Ex-Artists 001: Constantines
Venn diagram of Fugazi and Split Lip, first poaching (my fault), and favorite album re-evaluation
I've maintained a spreadsheet called Ex-Artists since my early booking days, when I realized the roster would be ever-changing. Now the job is done, and the list is complete. 106 artists. A one-column career in Google Drive. I'm going to use this space to mark each act.
I'm not going in order. Constantines weren't the first artist I worked for, but I've been playing their third LP the last few days and thinking of them. Enjoy the memo. Errors & Omissions noted below, along with band pics and CD lore.
🖤AV
Errors & Omissions:
I have timelines and facts wrong, no doubt. These are memories!
I only booked Constantines for a second, and I hardly saw them play. I think it was three times, but might have been twice. I wasn't traveling like crazy for work yet. Constantines were Canadian and didn't tour the States constantly like other bands. They were active for eight years before sporadic reunions. I don't recall skipping specific shows, but I bet I was butt hurt after getting canned, and also embarrassed, so ignored opportunities to see them live. Those who saw Constantines know they were shockingly good. I watched videos after recording this post and looked up live shots. What a dummy for not seeing them more.
There was a good line, inaudible due to wind on the phone mic, about using the Cons to scratch your Springsteen itch if you can't go listening to whole albums by the Killers.
Listening back to the audio, I’m struck by how many of the Cons clips are intros and builds. The band had that shit dialed.
Not everyone in Split Lip went to my high school. I went to two high schools, each with band members. The singer, their rhythm guitarist, and their roadie (The Naked Bear) went to other schools. Anyway, they were the teenage band of the moment in Indianapolis.
Split Lip: ‘93 & ‘94
June 1993, ICC (India Community Center) in Indianapolis, days after high school graduation for me and most of the band members.
The Naked Bear believes this series is from the second Dayton Fest in Ohio, June 1994.
Anyone have this CD and want to be very cool?
I didn’t know you’d worked with the Cons.
One of my favorite bands ever, along with Split Lip.
I knew Lisa and Tyler (actually, I don’t think I ever met Tyler, except over email) from Three Gut Records. I think they sent me that first CD, with the matchstick, which is how I first heard them. They ended up crashing at my place the first few times they played Boston. I don’t think it would be exaggerating to say that seeing the Constantines live was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done. It’s kind of heartbreaking to know that I’ll probably never get to experience that again.
It interesting that you compare the Constantines to Split Lip. I don’t know that I saw that at first, except that they had a similar earnestness, and good, poetic lyrics, and both bands blended punk rock and rootsy Americana (though the Constantines probably did that more seamlessly than Chamberlain did). At some point, though, I stumbled upon Shoulder — Bry Webb’s earlier band that also included Cons drummer Doug MacGregor and possibly at least one other eventual member of the Constantines. I found the Shoulder album online — it’s fun though not necessarily great — but after hearing it just once, I was convinced that they were listening to a lot of For the Love of the Wounded at the time. I don’t remember if I ever got a chance to ask them about that. I don’t think so.
Very cool, one of my all time favorite bands, so sad I never saw them. thanks for sharing.