So Long, Farewell, Until We Meet Aga...In 1996

In retrospect, the signs were obvious. We had had a rough and ragged series of road trips with some remarkable mis-steps by our "booking agent" (renting a Lincoln Town car instead of a van for a trip to Nashville, for example), we were getting bored with songs and adding random rearrangements, we were being willfully discordant/arrhythmic, and our fashion sense went all to hell (much in evidence on this video). We had conflict with the soundman, as well (you can hear me yell at him at one point) - he seemed incapable of curing the recurring feedback problem. Ella Gurus really probably wasn't the best venue for us - we were much more at home in the echoing confines of the Cityside Cafe. This, then, is a document of a band breaking up - this was the final show for Sea 7 States. In fact, I don't think we ever even practiced again.

I had never seen this tape before this year, though I remembered that Judybat Jeff Heiskell was there with his camera (you can briefly see him in a shot at the very end). I'm shown packing up a cassette recorder at the finish, so apparently an audio recording was made, but perhaps it was so bad that I destroyed it (very unlikely for this OCD archivist). Regardless, it seems to have vanished.

There is still a core of valiant dancers struggling to have a good time despite the efforts of the band. (If you recognize yourself, drop a note in the comments!) One of them is former drummer Todd Eaton, who occasionally interjects some cowbell playing from his place on the dance floor.


Sea 7 States @ Ella Gurus 8-28-89 (the final show)


3/4ths of this version of the band did meet again in 1996, when Brett, Jon, Phil, and Kevin gathered for a weekend of recording in Charlotte, NC that also served as Kevin's bachelor party. A couple of tracks from that session ended up on the Incompleat CD.