Three Imaginary Girls - Peter Parker

Help "Unscrew the Crocodile Employees" on Dec. 30

ChrisB — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:44:50 +0000

Chop Suey is hosting a benefit on Sunday, December 30 for The Croc (RIP) staff and Three Imaginary Girls is proud to sponsor the event.

Peter Parker @ the Northwest Hops Traveling Beer Festival

Liminist — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 22:31:22 +0000

19 Oct 2007

peterparker07oct3.jpg

Some would say that Friday was a horrible day for an outdoor show. Fat raindrops were pelting down on the pavement. In North Seattle, there were even bouts of hail. Nonetheless, as traffic continued to congest and congeal on Denny east- and west- bound on this dark, dreary and rain-soaked Friday, band Peter Parker took the stage at the South Lake Union Discovery Center where the Northwest Hops Traveling Beer Festival was well underway.

We arrived right on cue as the band was setting up. Mona seems sweet and quiet. She plays a bass guitar that looks twice her weight. She wears it low and plays it patiently. Singer, Matt, looks clean-cut, wears thin-rimmed glasses and looks as though he could have just gotten off of work as a software engineer or project manager at Microsoft. He makes jokes throughout the set, like, "If you didn't like any of the songs we have sung yet, you will surely like this next one we're about to sing for you." On the guitar is Josh. He is tall, and spent half his time on stage hiding under a black hoody, playing to his bandmates versus the crowd, and the other half jamming in true rawker form. Steve, the drummer, has forearms you know will knock the crap out of forthcoming beats.

The band crammed onto a tiny platform under a white canopy facing a crowd who huddled 15 feet away under another tent warmed by heatlamps. Frontman, Matt Parker, jeered at his fans..."This is a demilitarized zone," he said, "you better not cross this line!" But the fans would not surrender to the band and close the gap, instead they remained under the safety of their tent. You couldn't really blame them; the weather was unrelenting, and no one wants rain to dilute their beer.

Peter Parker's sound is spunky, with upbeat playful songs like "Nevermind the Astronaut," followed up with epic 'monster ballad' instrumental-type songs like "Fanfare for the Common Man."

Apparently the band isn't playing out much these days because they have been writing and plan to go back into the studio soon (yay for us!). This is great news for those of you who were shaken by their four-year hiatus from 2002-2006.

After the show, I asked the band if they had anything to say to the TIGs. Almost immediately Josh said, "Yes, my toes are cold!"

But the fans would not surrender to the band and close the gap, instead they remained under the safety of their tent. You couldn't really blame them; the weather was unrelenting, and no one wants rain to dilute their beer.

Imaginary '02 Recap!

three imaginary girls — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 08:00:00 +0000

{And yes, we have included shameless promotion links to our affliated Insound and Amazon affiliate programs, where you can listen or buy. So sue us. Or buy something, and help us support our excessive web page habits...}

Best Releases:

Ooh ooh! I know! Dana's favorite three releases of the year are:

Pretty Girls Make Graves Good Health

Carissa's Wierd Songs About Leaving

The Long Winters The Worst You Can Do is Harm

Hey! I didn't say that! How did you know that?

Anyone who has been in your car knows. Hell, anyone who has ever read the site knows.

Oh god, am I *that* predictable? {don't answer that}. Geesh. She's right though, of course.

How about you, Liz?

OK. My favorite 2002 local releases are:

Tullycraft Beat, Surf, Fun

Carissa's Wierd Songs About Leaving

tHe drop Iceland

And my favorite 2002 Brit releases are:

Clinic Walking with Thee

South From Here On In

ballboy Club Anthems

Ooh yeah, I second the Clinic and South (and further nominate Clinic for the distinguished "Shortest show of the year" award, coming in under 40 minutes at their I-Spy show back in March.) And Doves The Last Broadcast. Mmmm, Doves.

