WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.639 So imagine writing, recording, and then releasing 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:07.519 a brand new album every six months. Oh, wow. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:09.419 Yeah, and doing that for seven years straight. 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:11.859 That is just, I mean, that's relentless. Right, 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.800 now imagine doing all that while, you know, sleeping 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:16.980 on a different stranger's floor across America, 00:00:17.019 --> 00:00:20.260 like almost every single night. You aren't doing 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:22.960 it for fame. You certainly aren't doing it for 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:25.480 money. You're just doing it because if you stop 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:28.769 the... the entire machine you've built with your 00:00:28.769 --> 00:00:31.469 own two hands completely falls apart. Yeah, it 00:00:31.469 --> 00:00:33.789 is a staggering level of output. And, you know, 00:00:33.789 --> 00:00:35.869 it requires a kind of psychological endurance 00:00:35.869 --> 00:00:39.210 that, frankly, most people simply don't possess. 00:00:39.350 --> 00:00:41.329 Exactly. Because when you look at the economics 00:00:41.329 --> 00:00:43.990 and just the sheer physical toll of that lifestyle, 00:00:44.789 --> 00:00:47.429 it's a miracle anyone survives it, let alone, 00:00:47.429 --> 00:00:49.950 you know, thrives creatively within it. Absolutely. 00:00:50.509 --> 00:00:52.899 So welcome to today's deep dive. Today we are 00:00:52.899 --> 00:00:57.380 unpacking the fascinating, relentless, and ultimately 00:00:57.380 --> 00:01:00.579 really turbulent life cycle of a true indie rock 00:01:00.579 --> 00:01:02.759 workhorse. We're looking at the American indie 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:06.180 rock band, kind of like Spitting. And we're using 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:09.219 them as a lens to really understand the raw reality 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:11.739 of underground music. It's a perfect case study 00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:13.980 for that, honestly. It really is. We're drawing 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:16.099 all our info today from the band's Wikipedia 00:01:16.099 --> 00:01:18.420 page, which covers a story that spans roughly 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:21.879 three decades. And the mission for you, the listener, 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:24.920 Today is this. even if you have never heard a 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:27.219 single note of their music, we want to look at 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:30.319 how the sheer volume of their output and the 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:33.599 dramatic arc of their career makes this an incredible 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:36.420 study of just extreme creative drive. Right, 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:38.939 because this isn't just a biography of one band. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:42.319 It's really a blueprint of an entire era of independent 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:45.079 music. It shows us exactly how art was made, 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:47.079 how it was distributed, and how it was consumed 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:50.239 before the streaming age just completely rewrote 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:52.060 all the rules. Right, before Spotify and Apple 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:54.090 Music changed everything. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:54.090 --> 00:01:57.069 this. This story starts in 1996 in Portland, 00:01:57.290 --> 00:02:00.209 Oregon. The band forms, but the driving force, 00:02:00.370 --> 00:02:02.510 like the singer -songwriter at the absolute center 00:02:02.510 --> 00:02:05.930 of it all, is Ben Barnett. Yeah, Barnett is the 00:02:05.930 --> 00:02:08.569 core. And right away, the comparisons being thrown 00:02:08.569 --> 00:02:11.990 at Barnett by critics are, I mean, they're incredibly 00:02:11.990 --> 00:02:14.270 lofty. Oh, for sure. He's being mentioned in 00:02:14.270 --> 00:02:17.969 the same breath. as some legendary songwriters. 00:02:18.169 --> 00:02:20.689 We're talking Elliot Smith, Mark Eitzel, Billy 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:24.449 Bragg, and Robert Pollard. See, that specific 00:02:24.449 --> 00:02:26.689 combination of names tells you almost everything 00:02:26.689 --> 00:02:28.750 you need to know about what this music sounds 00:02:28.750 --> 00:02:33.080 like. How so? Well, you have the... The fragile, 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:35.860 really confessional intimacy of an Elliott Smith. 