In the early 90’s I had a bit of an identity crisis. I liked “alternative” music; attended the first Lollapalooza; bought my first pair of Dr. Martens; even picked up a sweet flannel shirt from The Gap. Somehow I still felt like a poser. (I still had an Expose cassette in my car for goodness sake.) I was settled into my first full-time job, and somehow talked a woman into being my girlfriend. I’d also moved out of my parents house. The area of town I settled in was where seemingly all of Metro Detroit’s “Gen X” found itself: Royal Oak, Michigan.
An old suburb with an aging downtown, Royal Oak was bottoming out in aesthetics, but oozed alternative street cred. The main street had a large leather fetish store, Noir Leather, a wine shop, a great resale store, Cinderella’s Attic, a trendy fashion store where it seemed every local band bought their shoes and stage clothes, and most important to me, there were three record stores in a five block radius.
I would find myself wandering into Off The Record, Play It Again Records or Repeat The Beat pretty much weekly. They would be playing music from bands I didn’t hear on the radio. The shelves were lined with magazines from England and France with unfamiliar faces on the cover. I soaked it all in. I kept my mouth shut and listened to what was playing. I started reading NME, Select and Vox and eventually started talking to the staff and getting recommendations. (You kids don’t know how lucky you are with Spotify and YouTube and…..sorry. Old Man rant. Back to the story…)
One day, I noticed a flier advertising Magnapop playing in downtown Detroit at The Shelter. (The Shelter was the basement of the legendary St. Andrew’s Hall.)
I walked through the back door, down the stairs, paid my $5 cover charge and walked in. The setup of The Shelter in those days was beyond minimal. A few steps from the door was one end of the bar, a few steps away from the opposite end of the bar was the stage. Behind the stage was a staircase up to St. Andrew’s main hall. Behind those stairs were pool tables and a few chairs & couches.
The first thing I noticed when I looked at the stage was how small it was. All of the instruments, amps, pedals, and mics barely seemed to fit. The next thing I noticed were the proximity of large poles to the front of the stage. If you were tall, you could lean against a pole and enjoy a show 10 feet away from the band. I walked right to the front and waited for Magnapop to come out.
They played great — the energy of the crowd could be felt throughout the night, the band was in good spirits bantering with the crowd, and even though I only knew a few of their hits, I found myself smiling and rocking with the masses. I’d never been THAT close at any rock show. When it was over, I was hooked not only on Magnapop, but on watching live music whenever possible. If this was a drug, Magnapop was my first real taste.
Wanting another fix as soon as possible, I took note of the next band coming to the Shelter — a little four piece from England called Elastica.
Justine Frishmann, Annie Holland, Donna Matthews and Justin Welch were something to behold. I suspect it had to do with all of the gigs in England before they got to the US, but the four of them exuded a type of “cool” that I could never hope to achieve. Their set was pretty much their entire debut album plus a B-side called ”Gloria”. (The bassline for “Gloria” made me take my tax refund to Guitar Center and buy a Fender bass just so I could play it. It’s THAT good.)
I stood (probably slackjawed and maybe a little creepily in retrospect) as I watched Annie Holland play some of the snakiest basslines I’d heard outside of anything by Motown or The Cure. The Shelter’s intimacy meant that I was literally five feet away from the stage. I loved every song. I bobbed my head, pogoed and sang along (when I knew the words.) They had made a fan for life. I knew as I was driving home after that concert, I’d found the place I wanted to hang out whenever I could. Over the years, I’d see a lot of bands in the Shelter: No Doubt, Everclear, Echobelly, Ash, Ocean Colour Scene, Mike Watt and more.
But even though they were my second Shelter show, Elastica cemented my music addiction. I bought everything they released on vinyl. Their debut LP, (Imported from England with the Elasticatalogue — a direct homage to Adam Ant’s Catalogue he included in his albums), imported 7" singles of “Connection”, “Waking Up”, “Vaseline” and “Stutter” (Even doubling up with the SubPop red vinyl version), posters, magazines and even cassettes. Safe to say, I might not have bought half of the vinyl I’m searching for now, if it weren’t for Elastica.
Today brought me good news on two fronts:
- I’m in contact with the person who bought my autographed copy of their debut album, and currently negotiating to buy it back.
- Elastica got together in a studio for the first time in 20 years. Reunion tour? We’ll see.
