PAW
This Lawrence, Kansas, USA quartet formed in 1990 with brothers Grant (guitar) and Peter Fitch (drums) and bassist Charles Bryan, recruiting vocalist Mark Hennessy (b. Mark Thomas Joseph Brendan Hennessy, 6 May 1969, Kansas, USA) from local art-noise band King Rat, which Hennessy described as a period when "I thought I was Nick Cave". Paw were the leading local band, and picked up support gigs with Nirvana and the Fluid before recording their first seven-song demo at Butch Vig's Smart Studios in Wisconsin, which led to an enormous major label bidding war, won by A&M Records. Newsweek described Paw as "the next Nirvana', but Hsker D, Dinosaur Jr and the Replacements were probably better reference points for Dragline"s marriage of melody and raw guitar power, with a distinctive small-town storytelling aspect to the songs. "Sleeping Bag" was perhaps the most poignant, telling the childhood story of a car crash that hospitalized the seriously injured Peter Fitch; when older brother Grant feared the worst, he slept in Peter's sleeping bag, "as corny as it sounds, just to be a little closer to him". Dragline deservedly received universal acclaim, and the band toured exhaustively, earning an excellent live reputation, touring Europe with Therapy? and Hammerbox, the UK with Tool, and both the UK and USA with Monster Magnet, as singles "Sleeping Bag" and "Couldn't Know" brought them a wider audience. The band returned to the studio in late 1994, but without Bryan, who had tired of the endless touring. The results were displayed on Death To Traitors, an assured album with some outstanding vocals from Hennessy.
Listen to PAW
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Albums
- (1993) Dragline
Top Tracks
- Jessie
- Couldn't Know
- Sleeping Bag
- The Bridge
- Dragline
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