Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 42-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
OK, nevermind the boxes of our merch sitting in Seattle. And yes, when you use “nevermind” “merch” and “Seattle” in a sentence, “nevermind” is one word.
First, where did this giant pile of merch come from? For many years, our excellent friends Jack and Elise stored it for us above their garage in a small town between Seattle and Olympia. When we went on tour, we picked up merch there, and then, at the end, we returned the unsold amounts.
Beyond that, there were times when both our Olympia-based labels had overstock, and we decided to take it with the hope we could eventually sell it. That’s the bulk of it, actually.
How did we know Jack and Elise? Almost 25 years ago, Jack, a regular attendee at a lot of shows, decided he wanted to contribute to the scene, and he singled us out for this project. I’m not sure how much that happens, but it seemed highly unusual. I hope I’ve worded that right. He helped us with our first website, a Tripod situation where I figured out basic html. He also helped with computer and camera purchases and operating issues via email in an era when consumers were going digital and so much was totally new.
I think we finally met Jack in person at an all-ages show at that old fire hall east of Seattle. I recall the point when staying at their house became an idea that worked for us because many of our Olympia friends had either moved away or had new babies to deal with.
So much made it feel like The End had arrived and The New Stuff was daunting. Things were not good in music, and frankly, without Jack and Elise’s generous help, I’m not entirely sure what would have become of us. Live shows had smaller audiences, merch wasn’t selling as music became free online. People basically stayed home to surf the web.
“I’ll Call You” from The Observer (Kill Rock Stars, 2006) (download):
