I can't remember what originally compelled to click this thread and start listening to the music, but US Maple has to be one of my favourite ILM finds of the year and possibly fave ILM find full-stop. Been listening to Acre Thrills and Talker on near-enough constant repeat over the last few weeks. Their whole approach feels so fresh to me at the moment.
― Nose-Punk Era (Mr Andy M), Tuesday, 1 December 2015 17:22 (eight years ago) link
They are a treasure that only grows more wonderful with the passage of time. A true wonder of a band.
― grandavis, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 19:51 (eight years ago) link
We're only talking five relatively short albums, but there's something in them that keeps me thinking there's even more (that I missed the last time) when I go back to them, despite playing them many times. It's not that I'm missing anything specific, but they have that quality that suggests so, keeps them fresh IMO
― Master of Treacle, Wednesday, 2 December 2015 01:10 (eight years ago) link
Interviewed Al years and years ago, just dug up a couple of great quotes:
A lot of people who may come see the band but who haven’t heard the records may think it’s improvisation. I really want to get away from that. It may sound silly, but in my heart of hearts, I would like U.S. Maple to be taken in as a Black Crowes song can be taken in, on some levels.
I don’t think we’re that complicated. We continue to go back to the still to generate this liquid that has the same ingredients as early Journey. I’m telling you, they’re there. The difference is the arrangements. They’re just presented in a different way.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 December 2015 02:07 (eight years ago) link
!!!!!!!! acre thrills documentary surfaces online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loni6SVagbw
― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 24 December 2015 15:00 (eight years ago) link
so cool to hear them talk about songwriting and how they worked as a band...and Country Kitchen and Hardee's namechecks
― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 24 December 2015 15:03 (eight years ago) link
Pretty sure this is the same thing that's been up for a while. Still great, but I don't think anything has been added.
― dlp9001, Thursday, 24 December 2015 16:27 (eight years ago) link
Purple on Time is literally a masterpiece
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 22 June 2017 04:33 (six years ago) link
New Dead Rider album in September: https://deadrider.bandcamp.com/album/crew-licks
― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 22 June 2017 16:46 (six years ago) link
greatest band!!!!!!
I still rock a Purple on Time era Maple shirt and man not many people recognize it but the ones that do it's like we are BFFs
actually was at the May Day parade and met a woman who went to college we Shippy she was like "Why are you wearing my friend's band's shirt?" I didn't get the sense she knew they had gotten much acclaim
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 22 June 2017 16:56 (six years ago) link
Holy shit @ the Grateful Dead cover on the new Dead Rider album!
― cwkiii, Saturday, 21 October 2017 02:08 (six years ago) link
there's a new shippy ensemble album out toohttps://billingtonshippywyche.bandcamp.com/album/billington-shippy-wyche
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 21 October 2017 02:22 (six years ago) link
just make your bedroom GODDAMN GREAT!
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 21 May 2018 20:01 (six years ago) link
high SCHOOOOOOOOOL
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 21 May 2018 20:04 (six years ago) link
did US Maple and Jesus Lizard ever play any Chicago doubleheader sets where David Yow & Al Johnson did a band swap? that woulda been pretty neat, they shoulda done that
there's still time
― del griffith, Sunday, 27 May 2018 22:07 (six years ago) link
who's sitting on the bailey / maple tapes?
― massaman gai, Monday, 28 May 2018 19:02 (six years ago) link
I know a few Jesus Lizard fans who absolutely hate US Maple, go figure. I don't remember them sharing a bill, since they only overlapped a little, but I guess it was possible? I wouldn't want to be any band opening for the Jesus Lizard.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 29 May 2018 11:58 (six years ago) link
From an oral history:
DENISON We played a bit with a few different bands, but not that much in Chicago. Pegboy or U.S. Maple or (John Forbes's band) Dirt—which later became Mount Shasta—or Tar. Eventually those bands developed their own things and played their own shows.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 29 May 2018 12:00 (six years ago) link
In my experience Maple had a unique ability to alienate audiences that loved very abrasive or noisy music because those audiences (JL for example) were totally fine with dissonance as long as the music rocked in a pretty conventional way but Maple's rhythmic weirdness and refusal to coalece into a groove you could nod your head to really drove ppl nuts (and Al's whole thing being a lot weirder than Yow who was still in line with an assaultive hardcore template in many ways)
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 29 May 2018 12:38 (six years ago) link
Cows maybe the only other band of the era who could be so uniquely unsettling (in a their own way)
the state of US Maple is bad
― the burrito that defined a generation, Saturday, 1 August 2020 03:18 (three years ago) link
US Maple is never bad
― grandavis, Saturday, 1 August 2020 03:26 (three years ago) link
I dunno man, Dead Rider went nowhere, I haven't seen Al since 2004, what's even going on? What are we left with?