00:02:35.900 --> 00:02:38.539 Right. You mix that with the sort of working 00:02:38.539 --> 00:02:42.180 class, heavily political folk punk edge of someone 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:44.960 like Billy Bragg. And then you add the prolific, 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.240 almost manic indie weirdness of a Robert Pollard 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:50.939 from Guided by Voices. That is quite a mix. It 00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:53.460 is. It paints a picture of an artist who is on 00:02:53.460 --> 00:02:56.560 one hand deeply invested in the craft of songwriting, 00:02:56.599 --> 00:03:00.060 but who is also just channeling this massive 00:03:00.060 --> 00:03:02.300 amount of complex completely unfiltered emotion 00:03:02.300 --> 00:03:04.479 directly into the microphone. Yeah, but making 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:05.960 the art is really only half the battle here. 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:08.300 Oh, absolutely. Because the real story is how 00:03:08.300 --> 00:03:11.319 that art was delivered to the world between 1996 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:15.259 and 2006. Kind of like spitting. released 12 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:18.599 albums in just seven years, 12 albums. And that 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:20.840 number, honestly, it doesn't even account for 00:03:20.840 --> 00:03:23.060 the reality of their day -to -day existence during 00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:24.819 that time. Right, because they were touring. 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:26.680 Constantly. They were constantly touring the 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:29.219 U .S. Sometimes Barnett would be out there with 00:03:29.219 --> 00:03:33.060 a full backing band, and other times he'd strip 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:35.639 it all down and just tour alongside David Jeripovich. 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:37.659 Oh, from Novi Split, right? Exactly, from Novi 00:03:37.659 --> 00:03:40.240 Split. And they were literally living in vans. 00:03:40.300 --> 00:03:43.300 They were playing basement shows, tiny clubs. 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:46.060 basically anywhere that would open their doors 00:03:46.060 --> 00:03:48.789 to them. Okay, let me try to put this into perspective 00:03:48.789 --> 00:03:51.729 for you, the listener, because releasing 12 albums 00:03:51.729 --> 00:03:54.129 in seven years is just mind -boggling. It really 00:03:54.129 --> 00:03:57.770 is. It's like a novelist churning out two complete 00:03:57.770 --> 00:04:00.909 published books every single year, but doing 00:04:00.909 --> 00:04:03.069 it while constantly traveling the country and 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:05.449 sleeping on floors. Yeah, it's exhausting just 00:04:05.449 --> 00:04:08.069 thinking about it. So I have to ask, how does 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:11.349 an artist maintain any sort of quality control 00:04:11.349 --> 00:04:13.770 when they are essentially operating as a fire 00:04:13.770 --> 00:04:17.360 hose of music? Like, does this level of output 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.439 suggest this desperate, burning need to communicate? 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:24.139 Or is it just a reflection of an era where indie 00:04:24.139 --> 00:04:26.779 bands had to release constantly just to survive 00:04:26.779 --> 00:04:28.899 financially? Well, what's fascinating here is 00:04:28.899 --> 00:04:31.360 that it's a collision of both. Okay. The compulsion 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:33.339 to create is obviously there. You don't write 00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:35.079 that much if you don't have something to say. 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:38.879 But the mechanics of the 90s and early 2000s 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.860 indie scene... absolutely demanded this kind 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:43.879 of hustle. Because there was no internet, really. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.519 Not for music distribution, anyway. Right. You 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:48.759 have to remember, without the massive marketing 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:52.420 budgets of major labels, bands survived purely 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:55.399 on momentum. You didn't have algorithms pushing 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.379 your music to new listeners while you slept. 