The Putters

In the early '90s The Putters were one of those bands that were in perfect step with my idea of the sound from that period. Rather than listening to a lot of grunge, I was listening more to garage fueled punk and rock bands bands like The New Bomb Turks, Earl's Family Bombers, Zeke, Gas Huffer, The Fumes, The Supersuckers and The Putters. The Putters played around town a lot and put out a couple 7"s and one great LP on Empty (which kicks off with the totally rocking song "Muscle Car" and never lets up). Empty is still selling the album, it's definitely worth picking up. Singer James Erdman now fronts The Black Fairies. This live shot is from 1992 at The Off Ramp.

Band members: James Erdman on bass and vocals, Robert Scafe on guitar, Nathan Hill on guitar and Bryant Grace drums (Tony Hardiman was original drummer before any recorded material.

Funny story about the band's history from Nathan Hill's old website:

We were getting ready for a show at Speedy O' Tubs in Bellingham with Gas Huffer and to make a long story short, James and Tony got in a fight 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave and Tony quit the band on the spot. Desperate to carry on, I called my roommate Bryant and said "get your ass over here, you're playing with us tonight." Bryant and Robert went over the songs in the back of the truck on the way up. We played 5 songs badly and Bryant was signed up for good. With Bryant we went on to record the "John Hicks" single for Bag of Hammers, and the "Fear of Women" full length for Empty Records. Shortly before breaking up the Putters recorded 4 songs with Sean Hollister (of King Krab, Valis, Kitty Kitty): Kim, Selling A Bridge, Puerto Rico, and Revenge at John and Stu's Place in Seattle.

Discography:

• John Hicks 7" (1991, Bag of Hammers)
• Muscle Car 7" (1992, Empty Records)
• Fear Of Women CD/LP (1994, Empty Records)