Silkworm: C/D?

Midgett & Cohen have a new band called Bottomless Pit...

Indeed, and here's some promo guff I just got:

The first release on the newly formed Comedy Minus One label (formed by My Pal God's Jon Solomon) is the debut compact disc by Chicago's Bottomless Pit, titled Hammer of the Gods which streets on Nov. 6. Bottomless Pit is the new group formed by erstwhile Silkworm members Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen. They are joined by longtime friends Chris Manfrin (Seam) and Brian Orchard (.22). Hammer of the Gods is soulful, emotionally intense, and often transcendent post-punk that is as inviting as it is bracing. The band has a handful of shows coming up and will be touring more extensively in the near future.

Promos available upon request.

Bottomless Pit - Hammer of the Gods Track List:

1.The Cardinal Movements
2.Dogtag
3.Repossession
4.Leave The Light On
5.Dead Man's Blues
6.Human Out Of Me
7.Greenery
8.Sevens Sing

Press Photos:
http://www.forcefieldpr.com/pressphotos/bottomlesspit/

BOTTOMLESS PIT LIVE DATES

Friday October 19 - Cactus Club - Milwaukee, WI
Saturday October 20 - Coral Room - Madison, WI
Saturday November 3 - Brillobox - Pittsburgh, PA

www.bottomlesspit.us

www.myspace.com/bottomlesspitchicago

www.comedyminusone.com

www.myspace.com/comedyminusone

And here's the mp3 for "The Cardinal Movements."

I like this. I'm glad they're still making music, it would have been even more tragic if they stopped after the accident.

i saw bottomless pit live they were good. i'm excited for the double 45s...cool idea...

the Bottomless Pit album is really, really good. Like, REALLY good.

Great to hear. Must check it out.

5.Dead Man's Blues

this was my favorite track on the CDR they sold on tour, very Silkwormy

looking forward to hearing the album

"Reposession" is fantastic

This Bottomless Pit rekkid is just slaying folks - utterly awesome songs - just wish it was longer. Anyone know if there's any US dates on tap?

going to see bottomless pit tonight : ) : )

we were gonna tour together before my health went down the tubes :(

oh really?? jeez that sucks.
i'm sorry yr feeling poorly j0hn get well.

kadane bros. from bedhead are on the bill tonight as well so it sounds like there will be some collabo jamz.

it's all right I'm on the mend thank you matt!

bottomless pit was great, last time i saw them was one of their first shows they've gelled a lot since then.

but yeah honestly great stuff. the kadane bros. did a mix of bedhead, new year, and new stuff off an upcoming album. they are sorta doomed to be the really unpopular Low, but i think they are great.

STNNNG opened and played bunch of amazing shit, the best being "A Tremblin' Blues" which imagines that Physical Grafitti-era Led Zep wrote a 7 minute version of "Salad Days" by Minor Threat.

IN THE WEST

i don't get the firewater love, this band was never the same after phelps left. this brings me back to high school.

i love pre- and post-phelps silkworm, "libertine" and "firewater" are my two faves

libertine is amazing, yes. firewater, i don't mind, but phelps's contributions were an essential part of the trifecta which made silkworm work for me.

btw matador has found some old LPs in a warehouse, firewater and developer on vinyl on their site for cheap

cutty do you have any of the phelps downer trio stuff? it's pretty good too.

i like all eras of this band.

whoa thanks dude! i just picked those up.

i've never listened to phelps-era silkworm; but trio silkworm/bottomless pit is probably top 5 all-time for me

IN THE WEST

i don't get the firewater love

I like In the West but to me they transitioned from (sometimes literal) Pavement followers / noisy indie into more of their own thing (even if their "own thing" has heavy Television + Neil Young vibes). and the lyrics became a bigger deal -- Miracle Mile, Don't Make Plans This Friday, Slow Hands all some of my favorites by them. even if it is sort of a downer record

even if even if

cutty do you have any of the phelps downer trio stuff?

i love the phelps solo stuff, yes. did any here get a chance to see silkworm with phelps?

i've never listened to phelps-era silkworm

this is mind boggling. he has the best songs on the first two records.

my firewater and developer lps got here today; rockin out to firewater now and soooooo happy

please try the earlier records, thank you

ordered libertine 20 minutes ago--just for you, cutty

is in the west OOP? because i will post it here.

amazon sez: physical version has been discontinued, still available from amazon mp3 tho

also check out the marco collins sessions EP

my firewater and developer lps got here today; rockin out to firewater now and soooooo happy

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, April 7, 2009 9:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
just curious, is your firewater 1 lp or 2?

No more simple tunes
No more easy poon
It takes so many millions to get laid

great, great opening line

it's 2 lps. 10 bucks from the matastore!

completely addicted to the two bottomless pit records.

particularly "red pen." great, great song.

really into bottomless pit now too

yeah, I keep putting the congress EP on again because I wish there were MORE.