Right. Back to me. My favorite 2002 New Yorker releases are:

Mooney Suzuki Electric Sweat

The Walkmen Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone

The Liars They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On To (ok, so it was released in 2001 but re-issued this year... )

...and my favorite 2002 Scandanavian releases are:

Sondre Lerche Faces Down

Division of Laura Lee Black City

Cato Salsa Experience A Good Tip for a Good Time

...and my favorite 2002 Welsh releases are:

mclusky mclusky do dallas

Super Furry Animals Rings Around the World

um... Cinerama "Torino"

- ok... they aren't Welsh, but the Lostprophets (who ARE Welsh) opened up for Cinerama when saw them in July

Oh! And my favorite 2002 Nebraskan releases are:

Bright Eyes Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

Desaparecidos Read Music/Speak Spanish

Bright Eyes A Christmas Album

You are out of control...

Most Extraordinary Live Shows:

My favorites...

Robyn Hitchcock Sunday night at the Croc followed by the omigod-fucken-amazing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Paramount Monday night. Hot damn. Back in April (pre-TIG)

Pretty Girls Make Graves CD Release Party (w/ 764-HERO) at Chop Suey 6.13.02 (also pre-TIG)

Peter Paker & Aveo / The Malinks & Tullycraft — all in the same day — all free — all at the EMP.

Hmmm... my favorite live performances... this is so hard... can I break it down to local and non-local? I'll say it really quickly before igDana has a chance to stop me... first... local:

Scottish Men of Science / The Malinks / Yeek Yak Airforce , 11.14.02 at the Sit 'n Spin.

Hypatia Lake 8.17.02 at the Sit 'n Spin

The Long Winters / Carissa's Wierd 6.15.02 at the Paradox Theatre

And my favorite 2002 non-seattle-ite band music moments are:

Hives / Mooney Suzuki show on 5.31.02

Idlewild at T in the Park on 7.13.02

Bright Eyes at the Capitol Theatre, Portland on 10.17.02

Most Imaginary Moments:

Imaginary in Tablet!
Opening Tablet newspaper and finding that local artist – no, amazing local artist – Randy Wood had immortalized us, in comic form. I think we collectively took an entire trees worth of newspapers to send home to our Moms.

Imaginary on the Radio:
So I returned from my Spain trip and was spending a week with my folks in Florida, when I got an email from Marlene, telling me she had just heard (the ever-awesome) Sean Nelson talking about Three Imaginary Girls with (the ever-cutie) Drew Victor during his Audioasis. Sigh and pitter patter. What a thrill (and what a great welcome back into the country!)

Death Cab for Snooty
As you might recall, one of our pre-Death Cab for Cutie Bumbershoot performance activities was to approach a couple of guys in the beer garden who we mistook for two members of DCFC. Two months later a co-worker mentioned that he saw my picture on his friend's website. He sent me the link and low and behold, there we were, with the caption: These girls approached me in the beer garden. They thought--no shit--that I was "Ben" from "Seattle Indie Legends" Death Cab for Cutie. I always suspected I looked like a rock star. See, I told you they were snooty!

Best Live Cover Song:

Goddamnit I love it when bands throw in a good live cover! I am sure that now, while I'm trying to recall my favorite, I am inadvertently overlooking some really, really good ones. But this is what I remember at this point, in no particular order...

Saeta covering the Magnetic Fields' "Grand Canyon"

The Malinks covering Bell Biv Divoe's "Poison"

Loveless covering Dramarama's "Anything, Anything"

Robyn Hitchcock covering the Psychdelic Furs' "The Ghost in You"

Beck covering the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?"

Carissa's Wierd covering Morrissey's "Suedehead"

Sleater Kinney covering The Doors "Hello I Love You"

OK, so I had a hard time sticking with the limit of three...

OK I choose...

Earlimart covering Wire's "Strange"

Ryan Adams covering Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" {hee hee} - sidenote: that Ryan Adams is out of control. First he's picking a fight with Rhett Miller, now with Jack White (White Stripes). I don't like this Noel/Liam Gallagher thing he's doing one bit.