00:04:57.660 --> 00:05:00.180 You stayed relevant by constantly touring. And 00:05:00.180 --> 00:05:02.379 you financed that touring by constantly having 00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:04.600 something brand new at the merch table to sell 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.519 to the kids who showed up. It's almost like running 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:08.480 a grassroots political campaign. That's a great 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.069 way to put it. You aren't buying national television 00:05:11.069 --> 00:05:13.490 airtime. You were literally out there shaking 00:05:13.490 --> 00:05:15.810 hands, playing in someone's living room, and 00:05:15.810 --> 00:05:18.350 selling cassette tapes one by one to build a 00:05:18.350 --> 00:05:21.629 local base. Precisely. And that grassroots nature 00:05:21.629 --> 00:05:24.889 is entirely reflected in the wild patchwork of 00:05:24.889 --> 00:05:27.149 their discography. Yeah, the labels are all over 00:05:27.149 --> 00:05:29.050 the place. Right. They didn't just sign to one 00:05:29.050 --> 00:05:31.509 label and stay put. They hopped between a variety 00:05:31.509 --> 00:05:34.470 of really cool independent labels. You had Jealous 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:38.430 Butcher, Hush Records, New American Dream, Barsuk. 00:05:38.529 --> 00:05:42.459 All the classic indie labels. Exactly. In the 00:05:42.459 --> 00:05:46.220 year 2000 alone, they released a full length 00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:49.660 album called You Secretly Want Me Dead, and then 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:51.519 turned around in that same year and released 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:53.620 another one called Nothing Makes Sense Without 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:56.790 It. Two full lengths in one year. Yes. It wasn't 00:05:56.790 --> 00:05:59.410 just traditional studio albums on CDs either. 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:02.750 The sources list an overwhelming array of other 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:05.670 formats. They were heavily releasing cassettes. 00:06:05.709 --> 00:06:07.829 They were putting out live albums recorded at 00:06:07.829 --> 00:06:09.930 places like the Electric Factory and the Fireside 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:12.589 Bowl. Which, I should add, those venues are incredibly 00:06:12.589 --> 00:06:14.970 culturally significant. Oh, totally. The Electric 00:06:14.970 --> 00:06:17.629 Factory in Philly was a major proving ground. 00:06:17.769 --> 00:06:20.649 Yeah. And the Fireside Bowl in Chicago, if you 00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:23.110 don't know, it was a literal bowling alley that 00:06:23.110 --> 00:06:26.860 served as basically the absolute mecca for DIY 00:06:26.860 --> 00:06:30.259 punk and indie bands in the 90s. Recording live 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:32.779 albums, there wasn't just about capturing a performance, 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:35.600 it was about planting a flag in the cultural 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:38.000 soil of the underground. They're also constantly 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:39.959 releasing what are called split records with 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:42.860 bands like City on Film and Rosa Shams. Yeah, 00:06:42.899 --> 00:06:45.300 splits were huge. So for anyone listening who 00:06:45.300 --> 00:06:48.199 is unfamiliar with the term, what exactly is 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:50.819 the strategic value of a split record? Why not 00:06:50.819 --> 00:06:53.139 just release your own songs? Well, a split record, 00:06:53.180 --> 00:06:55.339 which is usually a seven inch vinyl, where one 00:06:55.339 --> 00:06:57.839 band takes side A and another takes side B, it 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:00.560 was the ultimate survival mechanism of the underground. 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:03.019 Because of the cost. Exactly. Pressing vinyl 00:07:03.019 --> 00:07:05.560 is incredibly expensive. So if you split the 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:07.779 cost with another band, you immediately have 00:07:07.779 --> 00:07:10.279 your financial risk. That makes sense. But more 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:12.579 importantly, you cross -pollinate your audiences. 00:07:13.290 --> 00:07:16.230 If, say, city on film fans buy the record for 00:07:16.230 --> 00:07:18.589 their song, they are literally forced to flip 00:07:18.589 --> 00:07:21.310 it over eventually and listen to kind of like 00:07:21.310 --> 00:07:23.230 spitting. Right. They can't avoid it. Exactly. 00:07:23.629 --> 00:07:27.149 It was a brilliant, highly communal way to hack 00:07:27.149 --> 00:07:30.430 the system and grow a fan base before the Internet 00:07:30.430 --> 00:07:33.170 made sharing music frictionless. OK, so they 00:07:33.170 --> 00:07:35.230 were hacking the system. They are relentlessly 00:07:35.230 --> 00:07:38.389 touring, pressing splits and building this massive 00:07:38.389 --> 00:07:41.230 wall of creative effort. And eventually that 00:07:41.230 --> 00:07:44.100 hustle actually the attention of the gatekeepers. 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:46.920 It does. Because in 1999 they released a seven 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.180 -inch single called Birds of a Feather and it 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:51.839 gets picked up in the UK by the legendary BBC 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:55.240 Radio 1 DJ John Peel. Which is, I mean, that 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:57.519 is the holy grail of critical validation for 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:00.160 an indie band. John Peel was arguably the most 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:02.800 important tastemaker in alternative music globally. 