Lync (band)

The group was formed by Sam Jane, James Bertram and Dave Schneider in 1992 in Olympia , Washington . Prior to this, the team members were high school students. After recording a five-track demo in 1993 ^[2] , the group debuted on a split single with Excuse 17 , which was released under the general name “Youth on Fire” on Candy Ass Records ; the first side was occupied by two Excuse 17 songs, while on the second side was the original composition Lync, a six-minute “Firestarter” ^[3] . The split was followed by the singles “Pigeons”, “Mhz” and a tour of the cities of the US West Coast with the group Unwound , which, like Lync, was part of the music scene of Olympia ^[4] . For a short time, Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse ^{[5] [6] [7]} played in the band.

In 1994 , as part of the “International Pop Underground” series, K Records ^[1] released another Lync single “Two Feet in Front” with the song “Lightbulb Switch” on the back ^[8] . Meanwhile, Jane and Bertram took part in Beck's recording of One Foot in the Grave . Jane recalled:

“Before recording One Foot in the Grave, Beck came into my apartment, and my room was stuffed with various electronic and recording equipment, video games and other rubbish, and I think he was surprised at how strange I live. Or completely shocked. We immediately became friends, I liked him because he was really wonderful ” ^[9] .

Original text

Before Beck's One Foot in the Grave was recorded Beck came over to my apartment and my room was just packed with electronic stuff and recording stuff and video games and whatever and I think he was kinda impressed at my strange existence. Or totally weirded out. We got along off the bat, I liked him because he was so weird.

Sam and James acted as vocalist and bass player, respectively. Also, Jane, together with Beck, wrote the song "Forcefield", which was included on this album ^[10] . Another composition - the instrumental Black Lake Morning, written by Beck, Jane, Bertram and stylistically reminiscent of Lync, was placed on the deluxe edition of One Foot in the Grave ; Beck and Jane played acoustic guitars, and Bertram played bass ^[11] . Also, a joint photograph of James and Beck became the front cover, and the photo of Sam fell on the inner cover of the album. In addition, Lync opened several Beck concerts in January and April in 1994. ^[12] On July 15, Lync performed at the Yo-Yo a Go-Go festival, which took place from the 12th to the 16th at the Olympic Theater Russian Capital " ^[13] . In addition to Lync, such artists as Yo La Tengo , Codeine , The Stinkypuffs (together with Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl ^[14] ), the aforementioned Unwound, Beck and many others ^[13] also took part in the festival. On July 25 ^[15] the first and only studio album of the band These Are Not Fall Colors was released , recorded over the spring and summer at Reciprocal Recording ^[16] (by which time it had changed its name to John and Stu's Recording ^[17] ) known for the albums Dry as a Bone ( Green River ), Screaming Life ( Soundgarden ), Superfuzz Bigmuff ( Mudhoney ) and Bleach ( Nirvana ). The Allmusic website , giving the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, noted, among other things, the compositions “Cue Cards” and “Angelfood Fodder and Vitamins”, “together forming the same magnificent piece of music as“ Stairway to Heaven “” ^[18] . On October 11th, at the Seattle club Velvet Elvis, the last Lync concert took place. That evening, the trio shared the scene with the bands Modest Mouse, Candy Machine, Hush Harbor and Christopher Robin ^{[19] [20]} . Among the songs performed were Silverspoon Glasses, Uberrima Fides, Two Feet in Front and Cue Cards ^{[21] [22] [23]} .

In 1997, a collection of singles and unreleased songs Lync Remembering the Fireballs (Part 8) was released . The album was mixed by Bertram and Pat Mayley at Yo-Yo in just a few hours ^[24] . The CD edition, unlike the vinyl , contains a live version of The Last Song ^{[25] [26]} , recorded in mid- 1994 at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley , California ^[24] .

Sam Jane, right after the breakup of Lync, began the solo project Love as Laughter , which after a while became a full-fledged group ^[27] . The first studio album, The Greks Bring Gifts, was released January 16, 1996 ^[28] and was a mixture of indie , folk and psychedelia ^[29] . Among his inspirers, James put Tom Petty , Bruce Springsteen , as well as such rock groups as The Rolling Stones , Shocking Blue , Thin Lizzy and T. Rex ^{[30] [31]} . The second album # 1 USA , released on January 27, 1998 ^[32] , was already recorded as a full-fledged group. Jane’s former Lync colleague, drummer Dave Schneider ^{[33] [34] also} joined the then line-up. The band’s latest album, Holy , was released in 2008 ^[35] . Love as Laughter continues to this day. On the band’s official page, their sound is described as “ Neil Young leading the Black Flag under LSD ” and “ Henry Rollins singing for Deep Purple ” ^[30] . For a while, Jane was a member of The Boggs .

In 1996, James Bertram and Dave Schneider joined Built to Spill on tour, as documented on The Normal Years . After that, Bertram, together with Jeremy Green, the drummer of Modest Mouse , formed the band Red Stars Theory , and later, for a while, joined the 764-HERO . In addition, James participated in the Pennsy's Electric Workhorses Songs, which limited itself to the release of the eponymous mini-album and single “Fransse” ^[36] . The latter, at the moment, his work as a bass player was captured on the album of the same name by the group Psychic Emperor, which was released in 2004 ^[37] . Bertram currently manages the music label and merchandising company Luckyhorse Industries.

Schneider, soon after collaborating with Love as Laughter, joined the postpunk band Satisfact . In this composition, the group recorded their last album, The Third Meeting at the Third Counter ^[38] in 1998 and broke up in 2002 .

Tom Lomacchio made a cover of the song “Firestarter” from the split single Lync with Excuse 17 ; a version of Lomacchio was released in 1998 on the B side of his single “To Wanter and to Fade” ^[39] .

• Sam Jane - vocals , guitar
• James Bertram - bass , vocals
• Dave Schneider - drums

Studio albums

Collections

Singles

• Lync official Facebook page
• Lync on Bandcamp
• Lync on Discogs
• Lync on the AllMusic website
• Sam Jane's official Facebook page
• James Bertram's official Facebook page
• Dave Schneider Official Facebook Page