Day 12: Young Fresh Fellows- Live In Bilbao, Spain 2009

 Well, we finally made it! Day 12 (in 17 days) of the 12 Days of Trouble challenge that I self-inflicted on myself to write and post more music on this blog, is complete. I honestly have posted more this month than I probably have the last couple years and I learned a couple things the past few weeks. First, I have a lot of music I want to share, but half my problem is I can't decide what to post and agonize about what I should write about. I found making a long list and then a short list of music I enjoy made it easier and I tried not to think too hard about what to write. The hardest part is the starting so I've tried to just start blabbing about whatever's in my head and then edit back what made the most sense, if that makes any sense. Secondly, I remember why I started writing this blog, it's because I like talking about music and through the years have only connected with a handful of like-minded music blogs that I enjoyed reading and unfortunately many of those have dissolved, disappeared or have been taken down. I started writing about something I would like to read.Thirdly and most importantly, I would do this full time if I can figure out a way to make a living (get paid) doing this. I don't want to advertise nor do I want to pander to readers for views (like on Instagram or YouTube), but I would gladly quit my regular job to do something I love, for the same minimum pay. Until then, I've decided I will write at least two posts a week, to stay consistent and fresh, it will be hard with hockey season starting up again next month, but I will make it a priority!

My attempt to take a photo of a photo in The Strangest Tribe book. Photo credit to Marty Perez.

For the past couple of weeks there was a loose theme through some of the posts based on a couple of books I read last month. A common connection with both the Smugglers book and the Seattle grunge book is the Young Fresh Fellows. They were a band that took the Smugglers under their wing in the early days, taking them on tour, helping make connections state-side in Seattle, releasing a LP and CD on Popllama Records and Fellows/Fastbacks guitarist Kurt Bloch produced a couple of their albums. In the The Strangest Tribe book, the Fellows figured significantly, in the pre-grunge years they laid the groundwork for Seattle bands to tour beyond the statelines to draw more attention to the emerging scene in Seattle. The impression I get about the Young Fresh Fellows is they were ambitious, mischievous, mentors, very talented musicians and songwriters, fun loving and really really good people. The fact they have made only one lineup change since they're first club performance at the Rainbow Tavern in 1983 tells you something. They don't perform as much as they used to and with other commitments they're touring days are limited, but they do play a handful of shows almost every year. There's reason the Fellows opened and closed the 12 days series, my all time favourite band!

I made a mention in the last Smugglers post about west coast bands touring and recording live albums in Spain. The Young Fresh Fellows recorded and released, Take It Like A Matador (live in Spain) in 1993 and in the past ten years or so, the Fellows have toured Spain (2009, 2010, 2016) several times in multiple cities and have maybe played more gigs there than anywhere else besides Seattle or Portland. They are very popular in Spain and some of their albums have been released also Munster Records (label in Spain) including a different version of 2009's, I Think This Is, released in Spain as, I Don't Think This Is, that featured a different cover, 4 different tracks and a vinyl version.

In 2009, the Fellows did a six city tour of Spain and fortunately somebody (Matthijs) recorded and posted at least four of the shows on Dime which I downloaded at the time. I haven't seen any of those posted or traded since then so I thought it would be an ideal time to share some of those shows. For the finale of the 12 Days of Trouble, I'm posting the first night of that tour at Kafe Antzokia in Bilbao, it's a near perfect soundboard recording and we are very lucky to get the Fellows in top form. The performance is excellent and the setlist is a sampling from all their albums. They play select songs from their latest album at the time, their first in 8 years and as I said it sounds fabulous. Originally, I was going to post three consecutive Fellows shows from Spain in 2009, but instead I wanted to include a couple different posts. So, if there's a demand and you want to hear two more shows from the tour in Spain (soundboard quality, different setlists!!), I can post them next week after Labor Day when I'm back from the long weekend. Please leave a comment below or on FB or Twit. Thanks to everyone for reading and listening and I will promise to keep posting!!
Enjoy!!
#12daysoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or convert to lossy (except for personal use)
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Young Fresh Fellows
Kafe Antzokia,
Bilbao, Spain
October 16th 2009

* Soundboard Recording
- Edirol R09 (WAV 24 bit / 44.1 KHz mode)
- Adobe Audition 3.0
- CD Wave
Recorded by Matthijs

01. Down By The Pharmacy
02. Suck Machine Crater
03. How Much About Last Night Do You Remember
04. Carrothead
05. Gotta Get Away
06. Why I Oughta
07. Backroom Of The Bar
08. Shake Your Magazines
09. Hillbilly Drummer Girl
10. Celebration
11. Have Love Will Travel
12. After Suicide
13. Tobacco Road
14. Sometimes I Wantcha For Your Money
15. If You Believe In Cleveland
16. When The Girls Get Here
17. My Friend Ringo
18. 99 Girls
19. Go Blue Angels Go
20. Taco Wagon
21. Picture Book
22. She's A Book
23. Your Truth Our Lies
24. I Don't Let The Little Things Get Me Down
25. Topsy Turvy Theme
26. Young Fresh Fellows Theme
27. Pretty Thing
28. Amy Grant
29. Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
30. Strychnine

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS- 2009-10-16 Bilbao, Spain FLAC. rar