislators or Prophets is not going to come out on June 30th.

Rumor Update 2 (4 hours later) DeSoto has clarified their email. Of course they know who Thorns of Life are, but they’re still not releasing the album. This rumor is looking more and more unrealistic, but we’re getting closer to the bottom of it.

Rumor Update (an hour later)! I posted the below earlier this morning before hearing from DeSoto Records. They are not doing the album, saying it’s an internet lie, and that they haven’t heard of The Thorns of Life. I’m skeptical of that last point, though because of the Jawbox/DeSoto/J Robins connections. J Robins recorded with The Thorns of Life last month.

Hearing rumors that ‘Legislators and Prophets’, a new album by Blake Schwazenbach’s new band The Thorns of Life, will be released June 30th on Washington, DC’s DeSoto Records. Can’t find much more info than that except for the track listing below, and a mention on a French blog, and well, The Thorns of Life Wikipeida page (The Wiki has now been updated with ‘no release plans’). This news seems counter to news earlier in the year that the Thorns would self-release an album. This is a living document and I’ll keep updating it as I get more info.

From the World Inferno Friendship Society message board a track listing:
1. The Black Arts
2. Kryptonite
3. My First Time
4. Ribbon Head
5. Available
6. Anti-Song for Barthelme
7. Not a Track Bike
8. Mont Blanc
9. I Hate New York
10. Oh Deathly Death
11. Gemini
12. Vivid Green
13. Building Al Qaeda in Washington
14. Tuning Out

This Thorns of Life live at 924 Gilman Street recording isn’t anything to sneeze at, but if you’re dying to hear what Blake Schwarzenbach’s new band sounds like, these MP3s do the trick. Sounds good to me and I can’t wait to hear more. 3 interviews with Blake: here, here, and here. (Thanks again, Seth!)

Edited to add another bonus. 4 tracks from Thorns of Life show at Bar Pink. Again, iffy quality, better than nothing.

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Ripping through the internet over the last couple days is word that Blake Schwarzenbach debuted a new band on Saturday, November 8th at the Jerk House in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The band features Aaron Cometbus (Crimpshrine and Pinhead Gunpowder among others) on drums and Daniela Sea (The L Word) on bass. It’s not totally clear if the band has a name, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone on the internet yet who actually saw the band perform.

Heavy breathing internet speculation leads the netizens to believe the band is called The Thorns of Life. This because Schwarzenbach’s Facebook image says the same and because he is currently defending his masters thesis on Percy Bysshe Shelly whose poem “Ode to the West Wind” features the line (emphasis his) “I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”

In an unsubstantiated quotation, Schwarzenbach describes the band as such, “I can say only that it’s loud and tender and we’re called the Thorns Of Life. whether it’s more Jetsesque or Breaker-like I honestly don’t know; It sounds like a storehouse of fond hatred from the last few years and in the now.”

I’m going to take a cold shower for a week. To say this is exciting is an understatement.

Pic by Brooklyn DIY

(Hat tip to Brooklyn DIY, pop punk bored, Complete Jawbreaker Cigarbox Guitars, and Punknews)