All That Was Built Here - Ten Years At The Old Fire House

If you grew up in the greater Seattle area and attended all ages shows during the era that this blog covers, chances are you spent some time at the Old Fire House teen center in Redmond. Today's offering is the Old Fire House benefit compilation that was released in the early 2000's and features 24 blasts of nostalgic noise. The track listing features pretty much every amazing local band I remember seeing there in those days: The November Group, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Sicko, Botch, Gas Huffer, Teen Cthulhu, Undertow, Waxwing, Akimbo, Automaton, Murder City Devils...etc

All That Was Built Here

Run Away Laughing

Before Waxwing, before Lying On Loot and before branching off into what has come to be an absolutely stellar solo career, Rocky Votolato was playing in a band with some high school friends called Run Away Laughing. This is an album that was released I believe sometime around '94 or '95 and it should definitely appeal to fans of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Thirty Ought Six or any of Rocky's other work
There are a few sound issues with this rip as my copy of this cassette is rather worn out at this point, this tape rarely left my walkman in those days. If anyone out there has a better quality copy of this release I would be very grateful if you could upload it somewhere and send me a link.
Enjoy

Sharks Keep Moving / The Kentucky Pistol - Split 7"

Download (in wav format with front & back cover scans)

Waxwing

I've been a fan of Rocky Votolato, the frontman of Waxwing, since 1995-ish when I saw him with the band Run Away Laughing. A year or so later he was fronting Lying On Loot. After Lying on Loot, and either after or during a stint drumming for the band Kentucky Pistol, came Waxwing... and there are not enough words in existence for me to be able to sufficiently express my love for Waxwing. Their shows, like their music, always contained an amazing blend of both beauty and chaos. Rocky's voice has this pained quality that made it so their mellow tunes came across with the same raw intensity as the harder tracks. Waxwing were beyond great and in my opinion they were one of the best bands of the whole late 90's/early 2000's Seattle music scene and I know many other people who feel the same way. Alright, I'm done gushing.
Here is one of their early releases:
Self-titled 7" (with front & back cover scans)

An early Waxwing demo can be found here at Pukekos.