Scherler Sundays 02: Doug Martsch and John Atkins
Video still image from Andrew Ebright
This is the second collection of highlights from the Scherler Sundays 2022 concert and interview series.
Today, we have a document from an indie rock lover’s dream: Doug Martsch of Built to Spill and John Atkins of 764-HERO, and more recently, his new band Sun Breaks. Doug and John each play intimate acoustic sets behind the old Carnegie Library in Olympia. For this show, I interviewed the two of them together since they have a bit of mutual history in their formative years in their respective music careers- you’ll hear about that in a bit. I’m including about 20 minutes from each performance on today’s show, and it was really difficult to choose which songs. Doug had a terrific selection of familiar cover tunes, including ones by Cat Stevens and Mazzy Star that aren’t included here. If you want to hear the complete, unedited show you can find a link to that at patreon.com/lowprofile.
Doug Martsch is best known as the man behind Built To Spill, Boise’s undisputed kings of indie rock since the early 1990s, Treepeople before that, and a solo album called “Now You Know” released 20 years ago. Built to Spill also toured as the late Daniel Johnson's backup band, and shortly thereafter released the album "Built to Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnson" in 2020. But my first exposure to his music was through his band with Olympia’s Calvin Johnson on K Records, The Halo Benders. His wry lyrics and virtuosity on the guitar have made a life-long fan out of me from day one.
Three Magnets Brewing Company, this season’s collaborator, has also released several beers inspired by Built to Spill albums/songs, and were absolutely thrilled when Doug agreed to perform at Scherler Sundays!
Built To Spill has a new album, When the Wind Forgets Your Name, out this Fall. He plays a tune from it here, along with some other BTS favorites and a few surprising cover tunes.
John Atkins’ band 764-HERO toured with Built to Spill in the early 1990s when they were label mates on Up! Records, and this commonality inspired the idea to interview Doug and John together for this show. John’s music is cemented in the minds of indie fans in the Northwest and beyond. Following 764-HERO, the ever-evolving Atkins’ other projects Hush Harbor, and currently, Sun Breaks, have continued to create emotionally charged, contemplative records. Today, you’ll hear some favorite tunes from across the past few decades in John’s catalog.
This episode was recorded and engineered by Robin Carmosino behind the historic Carnegie Library in Olympia, WA on June 26th, 2022.