Chocolate USA Reunion

[alljetsaregonnafall]

Since the Olivia Tremor Control Reunion has already passed, and a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion is far, far away, I say we go for the next best thing. A CHOCOLATE USA REUNION! Well...maybe it's not the NEXT best thing. But it would be pretty badass... Anyone who agrees say "I!"

Julian has posted two things on The Music Tapes board before. So we know he's at least HERE with us. Maybe he'll read this?

[Gokk]

http://www.toaster.org/cards/toast.jpg

[Edited on 12-17-0606 by Gokk]

[alljetsaregonnafall]

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!?!?!?!?!?


(very dramatic)

[SlowCoreSadness]

I doubt a Chocolate USA reunion will ever happen. I'm pretty sure that band has permanently been laid to rest.

[alljetsaregonnafall]

yeah yeah yeah. i know. but i think it would be cool if julian at least formed a band. even if the name isn't chocolate usa.

[theoperahouse]

Yeah! and he should give it a really cool name! Something that sounds kind of like it shouldn't be a band name, but is related to music! Maybe like "The Tapes." Nah, that's lame, too bland. Oh, i got it! THE MUSIC TAPES!

amazing.

[alljetsaregonnafall]

tee hee. hilarious. i meant something along the lines of chocolate usa. because everyone can agree that chocolate usa and the music tapes are two completely different sounding bands.

have you ever considered being a comedian?

[SlowCoreSadness]

So is Julian to Chocolate USA what Jeff is to NMH? As in did he write the songs and had a band to help him play them? Sorry, I'm still not too hip to Chocolate USA, but I was wondering if he has performed any of those songs live as the Music Tapes...

[wheretreesgo]

Originally posted by SlowCoreSadness
So is Julian to Chocolate USA what Jeff is to NMH? As in did he write the songs and had a band to help him play them? Sorry, I'm still not too hip to Chocolate USA, but I was wondering if he has performed any of those songs live as the Music Tapes...

Yeah. Julian pretty much wrote the songs for Chocolate USA, and then I think he got a lot of friends to collaborate and stuff. I don't think he's ever performed any Chocolate USA stuff as the Music Tapes, because the Music Tapes is something entirely different, entirely personal. Chocolate USA was signed on Bar/None Records, and I read that Julian didn't like the pressure of having to make music for a label, for profit, and that's about the time he revived his Music Tapes project.

So yeah. Chocolate USA reunion is really unlikely. Cuz, ya know, you can't grow backwards, only forwards....

[alljetsaregonnafall]

wow, i haven't ever heard about him ending the band because of the label and the profit. thanks for sharing. im guessing that the music tapes is kind of like...chocolate usa is a more mature form?

[keithblock]

Julian hated anything to do with business and the real world. I'm guessing that he still does (I don't like it either, but I deal.) We sat on our hands for too long waiting for him to act back then. A solid year of rehearsal with no shows and a year's income wasted against a profitless venture. We had an entire album in '91, written and arranged, then scrapped. Sorry to step on anyone's bunny rabbits.

[jkirkpleasant]

wow, it sounds like you're still holding a grudge against julian who was what, 16? 15? who isn't terrified of dealing with a bunch of con artists who are forever trying to market and manipulate vulnerable talented kids.

[keithblock]

I don't hold any grudge, in fact I remember those days fondly and have always maintained a huge respect for Julian, even as he disappointed us on a practical level. (I'd feel safe in saying that Bar None was let down as well. They weren't con artists.) It was a nothing like the story that prevails though. For the record, he was 16 when we started and 21 when I was "let go." He was quite young indeed, but not immature. It seems that he's still banging that Peter Pan gong, but it's an affectation. I shudder to think how old he must be by now. I refuse to do the math on that one.

No, I don't have any Chocolatey Good Smash Hits Tapes either. Contrary to the bio, there were only 4 or 5 issues of them and they were far from monthly, more like bi-annual. Circulation was 15-20 tops. "Playing in the Mud" from the hidden tracks of Smoke Machine is a good example of Smash Hit content.

I'd like people to know that we never told very much of the truth in the first place, and that the internet has mainly perpetuated those stories. No regrets mind you, I still don't think that the truth was nearly as compelling. That practice seems to be in place still, but I can't be sure, not knowing the reality anymore.

You should hear the demos we made with Kevin Barnes when he was 17. He was pitching hard to Bar None, as "Barbara," a duo act with his HS friend Jackson. Bar None sent him to us (in 1991 or 1992), apparently for guidance, and to make better demos. I'm not sure that we helped him much, but it was clear even than that he had huge potential. The 3 songs we did were pretty good, with the standout being "13," a jump rope rhyme sort of thing about one day being 13 years old. You know, when you're BIG.