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Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 1:53 pm
by captain2man
I think the most underrated band in the entire Lookout Records family was Nuisance.

I'm not even 100% sure where they were from, but I'm thinking the San Francisco/Bay Area, but I can't swear to it.

I was introduced to them back in the early 90s when I took a roadtrip with Garden Variety to a basement show in Montclair, NJ. The G.V. guys were raving about playing with them, but I had never heard of them.

Three piece band who wrote uniquely catchy songs that had complexity and subtlety that most of the pop-punk Lookout bands didn't have.

They had a couple of 7"'s on other labels (Kirbdog and Very Small) and two absolutely excellent full-lengths on Lookout - Confusion Hill and Sunny Side Down. I think they were touring Sunny Side Down when I saw them. I was blown away by the band just from the live show and ended up finding all their records afterward.

Haven't listened to them in awhile, but for some reason, they popped back into my head.

Never heard much from them again after that....I don't think they ever toured or came around again after that.....and since then, have just sort of drifted into the mists of time. But I think it's a band that a lot of folks around here would really dig.

YouTube only has a few songs from the first album....here's a good one (although by no means their best song or anything).

http://youtu.be/GHB2_HpMvKo

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 2:32 pm
by the mean
Saw this band 10 or so times. I like them quite a bit. I think the first LP is their highpoint. I always describe them to people as 1/3 Jawbreaker, 1/3 Nirvana and 1/3 alt-country.

Andrew Asp (singer/guitarist) did a band called Cropduster in the late 90s that was awesome. Take away that 1/3 Jawbreaker and replace it with more alt-country, making it 1/3 Nirvana and 2/3 alt-country and you can get an idea of what they sound like. Last song on that CD ("Wake for a Friend") is an amazing song.

He later was in that shitty band, The Pattern.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 2:46 pm
by Gary
I love Nuisance. The lp's are among my favourite Lookout! releases too.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 2:54 pm
by captain2man
Cool info about some of the post-Nuisance work....I may have to check out Cropduster....although I can't say I'm a huge fan of alt.country.

Weirdly, I also hear a very slight Screaming Trees influence there, too - I don't know.

I think I actually prefer Sunny Side Down over Confusion Hill.......but they're both great records.

Rdio - to my surprise - has Sunny Side Down for streaming (not Confusion Hill, though).

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:28 pm
by Chris Shary
I loved all the singles, but the albums didn't quite do it for me. They always remind me of Courdoroy as well. Another very overlooked band.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:57 pm
by Neal
i loved everything lookout back then, from hardcore to pop punk, but could never get into these guys. i tried again a couple years ago and still wasn't digging them. scherzo on the other hand...

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:49 am
by Dan Celebrity
Neal wrote:scherzo on the other hand...


No one ever mentions those guys! They should have been bigger. Did they do anything besides the LP and 7" on Lookout?

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:56 am
by Neal
Dan Celebrity wrote:
Neal wrote:scherzo on the other hand...

No one ever mentions those guys! They should have been bigger. Did they do anything besides the LP and 7" on Lookout?

that was it i'm pretty sure. but the singer and maybe another member went on to araby, who sounded like a more emo/dc version of scherzo. they had 2 7"s.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 8:45 am
by the mean
Dan Celebrity wrote:
Neal wrote:scherzo on the other hand...


No one ever mentions those guys! They should have been bigger. Did they do anything besides the LP and 7" on Lookout?

That was it.

Jon (vox/git) was later in John Henry West, Fade, Araby, Mercury, and Salem Lights. His brother Josh was also in Araby.

Marc was in a band called Enemy You. Not sure if Don ever did anything else.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 8:53 am
by gregpolard
I had one of their CD's yeaaaaars ago, back when I would literally buy anything with a LOOKOUT! logo on it. It had "Brown Eyed Girl" on it.....and it was very grungy. That's all I remember. I bet if I listened to them now I'd like them a lot more . Hmmmm

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:51 am
by captain2man
gregpolard wrote:I had one of their CD's yeaaaaars ago, back when I would literally buy anything with a LOOKOUT! logo on it. It had "Brown Eyed Girl" on it.....and it was very grungy. That's all I remember. I bet if I listened to them now I'd like them a lot more . Hmmmm


That was the first album - Confusion Hill.

Like I said, Rdio has the second one streaming.....I listened to it twice yesterday and fell in love with it all over again.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:35 am
by Dinko
That's funny, as I dug out Sunny Side Down on Monday, when I hadn't listened to it for years. Great record, "Worth the salt" might be my favorite track. I then listened to Monsula's Sanitized again. Going to check out Cropduster...

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:53 am
by BAIN
FUCK YES!!!

one of my fave bands.

the following song at 2:14 got me started on them and many other bands on the Very Small World Compilation

Here in its entirety = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFK7wHo1i08

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:44 pm
by the mean
Dinko wrote:Going to check out Cropduster...

