| Loomis |
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Having trouble finding a bass player Scott Schoenbeck of Alligator Gun filled in for the first demo. Then Rob Wernette joined the group for a couple of months of huge friction with Dave. This was fixed by Rob kicking Mike's beer over at a show.
Enter Chris Rosenau (Pele', Collections of Colonies of Bees, Sissy, Arion Black, Tussin, etc.) and all was well. With help from Josh Model and Jim (James) Minor the band was signed to Grass Records. They recorded their debut record in Madison, WI at Sleepless Nights and it was released in April of 1996.
The band did a little regional touring well not touring twice a month Loomis would go play somewhere in Wisconsin or Illinois. The CD got good reviews and sold ok for the amount of "touring" they did. In 1997 Loomis did a 4 song demo for their upcoming record with Bob Weston. Grass was supposed to pay for this, things got weird, no returned phone calls, Grass signed Creed, etc. Shortly Loomis was dropped.
The end came on a trip to St. Louis for the Riverfest music thing that I can't remember the name of. Friction in the band was high. No label. No one got along. No band.
The band has come together for one reunion show. Teaming up with alums Compound Red and Alligator Gun, Loomis rocked the planet once again in December 2006.
- Dave Kawczynski
SSS002
How Much Is Too Much
'Liberace' December 23, 2006
| Built On A Weak Spot |
Another sad and unfortunate tragedy of the Grass to Wind-Up Records switchover in the late 90’s was the promising Milwaukee, WI based indie-rock/emo outfit Loomis. After burning through a couple bassists in the bands earlier stages the group settled on the lineup of Mike Chubbuck (vocals/guitar), Dave Kawczynski (guitar), Chris Rosenau (bass), and Eric Marshall (drums). Although being based in WI, the band played a very similar sound to that of the Chapel Hill bands of the same era (Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, etc), but maybe with a bit less of the quirky nature of most of those. Instead they opted for some of the big melody approach of the Midwestern indie/emo bands of the time as well. While the combination didn’t really do enough to make them stand out, their lone 1996 album You’re No Tiger Meow, Meow, Meow released on Grass Records contained plenty of fine songs that should have and still could interest those that consider themselves fans of this type of thing. Solid all the way around, even if it isn’t something completely new or that hasn’t been done before. The band also released a few singles throughout their run together. Some of the odds and ends of the bands discography were collected on the 1999 2 disc compilation How Much is Too Much released on Sun Sea Sky Productions. Anyway, for those interested here are a few tracks from their fine 1996 album You’re No Tiger Meow, Meow, Meow.
Like I mentioned earlier, the band was ultimately left in the dust after Grass eventually morphed into Wind-Up. Loomis was in the process of recording new songs during the time of the switch; however the band split up not long after being dropped from the label. Since then the band has reunited once back in December of 2006 with fellow reunited Milwaukee greats Compound Red and Alligator Gun. Talks of newly recorded/re-recorded songs surfaced both before and after the show, but have since been quiet for a little over a year now. Regardless, for those interested in their one and only album and are digging the tunes above by all means head on over to Amazon and snatch up one of the many used copies available for cheap. Good stuff.
