Sebadoh

Biography

There were three bands that were linked the most to the Valley: the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, and Sebadoh. The Pixies went to Boston and got huge, Dinosaur Jr stayed local and got big, Sebadoh became my favorite the first time I heard them.

Sebadoh originally consisted of Lou Barlow and Eric Gaffney, but before they recorded Sebadoh III (my favorite) Jason Lowenstein joined the band. Gaffney quit the band a couple years later, leaving Barlow and Lowenstein as the permanent figures. Bob Fay came on for a few years after Eric left, then Eric himself returned to tour with them over a couple of years, but Bob D’Amico has handled drumming duties since 2011.

Unrelated story from the mid-90s

When teenagers routinely made questionable decisions

First time i took acid, i was 15 or so. I was at my best friends house and the only one tripping, so i got bored and decided to hitchhike into town. I got picked up by a couple of girls driving an old rusty flatbed pickup truck, hopped on the back and spent the ride looking over the edge and watching the world zip by. After a five or seven minute drive, we were in town and slowing down for the traffic light i was getting out at, so i jumped off and ran away to continue my adventure.

That story should’ve been completely forgettable – except probably six or seven years later (1996-1997), I was living in South Florida and heard that Sebadoh was playing at Respectable Street – a club owned by Rodney Mayo at the end of Clematis Street.

Bought my ticket and headed over there to see the show. At some point during the night, i went to the bar to grab a drink and felt someone tug my sleeve. It was this girl who was asking me if I happened to be Lucas and from Amherst. Confused, I said I was. She then recounted to story about her and her friend picking me up hitchhiking and wondering whatever became of me after that.

The world is a small, small place.

PS – Rodney is a great guy, and if you find a cool night spot anywhere in Palm Beach County, there are veyy high odds he had a hand in creating it. I saw so many great bands at his places during the years I lived in Florida — from Sebadoh to KMFDM to My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult to Swans, to name just a few. I haven’t seen him in more than a decade but he was always super nice and super humble.

Check out all of the spots that Rodney is or was involved with on his “new to me” website: Sub-Culture.org