Carry you away

This record is the only single I know of by Dr. Janet, an indie supergroup from the time before the members were famous. Or somewhat less obscure anyway. Screaming Trees guitarist Grant Lee Connor sings and plays guitar. Connor wrote the excellent a-side “Ten Years Gone” Ira Kaplan from Yo La Tengo plays bass & guitar and I’m pretty sure that’s him singing “Starry Eyes”, the Records cover on the b-side. Lyle Hysen, the drummer for Das Damen, played ‘drums and wires’. Matt Sweeny, who played bass and guitar on the songs that Kaplan didn’t play on, had been in Skunk who did a couple of great records on Twin\Tone in the late 80’s and later played in Chavez.

I don’t know any of the history around this record or the band. The songs were recorded at Water Music in Hoboken in 1990. The record was the first release on Ringers Lactate Records. The way the songs cut off at the end makes me think that the band wasn’t recording the songs deliberately, it’s more likely that they were fooling around in the studio while the tapes were rolling. I wonder what else Dr. Janet recorded that day?

Where are they now? Gary Lee Conner recorded a few more albums with Screaming Trees and became famous. I don’t know what he’s been doing since the Trees broke up in 2000. Ira Kaplan is still playing guitar and singing for Yo La Tengo. After Chavez, Matt Sweeny played in Billy Corgan’s Zwan and Guided by Voices. Currently, Matt is touring and recording with Bonnie Prince Billie. Lyle Hysen worked at Matador Records and then he moved to Bankrobber Music. Hysen’s name was in the news a few days ago which reminded me of this 45 and led to this post.