Hace Frio - The New Beat

What I remember most about The New Beat was Jim scrambling to get back to South Bend mid-Hace Frio/emiLy tour to pick up the tapes.  What struck me most about the recordings was that the first six songs or so were OK.  I was very pleased with the addition of the violin, and Rose's playing in general because it gave some depth to some of the songs, and added layers to the band's sound.  "Welcome to Semblance" and "Gray Shades" were always so much fun to perform.  We had just started to mature as a band I think, when this tape came out, and unlike the sweat-drenched summer of unbearable heat inspired songs of our first recording, The New Beat was crisper, and the recording quality better.  Most importantly, as Doug has pointed out repeatedly, we had fun.




We had played a few shows in Chicago and Michigan before we took off for the tour, and we had been lucky enough to open for some great acts, including several U. of Chicago bands such as Streganona and Toulouse, and the Chisel show at 702 W. Angela.  We even did a Michigan spot with Streg that was memorable for all the faces in the basement who had never heard us, but were into it, and the prodigious booze quaffed by both bands.

Hawking that tape on tour also was fun, I remember in Ohio hitting up every person in the club to buy them, lord knows where they are now. We seemed to keep running into straightedge folk on the tour, who Doug and Mike L. horrified by setting records for chicken wing consumption, and who Jim and I horrified by staggering around with 40s mid-day.  By the end of the Carolina leg of the tour, some of them liked us well enough to try and hitch a ride back to the Bend.  Amazing what a tour can do.



Back to the tape, Jim deserves mucho credit for his technical skill in recording this and the development of his bass lines. In listening to it 13 years later, I can recall the tour and waning days in the Bend, and also all the idealism and fun we had that year.

--Dave McMahon

listen/download:


see also:
Hace Frio on MySpace
Hace Frio - The College Years (1995-1996)