Barsuk Records is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and in Seattle there's a bunch of shows with their bands, past and present, performing. I sort of wish I could be there for some of them.
There's a nice lil oral history of Barsuk in the Seattle Weekly, which includes an interview snippet with my former roommate Joe, because he was a part of that little thing that got big, and so was I, but I was not on the inside of the inside. I was just there, on the periphery, hoping to do the things they did do. That night I was at the OK Hotel because I was trying to help another band, also from Bellingham, start their own label since Elsinor chose to pretend they didn't exist. They were the opening act that night, so I attended to sell their merch and stuff.
JOSEPH CHILCOTE (co-owner, Elsinor Records) It was a ball. I remember all of us getting together at the OK Hotel on the Seattle waterfront to draw the rowboat for the cover of Something About Airplanes. We all drew a rowboat on a cocktail napkin. Chris Walla was the winner.JAY CHILCOTE That was the perfect marriage of the two labels. Hand printing with a die-cut oval, but then drawing the physical artwork image on a napkin in a bar.
That was my pen Walla drew the boat with. I walked in before the show and there were the DCFC, Barsuk, and Elsinor people, sitting at the table, and Chris asked me for a pen. He drew that boat with it on a napkin. They put it on the cover of their first record.
So, I guess you could say I'm pretty famous and important. Because he wouldn't have gotten a pen from anyone else. Nope.
