20th Anniversary of my first Schleigho and The Slip show

[Cleantone]

The Slip 4/24/98 https://mega.nz/#F!zZs1nZCT!HjaNsWz94AFd-l5iYjX-hw

20 years ago I was newly 20 years old and headed out to see a band I had been listening to cassette tapes of for a little bit. I can't recall for how long I had been collecting and listening to SCHLEIGHO at the time. Maybe a year. I was finally getting out to see them live. If memory serves I borrowed a little portable cassette recording rig from Joshie Wah to make what was an early live recording for me. I didn't even have my own equipment yet. I used to lug home cassette decks to venues and get board feeds or set up mics also borrowed from Josh. Anyway I don't have much of a recollection but listening to this tape over the last 24hrs jogged some of it. I wish I had the time to make a new transfer and master it to the best of my abilities. I would have also liked to have dusted off my podcast to post this on that feed. Alas at the moment I'm lucky enough I was able to find the files that had been dormant since 2002 (it appears) when I digitized the cassette master. I had listened to that tape a fair amount by then at it was already well worn. Anyway... I remember standing in line getting ready to see Schleigho and many people asked me if I was there to record The SLIP. I had never heard of them. I was definitely already a Schleigho fan and I know there was some of my local fellow fans at this show. The guys who introduced me to the band and got me started collecting tapes and whatnot. I'm sure we would have known about this show from a tour mailer flyer as that was the usual for of communicating tour dates back then. At come point in the venue the I remember meeting Schleigho's drummer, Erik Egol, who told me he was going to sit in during The Slip's show. This was a co-bill and both bands were popular in Northampton at the time. The Slip played second. That solidified my sticking around and I guess I had enough battery and tape to also record the set. Or at least most of it. Unfortunately I can't put my hands on the recording of Schleigho at the moment. I've never really circulated the recordings from this night. The quality of the music is there in spades but the quality of the recording is lacking. There is quite a bit of audience picked up on it. A fair amount of voices I recognized as people I got to know later. I was sitting near one of Schleigho's biggest fan Richie Lynch. His rasp can be heard on a lot of my recordings that followed this night. Unfortunately he's no longer with us. http://www.stonelily.com/Remembering_Ritchie_Lynch.html He was particularly lubricated on this night and is all over this tape. Anyway, Schleigho played an really awesome show. I believe the setlist was Biscuits, Columbias, ...or Something, Bardo pt.3, and Star Wars Trash Compactor Phobia. It totally blew me away. I saw them as much as I could after than and made many recordings of the band. They were one of the bands I cut my teeth with and learned a fair amount about live recording with. About a year after this I moved to Florida to attend Full Sail. Schleigho would come gig down there too and I got to see them pretty regularly. With The Slip I was able to see them a few more times that year but much while I was away. I think once or twice when I was home visiting. I mostly picked back up with them when I came back in late 2001. Back that night 20 years ago I remember they definitely got me with this set. Brad Barr with his Gibson ES-175, Marc Friedman's fretless Fender and Andrew Barr busting out some steel drums! They played Ernie Mickey, Pictures of Calysto, Spice Groove, Yellow Medicine, Steel Drum Zion, Kool #9, and Alsoa. Erik and Jesse from Schleigho sat in during the show. I loved the way they could fluidly move from one style to another. By Yellow Medicine I was totally hooked for sure. I remember seeing and chatting with some folks who would later become good friends. Both bands had a good contingent of fans there. The venue was full from my recollection. This particular night was always very memorable because these were and still are two of my favorite bands. It was completely by chance that I got to see The Slip this night. Which is very fortunate. I'm not sure how many times I've seen these guys perform at this point. Between all members of all bands it's got to be around 400-500 performances over the last twenty years. Most of which I documented. So after these twenty years I thought it appropriate to share this audio. No blanks & postage. No Trading Trees. No high speed dubbing. No CDR burning. Just follow the link to Mega I have posted and choose between FLAC, MP3, or Apple Lossless. I really wish my collection was not all boxed up in storage. I would have loved to include Schleigho's set. I will as soon as I'm able. I also want to thank Michael Suke Cerulo, Erik Egol, Jesse Gibbon, Drew McCabe, Marc Friedman, Andrew Barr, and Brad Barr for all of the music of the past and future. Truly great times that I will always remember.

[johnhk4]

You're the man!

Thanks for the background story you posted up here too. You're such an essential part of the legacy of this band, it's hard to think there was a time before you and them were so practically synonymous. 400-500 times... I don't know whether to be jealous or afraid .

Here's to hoping that they reunite in some fashion sometime soon.

[Kevin_Kjr]

Great story, thanks for sharing. I never heard of SCHLEIGHO until a few years ago. I went to UConn in 04' and remember catching some Slip shows and Soulive. Loved Northampton. Not sure what the music scene is like nowadays up there but have a lot of awesome memories of my teens and early 20s and going to slip shows. I dont hold my breath for them reuniting at some point, figured it would of happened already given thats its been over 10 years since a new album