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:05.620 Having him play your record on the BBC signaled 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:07.660 to the hardcore music fans, the journalists, 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:10.199 the record store clerks, that you were the real 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:13.430 deal. But here is where the reality of the music 00:08:13.430 --> 00:08:16.509 business completely shatters the fairy tale we've 00:08:16.509 --> 00:08:19.970 all been sold. Yeah. Because the text explicitly 00:08:19.970 --> 00:08:23.290 notes that despite this massive cosign from John 00:08:23.290 --> 00:08:26.350 Peel, the track never received regular airplay. 00:08:26.449 --> 00:08:28.730 Right. And wait, we always hear the Hollywood 00:08:28.730 --> 00:08:31.589 version, where a famous DJ plays a song and a 00:08:31.589 --> 00:08:34.529 band explodes into superstardom overnight. So 00:08:34.529 --> 00:08:37.669 why is the reality of the indie grinds so different? 00:08:38.299 --> 00:08:41.039 How is it that John Peel, the biggest tastemaker 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:43.679 in the UK, plays their track and they just go 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:45.720 right back to sleeping on floors in a tour van? 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:48.620 Because, unfortunately, critical cachet does 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:51.820 not equal commercial capital. Tastemakers like 00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:54.360 John Peel can validate your art, but regular, 00:08:54.500 --> 00:08:57.159 sustained airplay, like the kind that gets a 00:08:57.159 --> 00:08:58.879 song stuck in the heads of millions of people 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:01.039 and actually translates into a lucrative career, 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.720 that requires a massive, expensive machinery. 00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:07.419 It takes money. It takes a ton of money. radio 00:09:07.419 --> 00:09:10.340 promoters who actively lobby stations, it requires 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:13.519 high -powered publicists, it requires hundreds 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.620 of thousands of dollars that a band operating 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:18.460 on independent labels like Hush or Jealous Butcher 00:09:18.460 --> 00:09:20.639 simply does not have access to. So you get the 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.419 critical applause, you get the prestige of the 00:09:22.419 --> 00:09:24.100 BBC, but you don't actually get the paycheck. 00:09:24.740 --> 00:09:26.639 Exactly. You still have to pack up your gear, 00:09:26.820 --> 00:09:29.659 drive the van 12 hours to the next gig, and just 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:32.379 hope you sell enough t -shirts to buy gas. And 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:34.559 that is the exact psychological friction that 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:37.159 breaks bands. You know your art is good enough 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:39.419 to be recognized by the best in the world, but 00:09:39.419 --> 00:09:43.019 your physical reality is still exhausting, unglamorous, 00:09:43.659 --> 00:09:47.159 and extremely financially precarious. That gap 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:50.509 takes a massive toll on a human being. Which 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:53.730 leads us right into the first major turning point 00:09:53.730 --> 00:09:57.269 of this timeline. Because in 2006, after a decade 00:09:57.269 --> 00:10:01.090 of this relentless fire hose level pace, 12 albums 00:10:01.090 --> 00:10:03.970 and endless miles on the road, the band announces 00:10:03.970 --> 00:10:06.529 a breakup. Yeah. And the official reason given 00:10:06.529 --> 00:10:09.309 is simply personal reasons. They hit the indie 00:10:09.309 --> 00:10:11.610 ceiling and the machine shuts down. Which is 00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:13.490 understandable when you burn the candle at both 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:15.929 ends for that long. Burnout isn't just a possibility. 00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:17.830 It's an absolute guarantee. You have to step 00:10:17.830 --> 00:10:21.029 away. or it destroys you. But what happens when 00:10:21.029 --> 00:10:23.210 an artist walks away from the project that defined 00:10:23.210 --> 00:10:25.370 a decade of their life? Well, the creative drive 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:28.269 doesn't just vanish into thin air. Right. And 00:10:28.269 --> 00:10:30.590 Barnett stays deeply embedded in the music world. 