STREAM 24

STREAM 24

Sin-e, Lower East Side, NYC, Summer 2005.

If the levee breaks, you'll have no place to stay. Recorded directly after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans. Jon Nicholson pulling double-duty as pre-show DJ and featured vocal and electronics performer for Excepter. Fife and drum machine defeated by the S.W.A.M.P. gas or flying object? No concern for the F.R.O.G. men with self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Oblique conjectures of a new Hoo Doo Lemuria lying just beneath the surface? No one seems to know or notice.

(79m55s)

STREAM 23

STREAM 23

Rothko (Adult World), NYC, Summer 2005

Rothko was a Lower East Side club formerly known as Adult World, notable for the working showers lining the entrance hallway. In the grand Excepter tradition of the miss-matched bill, we were paired with a skate-punk band called S.T.R.E.E.T.S. which we understood to stand for “Snowboarding Totally Ruined Everything, Even The Snow.” This poor band of reverse-oakies earned JFR's ire for trying to blame the venue when they got busted by the NYPD for drinking on the sidewalk outside. Nightclub ethics are a rocky road to travel either way.

Oh yeah and Grizzly Bear opened for us, too.

(44m16s)

STREAM 23-3X

STREAM 23-3X

The second series in the Excepter Archive will focus on the rise of the “four man band” era, from July to December 2005. The new line-up of John Fell Ryan, Dan Hougland, Nathan Corbin and Jon Nicholson would record the Sunbomber EP on its first session together. Live shows would alternate with more session work for the eventual Alternation 2LP and still unreleased (and still un-leaked) OP 2X7”. The band's second cassette-only release Tank Tapes would also stem from a single studio session during this period.

STREAM 19

STREAM 19

Lit Lounge, NYC, November 2004

We give out beats for free. It's gonna be a blow-out in 5-D. (M.A.G.I.C.) Drums in the D.I.S.T.A.N.C.E. Do I have to spell it out for ye? All of our existence is an insult. A kick in the head, all the equipment knocked down. A run through The Sprinklers and then it's over.

Onstage violence was nothing new to the band, but it hadn't ended a performance before. (The booker loved it and invited us back immediately.) We would stumble on through a studio recording session, a trip to Atlanta and a European tour, but this would be the last NYC live show for this line-up.

(19m06s)

STREAM 18

STREAM 18

Knitting Factory, NYC, Fall 2004

On account of the College Music Journal Festival, at the invitation of The Social Registry. Showbiz samples and Songs: Street Lights / Knock Knock / Forget Me / Street Lights

(39m36s)

STREAM 17

STREAM 17

911 Florida Ave, Washington DC, Fall 2004

Treacherous treble trouble. The pull of carpet crawl. For our first time outside of NYC, Nathan drove 17 hours down from Norway just to make the show. Remember the trees outside smelled like dogshit. We played last on a long bill in the promoter's dining room. Afterwards, some slept in puddles of cat piss. Others stayed up late watching barbarian tapes. At first light, the roommates all did laundry. An edit of this STREAM would become “The Troglodytes” EP. Excepter as Witch House originators?

(51m18s)

STREAM 16

STREAM 16

Tonic, NYC, Fall 2004

Starting where we left off … facedown on the floor. Nathan lost to the fjords of Nova Scotia; Caitlin arriving last minute directly from bus to stage. Nowhere to go but up, the slow 808 kick replaced near the end with the beat from Knock Knock paired with the vocal from Alternation track Apartment Living. Those next-door neighbors ...

(36m33s)