The Embarassment - Hey Day: 1979 - 1983 The axis of indie rarely passes through Wichita, Kansas but in 1980 that city spawned one of the great-undersung indie bands that spent their time crawling from post-punk towards the pantheon of College Rock. They split
their sound between the button down pop of The Feelies and the sandpaper punk of Mission of Burma. Both bands seem to fit perfectly in The Embarrassment's company and between those cornerstones and the fact that the band's name finds its sources in Vonnegut, it’s a wonder how I ever lived without these guys in my own teen years. The band earned a fairly solid reputation for their live shows, which lead to solid openings for Iggy Pop and John Cale and eventually to becoming one of the early, early Sub Pop releases during their cassette days. All these seem like hallmarks of a band on the rise to fame but keep in mind that the label was barely on its feet and lineups and fans remain shaky prospects. Just on their upsweep through college radio, with the release of their seminal, and frankly essential Death Travels West EP, the band called it quits, with favorable reviews rolling in long after they were no longer together. As the band splintered Brent Geissman joined college staples The Del Fuegos and Bill Goffrier formed Big Dipper, solid second stringers in their own right. To date their albums and EPs lack proper reissues (someone get on a vinyl version of Death Travels West) but Bar/None has wrapped up the essential early catalog with Hey Day: 1979 - 1983. This is one for all the misfits looking for solace, if The Embarrassment isn't in your life yet, perhaps it should be. Listen: Support the artist. Buy it HERE