| Tree Fort Angst | ||||
Terry Banks: singing & guitars John Gotschalk: bass Hunter Duke: drums
NEWS FLASH! Foxyboy Records, the Washington DC underground pop label whose first release was the debut EP from DC psychedelic mods (The Sounds of) Kaliedoscope, announces its second release: A 30-track CD by TREE FORT ANGST called 'Last Page In The Book of Love'
Release Date: September 3, 2002 What It Sounds Like: Chiming, guitar-based indiepop combining Postcard/Sarah-label jangle with a somewhat 60s-ish garagey energy. Think Orange Juice, early Aztec Camera, The Chills... but American... and kind of revved up. Background: In its early-to-mid 90s run, Tree Fort Angst released four 7" EPs, a flexi, a split single, a couple of cassettes, and appeared on a handful of compilations -- all leading up to 'Knee Deep In The Rococo Excess of Tree Fort Angst,' a 20-song CD released by The Bus Stop Label, which made a name for itself releasing records by Velvet Crush, The Dentists, Honeybunch and many others. Out of print for the last few years, the material from the Bus Stop CD is reissued now by Foxyboy, along with TEN extra tracks, as 'Last Page In The Book Of Love.' Plus new liner notes... and super-snazzy digipak art. The ten bonus tracks are all previously unreleased. Total running time: 78 minutes. Reference Points: Tree Fort Angst was a guitar-bass-drums trio led by Terry Banks, who now plays in THE SATURDAY PEOPLE, a DC-based pop band that has released an album on well-regarded indie Slumberland. Previously, Banks played in GLO-WORM, releasing records on K Records, among others. Before that, he was in indiepop icons ST. CHRISTOPHER, who began life on the esteemed Sarah label. To pre-order, or for more information, contact Foxyboy Records at info@foxyboy.biz
Biography Tree Fort Angst
existed, on and
off, for a few years in the first half of the 1990s.
The name didn’t mean anything.
I wanted something that was kind of simple and pure-sounding,
thus the ‘Tree Fort’ part, but mixed with some self-dramatizing
pretentiousness, and, for that, ‘Angst’ seemed tailor-made. TFA started out as a
solo thing — me playing my acoustic pop songs.
However, the plan all along had been to form “a band,” so,
circa ’92, I drafted in two friends, John Gotschalk on bass and Hunter
Duke on drums, and started writing songs more suited for electric
guitars and drum kits. My big songwriting inspirations were Postcard-era Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, the early
Beatles, The Jam, the first two Everything But The Girl
albums, The Velvet Underground, The Go-Betweens, The
Smiths, The Chills, lots of obscure early 80s guitar-pop,
some 60s stuff — basically anything with good melodies and good
singing... John and Hunter liked some of that stuff, but other things,
too… In any case, there was enough common ground, musical and
otherwise — mostly from the three of us having known each other for
several years in Richmond, Virginia before forming the band —
that it came together fairly easy. All in all, there ended up being four Tree
Fort Angst 7” EPs, a flexi, a split single, some cassettes, a
handful of compilation appearances, and, to top it all off, Knee-Deep
In The Rococo Excess of Tree Fort Angst, a 20-song Bus Stop
Label CD that compiled the majority — and certainly the best —
of the ‘Angst’s recorded moments. The recordings happened quickly: the songs were recorded live as a guitar-bass-drums combo,
usually in one or two takes. Vocals
and extra guitars were overdubbed, although not quite as quickly as the
main tracks. In any case,
we moved fast. We worked in
inexpensive studios, and stuff was usually recorded in a few hours on
one day and mixed in a similar amount of time the next day.
It was cheap and easy that way, and seemed to suit our
no-nonsense artistic ethos. Beyond a handful of shows at Washington
DC’s 9:30 Club and gig a piece in NYC and Richmond, we didn’t play
live much, despite enjoying the experience anytime we did.
We got some decent fanzine write-ups and some underground/college
radio airplay in the U.S. and overseas, but that was about it... Although, there was one
time — right after we’d gotten a small write-up in CMJ — when the
possibility of stardom loomed, if only fleetingly. I got a call from an
A&R guy from MCA and he was interested.
He was friendly sounding, but kind of gruff. “Yeah, I read about
you guys in CMJ – sounds
like cool stuff… So
what’s going on with the band?” “Oh, y’know,
we’ve managed to get a couple of 7”s out and we play a show here and
there. We’re hoping to
record some more,” I offered helpfully, thinking to myself, I guess
this is what it’s like when you ‘make it.’
They just sort of call you up and get the ball rolling from
there. “Cool… So, what are
you guys? Like a goth band or something?” A goth band? A goth band? The CMJ piece had compared us to Orange Juice and Small Factory.
Wisdom is hard earned,
but can arrive swiftly: the
‘Angst wasn’t going anywhere — via this call, or any other.
If I was going down in flames, I was going to try to do it with
some panache. “Do you want
us to be a goth band? ‘Cause
we’re up for it, if that’s what it’s gonna take.” An uneasy chuckle.
“…That’s cool.” A few awkward, silent
seconds passed and he said “OK, um, cool…
Well, I gotta run — I’ll keep an eye out for you guys.”
And he was gone. No one ever called
again. That was it, the
nearest the ‘Angst got to The Biz. As Maxwell Smart used
to say, Missed It By That Much. --Terry
Banks, April 2002 Pointless Details:
Discography
*
John and Hunter join, Spring ’92.
* TFA split up summer of '94, not too long after our last show, opening for Tindersticks. It was 100+ degrees inside the 9:30. Tindersticks were wearing black wool suits versus our t-shirts and shorts. In a stunning example of daring ‘rock-n-roll’ behavior, we stole their beer while they played. It’s in these little moments that a band shows its true colors: dressed for the weather, with a tendency to steal things: that was the essence of Tree Fort Angst.
Further Information
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