Band

The Early Years

Their musical teeth were cut in living rooms and basements, filed in laundromats & pavilions, and chipped at the Battle of the Bands at the local bowling alley—sometimes while not even in the same band.  Just as Robert Johnson was to meet his destiny at the crossroads, the artistic and musical paths of Neil Eifitz, Chas Hollywood, & Lars Bumgratenschlef were destined to intersect.

The first exposure to multi-track recording came after a visit to Dream Studio, run by an aspiring singer-songwriter, Jim O’Brien.  Inspired by the possibilities, Chas & Lars, in a flurry of creativity, and using the pen names of Gene Tobelsnaz & Sampson Burzitz, wrote & recorded Love Songs for Matty, quickly followed by Love Songs for Matty Vol. 2.   The cassette-only releases gained an underground following in the greater Selkirk area, but the duo had their sights set on the horizon.

As fate would have it, and as the haze cleared after four-years of Stoli-pong, Neil, Chas, & Lars each found themselves on the west coast, living in California.   It was then, in the Fall of 1996, that Lüt was born. Using borrowed equipment from Neil’s’ new-wave neo-pop ensemble, they set up a recording studio in the basement of an upscale San Francisco flophouse and hit the record button, resulting in The Devil.

Pre-Y2K Disaster

The late-1990’s continued to be a productive period for Lüt.  While Lars was not always easily located, often times turning up in gardens and car trunks, Neil and Chas kept the torch burning.  Meeting in various “seedy motels,” they plunged into writing and recording the Stinkpants EP.  Shortly after that, Chlorine Dream was started in San Francisco and completed in a small Santa Barbara studio.

Stinkpants was a critical success in some circles, especially among the southern California inhalants scene.  However, as their fans’ minds dwindled, so did album sales.  Undeterred, Lüt pressed on and, in 1999, recorded Oppenheim’s Everett Quackenbush.  It’s a powerhouse of angst and balladry; sometimes called Lüt’s “Led Zeppelin II,” OEQ shows a new maturity in songwriting for Chas and Neil.  This is also the first example of their use of trans-continental recording practices—at that time, actually mailing CDs of their respective instrument and vocal tracks to one another.  Still recovering from his accident with a Sandvik Stradivarius saw in a Hudson Valley mental hospital, Lars appears on guitar and organ on only a few tracks.

Catharsis

Except for the two years of doing absolutely nothing, Lüt sets to work on their most ambitious project to date. Released in 2003, their first concept album, Love Songs…(And Other Songs That Used to Be Love Songs Until That Bitch Left) arrives at a perfect time for the band.  Reeling after a bitter break-up from a part-time cocktail pianist—and former Mrs. Chas Hollywood (see “Bernice” on Chlorine Dream)—Neil hits rock bottom.  Not only thrown asunder by band in-fighting, grievances over the long-standing Tennessee Whiskey verses Kentucky Bourbon debate, and issues about ex-wives, etc., the band members were now even more distant geographically to boot, living in the three opposite corners of the country.

Even so, as J.R.R Tolkein writes, “From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring;”  and lo, this became the battle cry in the recording studio, albeit somewhat abbreviated after several months of recitation. Realizing their differences were more the same than not, the trio began recording, mailing tracks, and even utilizing the latest in dial-up technology to achieve their vision.

to be continued…