― the burrito that defined a generation, Saturday, 1 August 2020 03:28 (three years ago) link
I liked that song they did where it sounded like it was falling apart
― the state is bad (Left), Saturday, 1 August 2020 03:30 (three years ago) link
Shippy has been making lots of music in Chicago but I haven't seen him pop up since covid
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 1 August 2020 13:13 (three years ago) link
Yeah I like that trio Shippy has with Ben Baker Billington and Daniel Wyche, though I have only heard the one release on Astral Spirits. Nice to hear his playing in that kind of context though, and they are all very good players.
"What are we left with?": all of the great records that U.S. Maple made. I get the sentiment though hah hah. Very little else like that particular sound.
― grandavis, Saturday, 1 August 2020 17:51 (three years ago) link
Right, but I was just summoning Left
― the burrito that defined a generation, Saturday, 1 August 2020 18:48 (three years ago) link
Aw, Dead Rider is certainly no patch on US Maple, but I dug Crew Licks. Never did get around to hearing that record with Paul Williams though.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Saturday, 1 August 2020 18:53 (three years ago) link
saw Dead Rider last summer at a fest in Iowa, absolutely amazing
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 1 August 2020 19:38 (three years ago) link
just bought Talker on vinyl off their Bandcamp, what a record
Whoa, cool! May have to grab a copy of that myself (no idea where my CD is).
― grandavis, Saturday, 1 August 2020 19:45 (three years ago) link
yeah I don't know why, I wonder if they found a couple of boxes in a closet
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 1 August 2020 20:58 (three years ago) link
Huh, they have copies of "Acre Thrills" too. I mean Drag City has copies of stuff I am often surprised by, so they must occasionally just put stuff back in print when it is sold out (maybe?).
― grandavis, Saturday, 1 August 2020 21:21 (three years ago) link
Drag City reissued Talker last yearhttps://www.dragcity.com/news/2019-07-25-talker-returns-to-the-conversation
― Mike Dixn, Sunday, 2 August 2020 00:49 (three years ago) link
listening to Long Hair in Three Stages, this rips so hard
and you say......you ASShole!
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 8 May 2023 18:31 (one year ago) link
It sure does. I am sad I never got to see this band live, they are just so good.
― grandavis, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 17:23 (one year ago) link
I saw them once (Purple On Time tour, new drummer). It ruled.
― flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 19:24 (one year ago) link
Wish I had Long Hair on vinyl, prob my favourite album that I don’t have on that format— too expensive to consider tho
― flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 19:25 (one year ago) link
This was always my jam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH3VawiyTMw
We used to stumble across US Maple sets enough that my wife hates them to this day.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 19:29 (one year ago) link
My wife saw them once (opening for Pavement or something), and hated them... tho she also saw Royal Trux somewhat early on, and says they were awful; I'm jealous about that, lol (didn't see them first until '97).
― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp), Tuesday, 9 May 2023 19:33 (one year ago) link
I saw US Maple open for Royal Trux!
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 19:48 (one year ago) link
I opened for US Maple!
― hellboy falling through the bar (Matt #2), Tuesday, 9 May 2023 20:44 (one year ago) link
I have multiple US Maple CDs!
― ionjusit (P. Flick), Tuesday, 9 May 2023 21:26 (one year ago) link
I apparently stopped reading the thread after my last post because assuming a person named above is the same one I've met, I saw Cheer Accident play in her apartment many years ago
― mh, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 21:37 (one year ago) link
Fond memories of getting bored of the party I was hosting and putting on "Hey King" and doing dual air guitar opposite my buddy Jessie, the funnest best way to end a party
Sometimes I reply "maybe!" to somebody with the same inflection as the band does on "Running From Kabob" and smile, inwardly
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 10 May 2023 00:22 (one year ago) link
For as fucked up as their music is (in a great way!), I was shocked by how note-perfectly they replicated it live. They were tight. Miss u, boos.
― Beautiful Bean Footage Fetishist (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 01:01 (one year ago) link
Breaking US Maple News: the Peel Session has leaked.
― Pataphysician, Friday, 2 June 2023 12:39 (one year ago) link
Wow loving this
― sotd: guerlian jocky (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 2 June 2023 12:42 (one year ago) link
Also another interesting document on the same channel: something called "The Miracle of Recreation", Part 1 and Part 2.
― Pataphysician, Friday, 2 June 2023 12:46 (one year ago) link
Whoa seems they are playing with most of Melt Banana on that Peel Session? Wild pairing.
― grandavis, Friday, 2 June 2023 15:39 (one year ago) link