00:10:31.110 --> 00:10:33.289 Our sources note he actually had a stint playing 00:10:33.289 --> 00:10:35.850 in another prominent indie band, The Thermals, 00:10:35.990 --> 00:10:39.269 2002, 2003, which overlapped with his own band. 00:10:40.049 --> 00:10:42.669 And after kind of like spitting ends, he fronts 00:10:42.669 --> 00:10:45.389 a new band called Blunt Mechanic, which releases 00:10:45.389 --> 00:10:48.570 an album called World Record in 2010. So he's 00:10:48.570 --> 00:10:51.049 still creating, but he's shifting the context. 00:10:51.169 --> 00:10:53.610 He's exploring different collaborative dynamics, 00:10:53.990 --> 00:10:56.129 stepping out of the immense pressure cooker of 00:10:56.129 --> 00:10:59.629 being the sole visionary for a project that demands 00:10:59.629 --> 00:11:02.129 an album every six months. He also takes on a 00:11:02.129 --> 00:11:05.149 completely different role. Starting in 2007, 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:07.490 Barnett shifts to teaching music at the Paul 00:11:07.490 --> 00:11:09.730 Green School of Rock in Seattle. Yeah, that's 00:11:09.730 --> 00:11:11.789 a big shift. And here's where it gets really 00:11:11.789 --> 00:11:14.210 interesting to me. It's almost like a veteran 00:11:14.210 --> 00:11:17.129 wizard passing down spells to the next generation. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.120 I love that analogy. You take all that hard -won 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:22.200 knowledge, the songwriting, the performance, 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:25.299 the literal survival skills of the 90s indie 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:27.980 scene, and you channel it into education. It's 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:31.279 a profound shift in utility. But there is also 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.120 a very real psychological phenomenon that happens 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:37.269 when professional musicians start teaching. Oh, 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:39.769 what? Well, when you are forced to break music 00:11:39.769 --> 00:11:42.070 down to its absolute fundamentals for a young 00:11:42.070 --> 00:11:44.409 student, like teaching them their first chords 00:11:44.409 --> 00:11:47.529 or analyzing why a melody works, it strips away 00:11:47.529 --> 00:11:49.889 all the industry baggage. It removes the stress 00:11:49.889 --> 00:11:53.070 of record labels and touring logistics, and it 00:11:53.070 --> 00:11:56.149 reconnects you with the raw, visceral enthusiasm 00:11:56.149 --> 00:11:58.649 of discovery. It basically reminds you why you 00:11:58.649 --> 00:12:00.230 picked up a guitar in the first place. Exactly. 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:03.500 And inevitably, that process often rekindles 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:05.940 the desire to perform the very songs that defined 00:12:05.940 --> 00:12:08.860 your own youth. You start to miss the specific 00:12:08.860 --> 00:12:11.159 emotional resonance of your primary catalog. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.360 Which perfectly explains what happens next, because 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.299 in 2014, kind of like Spitting Returns, they 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:19.480 reunite as a trio, bringing in Brian Grant on 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:22.460 bass and Dante Johnson on drums. They record 00:12:22.460 --> 00:12:25.440 a brand new debut for Top Shelf Records called 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.159 It's Always Nice to See You, and they head out 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.159 on a tour with the band Lemuria. and then jumping 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:33.639 ahead even further in the sources, on November 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:37.539 8, 2024, they release a three -song EP called 00:12:37.539 --> 00:12:41.480 Soon via near -mint records, which is explicitly 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:43.919 noted as their first official release in a decade. 00:12:44.019 --> 00:12:47.440 Yeah, another long gap. So my question is, what 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.700 pulls a musician back to their original moniker 00:12:49.700 --> 00:12:52.480 after a decade away? Why return to the name kind 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.799 of like spitting in 2014 and then again in 2024 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:58.200 instead of just starting fresh? Because of the 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:01.279 enduring gravity of the catalog, when you pour 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:03.840 that much of your soul into a specific project, 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:06.539 and you release that much volume under one name, 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:09.460 it becomes inextricably linked to your identity. 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:12.269 Yeah, that makes sense. The name holds the history. 