I picked it up from No Idea, but it starts at $4.95 here:
http://www.amazon.com/A-Strange-Sort-Pr ... B00000JN6C

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 12:08 am
by FlexMyHead
For a while I was all about anything that came out of the East Bay/Gilman St scene.
Kinda stoner rock punk with gruff vocals and tin pot drums. I liked them lots.

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Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 8:48 am
by captain2man
Love those EPs as well.

their track on the Brouhaha comp 7" is also really good.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 11:01 am
by the mean
There is also a demo floating around online. The song from the "Floyd" comp comes from the demo.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 5:51 pm
by khenner70
Just came across this messageboard...

I played bass in Nuisance. We were from Sonoma County, about an hour north of San Francisco. Funny someone mentioned Screaming Trees - Andy and I really got into their early SST stuff in about 1989 or so.

Cool knowing we touched a few people. We did three big US tours and several small trips on the west coast. Those were some good times that I remember really fondly.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 6:13 pm
by captain2man
khenner70 wrote:Just came across this messageboard...

I played bass in Nuisance. We were from Sonoma County, about an hour north of San Francisco. Funny someone mentioned Screaming Trees - Andy and I really got into their early SST stuff in about 1989 or so.

Cool knowing we touched a few people. We did three big US tours and several small trips on the west coast. Those were some good times that I remember really fondly.


Hey Kyle.....I think I'm the one who heard the Screaming Trees influence........in any case......I saw you guys and actually specifically remember meeting you many years back on one of your tours.

Back in the early 90s or so I was sort of friendly with the Garden Variety folks and we followed them out for a show they played with you at a house in Montclair, New Jersey. It was a very unique type of house show.....the house (which was obviously owned by fairly wealthy people) had its own mini theater with a stage and seats....and they had shows there for a year or so. I don't remember any other "venue" quite like it.

If memory serves, you played with Garden Variety and a band called State Speed (a band I actually joined later on)....I was at a few shows there over a short time span so I might be mixed up about that, but G.V. definitely played it.

I had never heard of you guys going into it, but the G.V. guys were raving about you before the show, and you didn't disappoint. It was such a great blend of uniquely hooky songs with a high level of musicianship. You had both CDs with you and I bought 'em both and turned quite a lot of people onto you guys after that. Still dig 'em out from time to time and they definitely hold up.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:37 am
by khenner70
I do remember that show, the giant house and theater. And I do remember the name Garden Variety but I don't recall what they sounded like. I might even have a 7" by them still?

We did three big US tours and I think the show you came to was on our last one. We called it quits when we got home. Andy and I stay in close touch though. I live in Portland, OR and he's in Oakland, CA.

Cool to hear you still listen to the CDs once in a while. Those were some great times and I'm still proud of some of the music we made. This is the band I play in now: http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/songs/1928871

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:02 am
by captain2man
khenner70 wrote:I do remember that show, the giant house and theater. And I do remember the name Garden Variety but I don't recall what they sounded like. I might even have a 7" by them still?

We did three big US tours and I think the show you came to was on our last one. We called it quits when we got home. Andy and I stay in close touch though. I live in Portland, OR and he's in Oakland, CA.

Cool to hear you still listen to the CDs once in a while. Those were some great times and I'm still proud of some of the music we made. This is the band I play in now: http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/songs/1928871


Yeah - when you played with G.V., they probably only had the first 7". They ended up being around until the late 90s and put records out on Gern Blandsten and Cargo/Headhunter - they definitely had a very nice buzz and following before they eventually called it a day. The bassist/vocalist, Anthony Roman, went on to be in Radio 4 and their drummer, Joe Gorelick, currently plays in Red Hare (ex-Swiz). They were a great band and a great bunch of guys as well.

Glad you're still playing music. I'll definitely check out your new stuff.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 6:06 pm
by khenner70
Thanks for the info. I've heard of Red Hare before but haven't listened to them. I'll check it out.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 9:56 pm
by captain2man
khenner70 wrote:Thanks for the info. I've heard of Red Hare before but haven't listened to them. I'll check it out.


It's guys from Swiz. Good stuff.

I "fanned" your new band on Facebook - look forward to checking it out.

Stick around - this is a fun place for old, crotchety punk rockers to complain and argue about stuff.

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:53 pm
by khenner70
I'll keep an eye on things!

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:59 am
by Onlifecome68
thanks for the info dude... i am listening songs for now

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 2:10 pm
by captain2man
Onlifecome68 wrote:thanks for the info dude


Reviving a thread from the dead.

Still love Nuisance, though!

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 7:27 am
by BAIN
NUISANCE added to the Lookouting in January

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3424&p=52205#p52205

Re: Nuisance (the Lookout band)

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 8:16 am
by captain2man
BAIN wrote:NUISANCE added to the Lookouting in January

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3424&p=52205#p52205


I hope someone gets some good footage of that!