Kevin Devine Band • Page 22

why does Razor and Tie own it now? all this pressing stuff is so confusing sometimes. i'm sure it'll get pressed soon, it turns ten in just a few years and all

is that a weird way to think? maybe

 

BTC&C was released on Razor & Tie. Your Favorite Gentleman helped with the release (their logo is at least also on the CD packaging), but legally, they can’t press it without going through Razor & Tie still. For a 10 year pressing, it’ll really depend. Some labels have albums released to the band after 10 years, and others don’t. mewithoutYou for example, got really fucked because Catch For Us the Foxes was sold to Universal about a year before it’s 10 year and that’s why the new pressing has been so massively delayed. So I don’t know. I ramble, sorry. The music industry hurts my head. Hahaha

 

Which album are we talking about?

 

Between the Concrete and Clouds

 

Probably was me. I'm so delighted to stumble upon these positive words! Him and I have chatted a bit about my collection last time he was in Boston, so I'm sure he'd love to know that you were able to take in one of the records into your collection!

I'm unloading my whole KD vinyl collection, so if anyone else is looking for their KD white whales, I'd love for it to go to a good home.

While we're on the topic of this, does anyone know where I can find digital versions of the She Stayed as Steam EP or the Driving Baby Lips release?

 

Welp, I guess now is your lucky day?

If you still want it shoot me a PM and I'm sure we can work something out.

 

Shoot me a PM

 

Not only that, the represses were super short print runs. /100 and /200 -ish. That album was pretty hard to get for a long time - and was almost forgotten about from a commercial vinyl standpoint, given it's sandwich between Brothers Blood (which got pressed so many freaking times, mostly by AFS who were kings of the 'lets make collectors go bankrupt with weird variants) and the kickstarter albums (which were super cheap on the secondary market but there were so manyyyyy).

I had to trade a first print of put your ghost to rest for my first copy of BTC&C back in 2014, although I also had inside knowledge that they were reprinting it (and reprints always bring the resale down, just check out Deja's history).

 

Strange that BTC&C is so valuable considering most KD fans overlook that release.

I bought it up in a conversation with KD one time, and he recognized that it was his favorite release of his because of the risks he took musically but that it didn't go over as well as some of his other records commercially.

This conversation took place right after he released Bubblegum & Bulldozer. Not sure if he would rate the release in the same way now.

 

The challenge with BTCAC is that it’s very ‘90-94’ Alt Rock/Grunge. He had recently done his Nirvana Nevermind cover I believe. Most people at that point were more used to a folkier or becoming a more full band sound. It was kind of a big jump for some people.

I Used To Be Someone, A Story A Sneak, Between The Concrete and Clouds and 11-17 are some top notch Kevin songs I still listen to all the time. There are other good songs on there was well.

I think it would have helped him to release an Acoutsic version EP of some of the songs from the album. 11-17 sounds better acoustic. He already had an acoustic version of BTCAC recorded and his Walls Tom Petty cover. Plus, he was playing these songs in a more acoustic environment in some web features, so it wouldn’t feel like a stretch.

I don’t think the album hit everyone in his fan base, and that probably hurt it in terms of record sales. With Bulldozer he was able to release a safer modern Kevin Devine album, and experiment and go fuzzier grungey garage punk on Bubblegum.

 

BTC&C didn’t fully click with me until I revisited it around the release of Bubblegum and Bulldozer, but now it’s definitely top 3 of his discography for me.

 

I didn’t get to read this until after meeting him, but I got a signed Make the Clocks Move which leaves me just missing Circle Gets the Square, Put Your Ghost To Rest and Bubblegum for his main discography. But yeah, you really made my week/month/year/life so thank you.

And, I bought She Stayed as Steam on anazonmp3 I think. Is it not there anymore? I don’t know anywhere to get Driving Baby Lips though.

 

Here’s a photo of me with Kevin.

 

Sad that I forgot he was in the area this weekend. Never seen him play a solo set.

 

He was way up in Chapel Hill, so that'd be like, a 3-4 hour drive for you I imagine. He's in Asheville tonight, which might honestly be closer to you though!

 

he tours so much and yet is never in Georgia smh. re:btcac, it's not even like that out there for him. that it was his first completely full band record might be the weirdest thing about it but it frequently reminds me of split the country split the streets bc it's such a patient album. it does have crazy arrangements though

 

Well, if you need them, you know where you can find them

 

Don't you dare disparage split the country that way!

 

Split the Country is his best, BTC&C is not far off.

 

i love that album haha. it wasn't an insult. every one of his albums has a shot at being my favorite except for circle and I still really enjoy that one.

 

Fwiw when I interviewed him before Instigator, I made a point of telling him BTC&C (and specifically "I Used to Be Someone") featured my favorite writing of his and he said something along the lines of "Mine as well, although I'm not sure too many people agree with us."

Bummed me out because that album is incredibly underrated (I think almost each of his albums has been an improvement on the one before it).

 

The writing is good, I'm just not a fan of the production.

Someone else mentioned upthread that it sounded like a continuation of Kevermind, which I actually never pieced together until now but makes a lot of sense to me.

 

I think I agree, sort of. I think he's always had a baseline of quality and each release finds a way to stand out and earn it's place in his discography. the coldness of the production on btcac is part of the appeal to me. I feel like that's the album where lyrically he's the most in his head and the production just sort of extends that for me

 

Brother's Blood was the first album of his I heard, and part of the appeal of BTC&C for me has always been that, while I love Brother's Blood, it still feels like it's split between acoustic and electric tracks whereas BTC&C felt like the first time he took those two halves of his records and combined them into a truly cohesive whole. It's the first album of his that feels more like an album and less like a collection of great songs imho

 

And everything since BTC&C has felt like an expansion of that full-album mindset. I still think Instigator is his best yet.