M. Ward covering David Bowie's "Let's Dance"

Best to watch for in 03

OK, so at the risk of sounding incredibly predictable (again), can I just insert my vote again for:

Hypatia Lake, please? Thank you.

And as ever, Drew Victor and Passing Friends

... and Visqueen.

And thanks to a special imaginary friend, I have a an advance copy of this amazing up-coming on Sub Pop release called Postal Service. It's Dntel (aka Jimmy Tamborello) and Death Cab cutie Ben Hibbard on vocals. electronica CD (due out on Sub Pop this spring). It's dreeaamy good. As our representative of the indie-elektro community, Imaginary Boy Jason explained, "Jimmy and Ben worked on a track on Dntel's last album ("Life is full of Possibilites") and it appears they got along well enough to write an album together."

There, that's three (and then some). Liz, the rest is on you.

I second those, and wish to add:

Terror Sheets (first full length due out on Sad Robot, coming soon!)

Also, I know they're already signed and released, but I'm looking forward to hearing more from Okkervil River. Their 2002 release was on my top 10 list (but I was only able to list three here... the horror)

And another signed and released group, LA's Earlimart (who just rocked my little world opening for Rhett Miller this month).

Best Already Released International Album To Be Released in the US (and Immediately Purchased) in 03:

Ahh, this is easy...

Idlewild The Remote Part

Hoggboy Or8

Beth Gibbons Out of Season

Right. What she said. As I always say, never take an Imaginary Liz recommendation lightly...

2002 Sensations that We Don't Get

You know how sometimes there can be a band and everyone just loves it and you listen and are just like... um. Hmm. Now the Girls don't usually like to complain... but I have just two words to say. Coldplay. Yes, Coldplay. I don't get it. I didn't like "Yellow" and I haven't really liked anything since. I don't hate them... I just don't get it. I must be missing an essential chromosome on my Britpop gene helix. Oh well.

This might earn me a whole buncha indie-wrath... but I'm going to have to fess up to Ugly Casanova. Don't like 'em. I know, I know. Next thing you know I will confess my dislike for Sleater-Kinney and then it will all be over.

Best Three New Things Around Seattle We Wouldn't Want to Enter '03 Without

How many ways do we love this great city? But a few noteworthy mentionables...

Wireless internet access at the newly reopened Green Cat Cafe and Top Pot donuts.

Chop Suey, for great shows in our hood (read as: no need to park downtown)

Randy Wood sponsored One Night Only.

For awesome arty original clothes, Damsel Collective and Dumb Clothing

Karaoke at the Comet and Twilight Exit with Steve

Half price after 11pm Wasabi Bistro sushi.

And of course and most importantly, all of the readers, supporters, and contributors to Three Imaginary Girls. Ya'll better stick around for 03; it's gonna be the year to be imaginary...

Hey kids! It's the end of '02, so welcome to the first ever Imaginary Recap. Hold onto your seats kids, it's gonna be a bumpy year-long ride of favorite, in triplicate. Because the best things always happen in threes (ho ho ho...)

{And yes, we have included shameless promotion links to our affliated Insound and Amazon affiliate programs, where you can listen or buy. So sue us. Or buy something, and help us support our excessive web page habits...}

Bumbershoot 2002: The Imaginary Highlights

three imaginary girls — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 07:00:00 +0000

3 Sep 2002

bumbershoot2002.gif

You remember when we did 14 shows in 14 nights? Hold on to your bonnet kids, at this year's Bumbershoot music festival — we witnessed 17 shows in four days. Following you will find a recap of the stuff we scribbled down in our trusty notebooks while running from venue to venue:

Greatest Rockstar Moments:

Death Cab for Cutie:
Of course they were incredibly sweet and melodic in every way, but the most T.I.G. moment occurred before they even took the stage in an incident that can only be called: Separated at Birth? (aka "Death Cab for Snooty")

Yes. We had a Death Cab Doppleganger moment. If you want to read the entire story, you're gonna need to read our Death Cab for Cutie full report.

