Sleepy Kitty: "Box Elder" (Pavement cover) Evan Sult: Oh my goodness, we listen to it almost every day. There's a credit that says all the songs were recorded at Smoking Baby, but that doesn't to justice to how awesome the experience was to create each song in three hours. You can just feel the energy coming out on the record. That Theodore song goes right into classic songs of St. Louis to me, the Beth Bombara track is her best recorded vocal to date, and that says a lot. And oh man, that Skekses song! The whole thing is incredible. This is a really weird, rare moment in the city's life. You have all these bands who have contributed music for decades, and now it's this self-sustaining music scene turning in on itself and becoming more of a self-conscious thing. Soon the tension will break and some one is going to make it. I feel certain of that.
Theodore: "Dead Heart" JJ Hamon: It is good to work with people who actually like music and are excited about other people's work. Hopefully some of that excitement and even some of the inexperience in dealing with the established ways of the music industry might allow some flexibility and new ideas instead of the annoyingly uncreative "that's just how things are done" that you hear from businessmen ... I'm interested in a sort of collective in which we promote each other's music and pass around info on places to tour, venues to hit, bands to play with, etc. And, on the flip side, I would love for us to become the group that bands coming through town contact when they want to put together a good show or know where to eat, visit, or stay. If we continue to make future compilations as solid as the current one and represent more genres in the process I'll be happy.
Fred Friction: "I'm Goin' Blind" From the first meeting, I was impressed by the number of people who showed up, all these people naturally falling into committees. People were trying to figure out what they could do to get things off the ground. Even though it was in the backyard of Jason's house and looked like just a get-together, it was immediately impressive. I knew it would be versatile - because it had to be.
Doom Town:"Where Eagles Dare Pt.2" (Bunnygrunt cover) Shaun Morrisey: We were just really happy to have been asked to take part. For me personally, it gave me a chance to record with [Jason] Hutto. It's been so long since I recorded anywhere other than Firebrand, which I love. But it was nice to work with Jason and it was a different environment. Really laid back and comfortable.
Tone Rodent: "The Other Side of Town" (featuring Rats & People MPO) Adam Watkins: It becomes part of this urban revitalization, really. It's not about, "My buddy is in a band, so let's put him on a record." I think people will be surprised when they hear it to know exactly what is happening at in St. Louis at this time. Seattle had its grunge, New York's got no-wave or whatever, but you can't pin St. Louis in. There are all different colors of the palette on there. That was the hardest thing, with doing the artwork for the record label -- pulling it all in together. You want something that you put into people's hands and they can feel that it's real.
