In Your World (live)
Do Not Eat (1994) — By Ingus on October 15, 2009 at 10:12 pmPodcast: Play in new window | Download
Ingus – So at some point I started introducing songs by saying “this is a song…” – I think I got it from Michael Stipe, who did it in REM’s unplugged show, which I listened to constantly. At any rate, I ended up doing it a lot, as witnessed here.
The song, though, has nothing to do with REM, and in fact was written on an acoustic guitar in the courtyard of U of M’s West Quad in the fall of 92. I don’t know why I remember it so well, but I can tell you I was sitting on a concrete bench and there were leaves all over and I had a little mini-cassette recorder (that I had almost completely failed to use for recording lectures) sitting next to me recording. I’d just seen the band Jackopierce do an instore show at Warehouse Records (RIP), and then again live at, I believe, the Blind Pig (but I could be wrong there – it might have been Heidelberg) and I was smitten, and wanted to write a song in that vein. Thus the growling and the harmonies.
This version is from the Christmas show at the Capitol Cafe. At some point, We’ll have to post some video, if the VHS tapes still hold up. Anybody got a VCR?
So I don’t know if I wrote a good Jackopierce song, but I did end up with a song that we all dug quite a bit. Louis’ harmonies REALLY make it work, as does the marching cadence on the snare.
So for all I remember about writing that song, I don’t remember playing the show for today’s flyer at all. Nada. Nothin about it. I do remember Louis hating Power On Hold, and I also remember the singer of Melange hating me, but I don’t know if this show had anything to do with either of those things. Cute flyer, though, again from the Kotarski collection. Hell, maybe he remembers something about it.
Louis – To be honest, every time I “hated” a band it was pure jealousy. I don’t remember Power On Hold off hand, but I’d wager that they were pretty popular.
I’ve always been taken with this song…not so much this recording of it (my harmonies at the end are horrid, not to mention that I don’t seem to know when the song ends) but I don’t remember anything about Ingus bringing it in.
I also didn’t remember playing it with Ratza.
Tags: 1994, Capitol Cafe, cassette, early years, ingus vocals, Jackopierce, live stuff, louis vocal, Melange, Power On Hold, REM, University of Michigan, Warehouse Records, West Quad
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Well, here’s a possibility: I only remember actually seeing the band at Kinelos once, maybe twice. At one of the shows the guys allowed me to come up on stage and sing His Eternal Rest. I remember it was cold outside so this could be the show.
I was a total fanboy at this point. I was super good friends with Ingus’s sister Mandy who had a surprise for me at school one day. She had snaked a copy of the cover from the yet to be released “Do Not Eat” and hand copied all of the liner notes for me so I could get a glimpse into what was coming. Since, I talked with Mandy all the time I asked her to ask her bro if I could sing a song with the band at a show. I am not sure why but they let me.
I came to a practice in the Toast basement and realized that I had no idea what harmony was. I thought I could sing okay but when we practiced the song I was jumping from one harmony to the next in each line of the song. We decided it best that I just sing the last half a verse of the song, in which there was no harmony. I was so nervous that I gripped the mic stand until my knuckles turned white and kind of did the “Eddie Vedder sway” in an attempt to hide my fear and look cool at the same time. I was in 9th grade, okay.
This also marks the first time I heard the guys call me “guitarstring”. If you’re Mick Jagger gave you a nickname you’d probably hang on to it to.