Minus Five:
A bit of a mind blowing 12.30 p.m. for the T.I.G.s: Pete Buck (Seattle's favorite REM guy), Scott McCaughey (the consummate Ringleader), John Wesley Harding (the local with the funny accent), Ken Stringfellow (who this day went for a Green/Black chez Muppet doo) and company all on one stage, opening for Wilco and it was only 12.30 p.m.

And, the wackiest rockstar moment of all was when we realized that it was none other than one of the showman himself, five feet in front of us as we made our way we made our way down the ramp into Memorial Stadium: John Wesley Harding! Sigh. As we furiously took notes as to Who was doing What on stage, JWH and the Fastbacks' Kurt Bloch left their audience space in front of us to join the Minus Five boys on stage. And Ken's hair was more Fraggle Rock than the Muppets, I thought. How could someone so cute make himself look so bizarre? Weird.

And I just adore the Minus Five, with their sixties-influenced sugar-sweet melodic-pop.

The Drop:
Our first Drop experience after reading and hearing all about them via news, radio and strangers also included a preshow banter (and a ride into the depths of EMP, no less!) with tHe Drop guys. Our collective opinion in a nutshell? Gosh, they were LOUD. Was it the sound guy at EMP or the band itself that decided to be so LOUD? It was like some freaky Star Trek episodes, where species are unintelligible to one another until they determine the correct means of listening; once I inserted earplugs, the band went from painfully ear-ringing shrieks to nice tight melodies with dreamily muddled vocals — and with a cello, no less. To read something more in-depth and intelligible, see the official Michael X Imaginary Boy review.

Bestest Banter:

Gene:
It had been 7 years since I had last seen Gene perform when they were supporting their first album, Olympian. Their precise mix of 80% Morrissey and 20% Earl Grey Tea earned them a coveted spot on my "Must See or Die" 2002 Bumbershoot list. My dream of "Real life Britpop at Bumbershoot" was finally realized. As they whipped into their first song of the set, I was reminded of lead singer Martin's chiseled Divaness. To my delight, his banter had increased and was much more engaging. The topper? When he needed to adjust his keyboard's mic stand but was unable to, he requested that. "Someone with stronger wrists than I come up here to tighen this."

Wilco:
Even though I had never seen them perform live before, I went into this show knowing that I was going to leave loving them. I did... and it wasn't just because they sounded incredible, but because they did nothing but charm at every opportunity. The banter was swift and subtle and when Jeff Tweedy says something like, "I'm not feeling so fresh" when referring to the fact that they just woke up after a late gig the night before, you couldn't help but want to buy them all a beer.

The Shins:
We don't know what is better, their banter, their reaction to the crowd, or, oh yea, the music. Music highlights included "Know Your Onion," as well as hearing them playing a few songs from the Flake Music days.

But when they requested that we do THE WAVE — and we all DID IT — now *that* was something special. The wave, at a Shins show. They seemed even more astonished than we were. Then Marty Crandall commented on the Sunday performance by thanking us for choosing "Rock over Jesus" and then following it up with, "God is awesome dude, seriously."

Charmed, we're sure!

Best Cover Songs:

Dave Edmunds:
As he espoused, Mozart was the 1st rock-star (you know, sex, drugs and symphonies) and Dave has always wondered what he would have created on the guitar. Our Mr. Edmonds gave us such a taste of what a virtuoso would have sounded like by nailing Mozart 4th Symphony in G minor with heart stopping precision. Oh yea, he also covered "Here Comes the Sun" (and introduced it with "Here is a beautiful song written by a beautiful man"). He deserved two standing ovations even without these elegant touches to the set list, but with them, he has earned many a new fan.