00:13:12.509 --> 00:13:14.210 It holds the connection to the audience who grew 00:13:14.210 --> 00:13:17.110 up listening to those 12 albums. Starting fresh 00:13:17.110 --> 00:13:19.330 under a new name means abandoning the equity 00:13:19.330 --> 00:13:21.730 of that shared history. And it's clear they were 00:13:21.730 --> 00:13:23.889 deeply obsessed with history in general, honestly, 00:13:23.950 --> 00:13:26.490 not just their own. During this entire run, their 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:29.509 discography is peppered with wildly eclectic 00:13:29.509 --> 00:13:32.750 side projects. Oh yeah, the covers. Yeah. They 00:13:32.750 --> 00:13:35.509 cover the 60s protest folk of Phil Ox. They do 00:13:35.509 --> 00:13:38.259 a tribute album to the Carl Hendrix Trio. They 00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:40.940 contribute to compilations covering Motown, Bjork, 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:44.100 and Led Zeppelin. It shows an artist in constant 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:46.399 active conversation with the music that shaped 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.980 them. They aren't creating in a vacuum. By engaging 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:52.299 with Phil Ox and Bjork, they are bridging genres 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:55.100 and eras, essentially proving that good songwriting 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:57.340 transcends the boundaries of just quote unquote 00:13:57.340 --> 00:13:59.919 indie rock. It really feels like a triumphant 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:02.559 narrative arc. The exhausted workhorse steps 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:05.539 away. rediscovers the joy of music through teaching 00:14:05.539 --> 00:14:08.299 and returns to secure their legacy. It does. 00:14:08.740 --> 00:14:12.840 But then we arrive at the year 2025 and the narrative 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:16.500 takes a sudden incredibly sharp in a very complicated 00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:18.460 turn. It does. And it's important to note here 00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:20.259 for our listeners that we are looking strictly 00:14:20.259 --> 00:14:22.460 at the historical record provided in the sources. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.419 Yes, absolutely. We aren't here to litigate or 00:14:24.419 --> 00:14:26.379 take sides in any way. We are just reporting 00:14:26.379 --> 00:14:28.960 what's there. But the timeline shows a definitive 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.600 and abrupt halt. Right. So according to the source 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.100 text on September 17th, 2025, following allegations 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:37.899 of grooming and sexual assault made by the vocalist 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:40.899 of a band called February, a statement was released 00:14:40.899 --> 00:14:44.139 announcing the end of kind of like spitting. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.740 The documentation also notes that Ben Barnett 00:14:46.740 --> 00:14:49.159 later issued a statement explicitly denying the 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:51.820 allegations against him. However, the operational 00:14:51.820 --> 00:14:54.600 result was absolute. Barnett announced the immediate 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:57.039 end of the band. And the timeline notes one final 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:59.460 detail. Shortly after the announcement of the 00:14:59.460 --> 00:15:02.120 band's end, their final album, which was titled, 00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:04.980 I Do It For My City, was released posthumously 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:08.720 on October 3, 2025. Releasing an album mere weeks 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:11.220 after a band disbands under the cloud of serious 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:14.139 controversy creates an incredibly dense cultural 00:15:14.139 --> 00:15:16.340 artifact. Yeah, I can only imagine. It places 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:18.759 a massive weight on the music fundamentally altering 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:20.860 how it will be received and analyzed by the public. 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:23.299 So what does this all mean? How do you as a music 00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:25.740 fan listening right now process a situation like 00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:28.200 this? How do you grapple with a reality where 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:31.320 a 30 -year catalog of deeply emotional prolific 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:33.840 art is suddenly brought to a halt by such serious 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.399 allegations? This raises an important question. 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:40.000 It's the defining tension of modern fandom. Yeah. 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:42.759 Audiences are constantly forced to navigate the 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:45.340 abrupt collision between an artist's personal 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:47.480 controversies and their public body of work. