If you had just a passing history of what we do at Chunklet, you wouldn’t think that we’d be reissuing both of the Olivia Tremor Control records, but well, we’re beyond tickled pink that we’re doing this.
I met Will, Bill and Jeff back in either late ’92 or early ’93 when they were called Synthetic Flying Machine and were this weird, clangy, noisy version of Syd Barrett meets the Minutemen. Saw ’em play routinely at Frijolero’s, Club Fred, Downstairs and Hoyt Street North. And yes, they were fantastic. I guess Athens was the wild west back then because we gravitated towards each other very quickly and became best buddies.
When Jeff went to Denver and did Neutral Milk Hotel and Will and Bill started The Olivia Tremor Control, things got very exciting. VERY. EXCITING. Everybody knows of Jeff’s pedigree at this point, but the three of them couldn’t get arrested in Athens. How do I know? Well, there was a 3k word interview I wrote about The Olivias for the Flagpole that was decimated to 300 (!!!) words and it was that article that jumpstarted Chunklet. True story.
I will refrain talking more about the Olivias until my autobiography is sold to Simon/Schuster, but trust me. I’ve got tons of great, funny stories.
In the meantime, here’s the news everybody wants. Chunklet is reissuing Dusk At Cubist Castle and Black Foliage on deluxe vinyl gatefold for the first time since their original release. Super sturdy Stoughton tip-on jackets, tons of great artwork and Black Foliage was completely remastered from the original tapes (and sounds 100x better). There’s also a special Dusk/Foliage/t-shirt bundle available until the record’s actual release.
The band has also been generous in opening their tape vaults to give fans over 3 hours of rare/unreleased/live material between the two releases via download card. I’m beyond excited to be working with the Olivias again, and I hope you enjoy all the hard work we’ve put into making this something special for old and new fans alike.
Can you come down with us? Can you believe with us?