Helio Sequence:
I had such huge plans to tell you all about the Helio Sequence. But unfortunately, I spent THE ENTIRE show in line at EMP, waiting to get in. The helpful EMP staffer told us, "You could go over and watch the show on our outdoor big screen today." The dude behind me in line retorted, "That's exactly why I came out today, to watch TV." Hilarious. EMP drives me nuts. But I did manage to hear the band perform their gorgeously lush version of that really cool Beatles song... you know the one...

Peter Parker:
Peter Parker played Damian Jurado's "Paxil." That was really cool. Matthew Parker shrieking "I'M ON FIRE!!!!" with huge images of flames flaring behind him was really quite cool. I think I have developed a musical crush on this band, now that I have seen them four times. Fire!!!!!

PS ~ Peter Parker should totally have won in the "Best Banter" category too, both for telling a superfan who screamed for a song, "No, we're still not going to play 'Elliot.' Thanks for asking, but no." And also for singing this lyric on a Friday afternoon: "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble. Make mine a double." Yes yes YES!

Bumbershockers!:

Dave Davies Disappointment:
Like 74% of the western world, I LOVE the Kinks. When I saw Ray Davies (you know, the other Kinks guy) at the King Cat last year, I was breathless the entire time. His elegance and eloquence made his Kinks based act more of a tribute to history than a hanging on to the last tattered straw left in his creatively-drained body. In true Davies brothers' style, Dave Davies is the antithesis of his brother's performance. Dave has not aged gracefully (note mullet and purple silky shit) and neither has his on-stage shtick (please don't repeatedly order the audience to clap along with the song when we obviously don't have the enthusiasm to do so). I was able to make it through 6 songs - and decided that staying any longer could only taint my love of the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society. His publicist really should have checked with me before putting him on the next bus out of town as I think only thing that would have made up for this lackluster afternoon performance is if he would have performed a song with the Shins later that night. How wonderful would that have been!

Derailers:
To what did our wandering eyes appear? A comfy table with enough seating for all in the posse in the beer garden within earshot of the Derailers' rockability lovity set! Our parched mouths and weary feet were thankful for the hour of bliss that was listening to good live music whilst drinking a relatively palatable beverage (read as, Miller Lite).

Lead Singer Craziness:

Modest Mouse (crazy):
That Isaac Brock. Everyone knows he's crazy.

The Turn-Ons (crazy sexy) :
The first time I saw the Turn-Ons, I proclaimed them to be one of my favorite local bands - because they are so NOT a local band. Their part Charlatans UK, part Dandy Warhols, part New York Dolls and all kinds of sexiness made me an instant convert. This time was a bit different as the mammoth EMP Sky Church seemed to take away a bit from the engaging, playful vibe that usually oozes from their every melodic note. Not to say I was disappointed, just that our Turn-Ons are growing up and I've got to learn to deal with it because they are fine, upstanding citizens of the Seattle local music scene and should be worshipped as such.

The Gossip (aka Beth Ditto, crazy sexy cool):
What more can I say about Beth Ditto that igDana didn't cover in her Capitol Hill Block Party review? I can't say anything more. Other than, I concur. She's amazing, her stage presence is amazing, and I covet her charisma and confidence. Yow!

Some of our favorite memories from Bumbershoot 2002... Ahhh, memories!

Peter Parker

imaginary dana — Wed, 14 Aug 2002 07:00:00 +0000

2 Aug 2002

The first time I saw Peter Parker was last year, at the Crocodile. I was on a first date, before I realized how disastrous the boy in question would be. So I barely noticed the band.

The second time I saw Peter Parker was at the Capitol Hill Block Party last month. I was between two other shows, baby-sitting my Mom, broiling in the heat, seriously over-caffeinated and over-stimulated. So I was too distracted to attend.

The third time I saw Peter Parker was on a glorious late-afternoon, for free, outside at Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheatre. This time, I noticed. Peter Parker sounded GREAT outside. They were more "on" than they had been at the Block Party (or perhaps, I was the one who was more on?), and the sound system was far better as well.

