Pavement:Classic or Dud

Gary Young documentary is streamable via the SF documentary festival (1-week engagement):
https://watch.eventive.org/sfdocfest2023/play/64005c66f26f1d004b3cda0b

:((

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/gary-young-pavements-original-drummer-has-died/

Drums in the chorus of "Loretta's Scars" are maybe my favorite ever. R.I.P., man

great drummer, great tone

rip. love the story in the deluxe slanted liner notes about barbecuing “mutant” vegetables from Gary’s garden in his fireplace

Randomly (literally on random) listened to both "Greenlander" & "Texas Never Whispers" today which I think are 2 of Gary's best performances.

RIP, an unlikely story in this zany world. Go check out his documentary if you can.

I thought the rhythm section was heavier and grooves than what I'd heard on CD.
Hadn't seen them before last month so didn't have a live comparison to make.
I was impressed by the show I saw anyway.

Rhythm section quite cooking. I.e. groovier than I was aware of.

:(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pPlos2i7Ys

^^^ I don’t know if I’ve ever locked into those opening drums before, really locked in

Grateful I got to see him play a few songs with Pavement at the 2010 Berkeley show (since I didn’t see them way back in the day). I also saw him do the Plant Man thing in NYC, opening for RTX I think.

huge band for me, one degree of connection away, RIP you crazy wild card

I love this story:

https://i.imgur.io/a7RkDa2_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium
https://i.imgur.io/kixpsGt_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

nothing about his drumming on the early pavement stuff made any sense, as it should be. rip.

nothing about his drumming on the early pavement stuff made any sense

exactly, the whole thing is perfect pre-internet serendipity, like Malkmus didn't even know there was buzz abt the debut because he was backpacking in Europe

Sorry Steve West, but Pavement was a completely different (and worse) band without Gary’s legitimate unhinged influence. Rest in Peace. Our Singer will be playing tonight in memory. One of my favourite drum performances ever

Teaching drums in an hour. It’s going to be a Gary tribute afternoon for all my students <3

I am sure I have told this story here before but I made this music-geek friend (Ken) in Charlottesville after I had left for college, I met him on my trips back home b/c he worked at record stores and had the same weird tastes and also smoked weed. He used to jam w/Malkmus and James McNew (who I actually did know in HS) and D Berman in some basement but it was all during my own midwest college years. Ken and I became penpals and he insisted I buy Slay Tracks ("it's this guy I know from the radio station"), the rest is history. Gary's story is sad but also essential to the early version of the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drlJ6WxtqWA

Great performance.
I know how great a guitarist Malkmus is, but I am always shocked by this fact again everytime I watch a live video. So effortless, pure talent

Also great story sleeve

this book has all the background on that scene:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/regarding-charlottesville-music-rich-tarbell/1136620597

see also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parking_Lot_Movie

RIP. Pavement's Pigpen that got to live a longer and fuller alcoholic's life.

wow that is very true and a good analogy (except that Pig was sorta the lead singer not the drummer)

maybe a little Bez thrown in there too

and also he was the essential recording engineer/studio owner at the beginning, so throw in a little of whatever crazed old hippie studio owner fits

like, that sound is what defined the band going forward, for better or worse ( I say better)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drlJ6WxtqWA

Great performance.
I know how great a guitarist Malkmus is, but I am always shocked by this fact again everytime I watch a live video. So effortless, pure talent

I knew that show had been videotaped, but I had no idea there were TWO cameras rolling. Here's the other angle that I had known before, with some great shots of Gary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gheTBEWJso

Crazy.

(FWIW, my link is missing the beginning of the set, when Gary still had a shirt on, but H.P.'s link has it.)

RIP Gary. Every time I listen to early Pavement I’m blown away by his drumming. Always rock-solid and ready to drop an intricate octopus-armed drum fill at any moment.

just the absolute best one of a kind

Louder Than You Think, the documentary about him, is really powerful and in many ways unexpected; I paid to stream this, something I rarely do, and it was well worth it

Such an inventive drummer. Maybe my favorite part of Pavement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkKBmPh3QqI

I love the energy his drumming gave the early stuff, and Debris Slide is as good an example as any (my personal fave is always Lions). His fills have this teetering on a cliff's edge quality that really make the songs *exciting* in ways indie rock songs often aren't.

rip gary. my fav performance of his: the "conduit for sale" from the brixton academy 1992, what a powerhouse

I think a part of his appeal is that he comes up with patterns and fills that “pro” drummers wouldn’t, or if they did, wouldn’t keep them when it comes to recording.

That style doesn’t fit the mould of what a drummer would be expected to do - even in a indie band - yet those idiosyncrasies managed to fit Pavement like a glove.

yeah that whole brixton 92 show is a real showcase for gary — dude is just unstoppable. even something like "box elder" sounds huge there.

It’s a little like when you are playing at band practice or playing along to a song you’ve heard for the first time and you instinctively play what comes to mind without worrying about it being “appropriate” or “right”.

You play it back and - far from being inappropriate - it’s cooler than the more ‘measured’ or ‘professional’ take, because there’s a vibe to it that wouldn’t have been there had you thought more about it

this is the business right here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nLs9Mn6kgE

I was at the brixton 92 show, assuming this is the one opening for Sonic Youth. I remember Gary walking through the audience before they played, writing in marker on peoples hands and foreheads.

Wow that's awesome you were there

yah it's when they opened for SY, the link is from Eindhoven

RIP Gary Young. So happy to have seen Pavement with Young on their first tour. Two nights of completely shambolic beauty. Hail!

I remember him greeting every one at the door at the DC Pavement show I saw

gary young was a specific kind of guy that i'm not sure really exists anymore: the weird but not creepy slightly older dude/local scene lifer with equipment/practice space who eventually winds up playing with younger dudes bc his own peer group moved onhttps://t.co/YiQdAOWwZO

— Jess Harvell (@cheaptrickrules) August 18, 2023

that kind of guy definitely still exists

i always forgot how much older he was than the rest of the guys, for some reason i had thought it was only 7 or 8 years (which seemed much more significant when i was in college and first got into Pavement!)

Not Gary related, but I landed on a 1994 Athens show on YT last night... and goddamn, it's an incredible show.

that kind of guy definitely still exists

― tylerw, Friday, August 18, 2023 4:27 PM (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I like to fantasize that if my friends and I had had a that kind of guy when we were in our twenties we would have actually been in a good band with him instead of dicking around writing songs but not knowing how to bring them to life let alone make them into records