The Streams flow again tonight, Dec. 17, through the tributary of Café Nine.
In the early ’90s music scene around here, The Streams should’ve stuck out more than they did. But you had the rising Gravel Pit, the aggressively self-hyped Mighty Purple, the theatrical Blind Justice, slick bands such as The Fictionals and a glut of punk and party bands. So bands of slightly older vintage, based on solid songwriting and musicianship, weren’t the attention-grabbers they might have been in other eras.
David Brooks’ first band in the area was the Lean-Tos, a literate and austere act that put out a single EP and wafted away. They didn’t have much more to show for themselves publicly—a couple of 45s, a few well-placed live shows (including opening for Matthew Sweet at Toad’s Place), but Streams seemed stronger. Which I think is why they’re resurfacing now.
I’ve written about The Streams’ singles on this site before. I also have in my possession some old cassette tapes David Brooks gave me from those days. I played one, “Sugar Shack,” once when I was a guest on WPLR’s Local Bands radio show. Now that same recording (remastered) of “Sugar Shack” graces a Streams CD along with a host of songs of theirs from the same era which I’d never heard (and I was one of the nudgiest fans David had in terms of wanting to hear his recordings). The Local Bands show, I’m told, has been playing The Streams every week for weeks now, breaking a longstanding policy about not granting such regular airtime to any one band.
The Streams didn’t seem like a supergroup in the early ‘90s. They were unassuming. Their other projects could be as slow-moving or quirky as The Streams. But they were a hugely important band of the time, reliably good, dismissive of trends or hype, doing David Brooks’ own thing with focus and clarity. But look at that line-up: Spike Priggen, who’d been a formative part of several long-lasting bands of the ‘80s local band scene, including his own Hello Strangers. Jeff Wiederschall was the Miracle Legion drummer turned Baby Huey. Bill Beckett was the latecomer, but fit in smoothly due to his time with the folk-po-bar-band Mocking Birds.
David Brooks’ thing, at the time, involved songs based on Civil War themes. He wasn’t writing a concept album. He wasn’t a one-trick pony. He wasn’t even unduly obsessed with the 19th century. This was an honest inspiration, the spark for songs which transcended time and place. David added power chords and tough beats to folky acoustic rhythms. A songspoken guy, the songs allowed him to rage a bit, naturally, as their emotions built.
They’re extraordinary songs. They don’t require special knowledge of the Civil War, just an understanding of human drive and determination. The suffering of soldiers on the battlefield can be a metaphor for struggles in all relationships. “Virginia Hellhole” is also just a captivating phrase to heard sung.
Joining The Streams, appropriately enough, is Mocking Bird frontman and PLR Local Bands DJ James Velvet with his band The Ivory Bills.
As with 20 years ago, this sounds will resound outside the current fashions. But you don’t need to know your history. You just need to show up.