Before the show, Imaginary Boy Greg and I wandered to the food court to forage for dinner. Glancing around, I realized I had developed a food court fear approaching aversion. The thai cuisine looked like food poisoning... and the non-meat options elsewhere approached nil. I settled on Subway — safe, predictable, with its creepy iceberg lettuce and triangulated cheese! — and plopped down in the grass. Ahh, this was a Seattle Center show as it's meant to be enjoyed, without hoardes of people (a la Bumbershoot).

Peter Parker read my mind. "I like food courts," offered bassist Mona Parker. "They're full of options. All bad ones."

Hear hear!!

Peter Parker continued to delight me, both with their onstage banter and their song selection. According to singer Matthew Parker, they were playing songs from their first album because, "It suited the sunny day."

Indeed! I munched my sandwich and smiled along. With cheery little lyrics like, "You won't be happy til I'm happy makin' you happy!" I glanced over at my friend Greg, who likewise looked pleased.

"They sound really good out here," he said. "They reminded me a little of Archers of Loaf. They didn't necessarily 'sound' like Archers, but their tone and energy were right on. Lots of fun."

I know I raved about this in my last Peter Parker review, but I feel the need to restate how cute their young fans are! This show was once again sponsored by the Vera Project, so babies, children and teenagers were out in abundance. I just adore what the Vera Project does in this town, by bringing great rock acts to people of all ages! I just felt the need to gush gratitude once again... so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the work you all do.

"I was particularly impressed with the 10 high schoolers who were standing in the front. They were all wearing super-cool shoes... We didn't have much of a shoe selection when I was growing up," said Greg.

"I don't wanna go
to another show
By the time it's any good
There'll be no one left to pay attention," played the band.

In this case, so not true! I'm so glad I gave Peter Parker another listen. While I left the CHBP show indifferent, I left this show a fan. Are they now happy, knowing how happy I am that they made me happy?

(Or something like that...)

The fourth time I will see Peter Parker will be at Bumbershoot, at the EMP Sky Church, on Friday afternoon (at 3:30). For those of you who can take off work early for the Labor Day weekend, I suggest this as an afternoon rock and roll treat.

The first time I saw Peter Parker was last year, at the Crocodile. I was on a first date, before I realized how disastrous the boy in question would be. So I barely noticed the band.

Peter Parker

imaginary dana — Tue, 16 Jul 2002 07:00:00 +0000

14 Jul 2002

ppark.jpg

"This song is called 'Fanfare for the Common Man,' and it's for you guys!" declared Peter Parker frontman Matthew Parker.

This song was played in ¾ count, an indie-rock waltz, a distorted, crescendo-ed waltz. It started off a bit plodding, ahhh, then it picked up, and away we go... Wait. Then it was plodding, plus crescendo. Then quieter again. Then... crash! crash! crash! BOOM!!!

My reviews today are growing increasingly onomatopoeic.

I overheard some old guy in the audience say to his friend, "This all sounds like noise to me." Another friend of a friend told me earlier that day that the Block Party never had good music, because, "All they play is grunge." Interestingly, the next song Peter Parker played was titled "The Aesthetic of Dumb." So that was nice.

I like these guys. The guitar sounds clean, the melodies are nice, and they have a chick on bass. You know I dig that. My favorite part of the show (well, as much of the show as I caught) was when I wandered towards the stage. Along the front row, all these cute underaged girls were singing their little hearts out. They knew every word. I just glowed looking at them; I felt wistful for an adolescence I never had. How exciting it must be to adore a local band so much, and to then attend shows at such small venues!

I wish my teenaged friends and I had had such musical abundance, and had been able to see live local music. Instead we went to the mall a lot and listened to classic rock. As I stood there, I grew increasingly thankful for the Vera Project, and contemplated the impact they will have on the region, inspiring budding young musicians. I can't wait to see what these kids are going to grow up to play, with influences like Peter Parker and all the other great local bands on the Vera Stage.

"Fanfare for the common imaginary girl."