Man every single time I play Lifestyle I'm reminded of why I fucking love rock music when the guitar solo kicks in on "Around the Outline".

fucking incredible record imo

It really is.

the "AIN'T YOU EVER BEEN ALONE IN YOUR LIFE?" part of the chorus to "Treat the New Guy Right" might be my favorite moment in any rock song ever

So hard to pick just one moment though. Really loving the "Ooh La La" cover, so good. Why the hell weren't these guys ever huge?

yepppp

they were huge. for me.

cutty otm

Why the hell weren't these guys ever huge?

I think part of it is that, for the press, they weren't a band that presented any kind of really appealing built-in "story angles"...you know, like for instance Animal Collective or Joanna Newsom or Bonnie Prince Billy or Pavement etc etc

like three/four workmanlike midwest regular dudes playing rock that split the difference between 90s indie and 70s classic rock but not in a flashy way

but isn't that basically GBV's story, too? And they had more success than Silkworm ... I guess GBV had Pollard's bajillions of songs + hard drinking live show as a story hook.

Also Pollard's former life as a school-teacher was a pretty big hook too, especially when you read 90s interviews.

gbv was catchy. i love silkworm's pretty lackadaisical approach to writing choruses.

yeah also GBV were such a drunk circus live

Silkworm was a huge band for me too. I was more of a Libertine/Firewater fan than Lifestyle, but "Treat the New Guy Right" is definitely one of their best songs ever.

also a big fan

I finally got around to seeing Bottomless Pit live about 4-5 months ago and it was great. I can't get into the records as much as Silkworm but it was just amazing to see Midgett and Cohen, they're an intense live band.

Yr welcome!

I hate this band. Not trying to start nothin', I just do.

You don't deserve them obviously.

I am trying to start somethin'.

lol

The drumming alone elevates it above 90% of other bands.

it's still possible that ice station zebra is the greatest song ever written

indeed

the new Mint Mile album is good

xpost one of the many things I love about that song is that it totally wouldn't work if he didn't pronounce it zeb-brah

Drudge sirens and klaxons!!!

https://www.stereogum.com/2297783/silkworm-plan-fall-reunion-shows/news/

Tomorrow (Feb. 21) Silkworm are releasing an expanded vinyl reissue of their 1997 album Developer via Comedy Minus One. The beloved indie rock outfit was active from 1987 to 2005, and broke up due to the tragic death of drummer Michael Dahlquist who was killed in a car accident caused by a woman attempting to commit suicide. Now, 20 years later, Silkworm are apparently getting ready for some reunion shows.

The band’s Andy Cohen and Tim Midyett went on the Kreative Kontrol podcast and revealed that they’ve put together a reconfigured Silkworm with original member Joel RL Phelps, who left the group in 1994. Cohen, Midyett, and Phelps played some songs in July of last year in Zion, Illinois at a memorial for the late Steve Albini. They were joined by drummer Jeff Panall.

“Well, I’ll tell you up front that I think there’s a very good chance that we’ll be playing a couple shows in September with Joel and Matt (Kadane) will be playing keyboards, from Bedhead who played in the latter day period of the worm,” Midyett said on the podcast.

“So, it’ll kind of be an alternate history worm, where Joel never left,” he continued. “And Matt was in the band, and we met Jeff Pananall instead of Michael. But I think that’ll happen in Chicago (on) September 26, and then a couple of days later in Memphis at Goner Fest.” (UPDATE: After the interview, Midyett clarified the Chicago show will be Sept. 25.)

The new edition of Developer has five Japan-only tracks and a Bob Dylan cover with Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus. But for now, check out the podcast episode below.

I know Jeff! And any additional Bedhead content is always good with me.

nice. i was wondering if something was up since they just launched silkworm social media accounts and posted pics with joel

these shows conflict with work for me, so I'm bummed, but I also cannot believe Phelps is on board -- I think something very special is gonna happen with these shows, hope there are more

copped my ticket to see silkworm (or at least tim, andy, joel, and a drummer) here in chicago on sept. 25!

https://media.brooklynvegan.com/xxrzsfjkyw/uploads/2025/12/03/silkworm-2026-tour.png

got tickets for boston, excited!

Missed them here for those two shows a bit back, but bought tickets for this one. Literally down the street from me!!

who's playing drums? dalhquist was integral to this group, take a real champion to fill those boots...

My friend's husband Jeff, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xkqepYQkYE

I caught one of the Sleeping Village shows (and COVID for the first time - totally worth it) - great song selections and they played their hearts out. Don't miss 'em.

I was at both Sleeping Village shows! such great nights, really liked that venue

Missed that first run of reunion shows, but I'm seeing them down the street tonight!

awesome!! you're gonna have so much fun

i had tickets for the boston-area stop next week but it's conflicting with a work trip :(

Good show! Everyone I was with who saw them earlier in the reunion said this was an improvement (and people loved those shows). So many familiar or half-familiar faces around in the dark. Musicians, poster artists, engineers, (current Chicago resident) Malkmus was there ...

I have two tickets to the Brooklyn show this coming Monday, but I am going to have to skip it because of an issue with my knee. If there are any ilxors who would like the tickets and I can figure out how to transfer them, I am happy to send them along.