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.200 For decades, listeners engaged with these songs. 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:52.460 They projected their own heartbreak, their joy, 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:55.240 and their identity onto the lyrics. Right. The 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:57.820 music becomes part of their own life story. Exactly. 00:15:58.299 --> 00:16:01.299 And then an event occurs that permanently alters 00:16:01.299 --> 00:16:04.049 the context of that relationship. The legacy 00:16:04.049 --> 00:16:06.590 doesn't disappear, but it becomes permanently 00:16:06.590 --> 00:16:09.669 complicated. It's fractured. It forces every 00:16:09.669 --> 00:16:12.429 individual listener to decide how or even if 00:16:12.429 --> 00:16:14.870 they can separate the deeply personal connection 00:16:14.870 --> 00:16:17.409 they have to the art from the reality surrounding 00:16:17.409 --> 00:16:19.610 the artist. It retroactively changes the shape 00:16:19.610 --> 00:16:21.429 of the entire timeline we've been mapping out 00:16:21.429 --> 00:16:23.309 today. It really does. You can't look at the 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:25.769 1996 formation in Portland or the superhuman 00:16:25.769 --> 00:16:28.850 output of 12 albums or the John Peele cosign 00:16:28.850 --> 00:16:30.769 without looking through the lens of that final 00:16:30.769 --> 00:16:34.000 2025 bullet point. The history is essentially 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.700 rewritten in the mind of the audience. And if 00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:39.279 we connect this to the bigger picture, the story 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:43.440 of kind of like spitting acts as a profound microcosm 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:46.279 of the independent music world as a whole. It 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:48.279 encompasses the entire spectrum. It shows the 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:51.240 relentless burning drive to create at all costs. 00:16:51.940 --> 00:16:54.399 It highlights the unglamorous exhausting reality 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.620 of the working class musician who survives on 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:58.679 split seven inches and tour van floors. Yeah. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:01.279 It shows the triumph of returning to your art. 00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:04.660 And ultimately, it shows the messy, deeply human 00:17:04.660 --> 00:17:07.740 flaws that can tear a three decade legacy down 00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:09.779 in an instant. It is the complete spectrum of 00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:12.039 the underground experience, all contained within 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:14.619 the margins of one sprawling Wikipedia page. 00:17:15.539 --> 00:17:17.759 We've looked at a discography filled with dozens 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:20.220 of splits, live acoustic sessions, and tribute 00:17:20.220 --> 00:17:22.700 albums. We're talking about thousands upon thousands 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:24.839 of hours of human connection pressed into vinyl 00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:27.240 and wound into cassette tapes. Yeah, so much 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:29.220 history. Sweat on the stages of the electric 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:32.299 factory in the Fireside Bowl. 30 years of a life 00:17:32.299 --> 00:17:36.220 lived at maximum volume. And yet, when that history 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:39.259 is formalized, when the life's work of an artist 00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:42.640 is codified onto a digital encyclopedia, the 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:44.700 formatting fundamentally changes how we perceive 00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:47.910 it. Exactly. It takes three decades of loud, 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:50.990 chaotic, relentless emotion and flattens it into 00:17:50.990 --> 00:17:54.109 dry bullet points, culminating in a final, controversial 00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:56.089 end, which leaves us with a lingering thought 00:17:56.089 --> 00:17:58.789 for you to mull over today. Look at that discography. 00:17:58.890 --> 00:18:00.710 Look at the thousands of hours of connection. 00:18:01.109 --> 00:18:03.150 When you look at the internet's sterile factual 00:18:03.150 --> 00:18:05.509 record of an artist's controversial end, does 00:18:05.509 --> 00:18:07.769 that digital permanence inevitably erase the 00:18:07.769 --> 00:18:10.130 lived human experience of the art itself? Or 00:18:10.130 --> 00:18:12.670 can the messy, complicated reality of the music 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:15.190 and the cold, hard bullet points somehow exist 00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:16.390 in the exact same space.