It has been fourteen years that ‘Sebadoh' released a full-length album. The Sebadoh was released back in 1999 by the talented trio. Since then, the band has been producing reissues of their previous albums, leaving the fans waiting for something new. Much to the delight of the fans, the American indie rock band returned to the music scene in 2012 with the Secret EP. This year, Sebadoh is finally coming with its latest album Defend Yourself, scheduled to release in September. This album is being released with a relatively smaller record label, Joyful Noise.
The talented trio calling itself Sebadoh is inspired by the original punk artists like Captain Beefheart and noise bands like Unwound. Sebadoh is also among the pioneers of “lo-fi” style of indie-rock music, which is precisely the usage of low fidelity recording techniques, often on four-track machines.
How it All Started…
Singer and songwriter Eric Gaffney and the then bassist for the band Dinosaur Jr. Lou Barlow formed ‘Sebadoh' in the late eighties. The initial repertoire of the band included a diverse range of the eighties and nineties indie-rock, from noise rock experiments to jangle pop tracks. The band made its beginnings as a side project in 1987, when Barlow started small scale home-recordings with Gaffney. In 1989, Barlow got separated from Dinosaur and became more involved with this new band.
In due course, the project for both Barlow and Gaffney became their main focus. They started recording and releasing albums as well as touring under the Sebadoh title. Sometime later, the addition of Jason Loewenstein into the band made the trio a full-fledge rock sensation, and Sebadoh emerged as one of the most unconventional and unpredictable music groups of the time.
In the Meantime
The output of the band oscillated between Gaffney's noise experiments and Barlow's sensitive folk and rock music. By 1992 the band had gained massive cult following. Media somehow focused more on Barlow, probably because of his past music career. This led him to release some of his solo works also under the title ‘Sentridoh'. Gaffney got infuriated and quit the band in 1994 only to be replaced by the even more talented Bob Fay. During Fay's association with the band, Sebadoh released some of its exceptional works, Bakesale and Harmacy. This helped the group increase its followers, but it still was recognized as a cult sensation rather than a main stream band. This tenure also brought to the limelight the multi-instrumentalist, Jason Loewenstein's ability to write amazing lyrics. When The Sebadoh sessions began in 1999, Fay was no longer a part of the band and was replaced by Russ Pollard. After 1999 tour Sebadoh went on hiatus, albeit still a cult band it gained legions of fans.
Barlow started working on a side project the Folk Implosion, and Loewenstein started off with his own solo debut album, but the two remained on good terms and reunited in 2003 and 2004 for sold out concerts.
Down the Line
In 2007, the classic trio of Gaffney, Barlow and Loewenstein reunited for the first time in fourteen years. In addition to the staggering success of their concerts, there was also a reissuance of some of their work. The repackaged Sebadoh III, The Freed Man and Bubble and Scrape were put forth for the fans once again. These reissues also became a hit just like the original ones, which proved the fans' eternal love for them.
The reunion tour continued till 2008 when the trio performed at a live concert at London's Koko venue, as a part of ‘Don't Look Back' series. 2011 and 2012 also saw the band's tours and performances, along with reissues of some of their exceptional works, but no new work was produced by the band. However, in July last year Sebadoh released Secret EP, and now the talented group is all set for its new album.