In April of 2005 I decided to book myself a solo tour, but more importantly pointed my car toward Athens, Georgia with one thing in mind. I was going to see The Olivia Tremor Control play their first reunion show at the 40 Watt. My favorite band. The greatest band of all time.
About 8 months before, my band The Poison Control Center had been invited to play Athens Pop Fest and met its mastermind Michael Turner from Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records (HHBTM). We were loud, probably a little out of control, did our whole Poison Control Center thing, and somehow created a little buzz around town for being ballistic and wild, but also just genuinely excited to be playing the town where our heroes were from. More importantly, we made a few friends because of it. Mike being one of them.
So when I decided to book a solo tour around the OTC reunion, I reached out and asked if I could crash while I was in town. He said yes. Of course he said yes. And then I pushed it… hey, can I come a few days early and maybe play a show or two? He said yes again. That’s just who Mike is.
When I got there, Athens had been hit with an abnormal amount of spring rain. Stuff was flooded, water sitting on rubber roofs, including the roof at the legendary Wuxtry Records-Athens where Mike worked. One of the most famous record stores anywhere. The place where R.E.M. members Peter Buck and Michael Stipe met. Where DangerMouse had worked. And at the time, where john kiran fernandes of The Olivia Tremor Control was working too.
Because of the rain, Dan the owner needed help cleaning things up so…
Mike got me a job there for the week. Just like that. Mother nature handed me a soggy ticket to a dream job in rock and roll paradise.
So I spent my days in that record store, side by side with John, and Mike listening to weird music, talking music, meeting people, just soaking in Athens. And I learned pretty quickly that Athens runs on its own clock. Everyone stayed up until like 4 in the morning and slept until noon. I had been on tour, sleeping in cars, staying up late… but Athens was different. Slower. Dreamier. Full of southern charm.. just not before noon. I was still waking up at 6am, going on runs, feeling like I was living in a completely different time zone than everyone else.
The night before the OTC show I played a solo PCC set at Little Kings and, needing to keep the Poison Control Center reputation alive, I tried to do a backflip with my acoustic guitar off the bar. Tried being the key word. Looking back now, I think… man, what if I would have wrecked myself and missed the OTC show? That would have been brutal.
The next day I got to the venue way early, which wasn’t hard since most of the town was just waking up. I grabbed a couple tall boys of PBR and parked myself front row, right in front of where Will Cullen Hart would be.
I have never been more excited for a show in my life.
They all walked out. Bill stepped up to the mic and said, “Good evening, we’re the Olivia Tremor Control…” and then just… noise. Beautiful noise. Tape manipulation, sound effects coming from everywhere, everything swirling, and then they hit into “A Peculiar Noise Called Train Director” off Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One and I just remember that utopia "feeling shooting up my spine. Total disbelief. It felt so real and unreal at the same time.
"Where we are in the blink of an eye you get several meanings…"
What I didn’t know at the time… was that somewhere in that same room was Ron Kwasman.
Ron… who I’d later get to know as one of the kindest, most supportive people I’ve ever met. The official unofficial archivist of Elephant 6 Recording Co. A collector, a musician, a filmmaker, a podcaster… but really just someone who loves this music as deeply as anyone I’ve ever known.
Years later, my bandmate Joe and I finally met him when we were on tour with Casper & the Cookies and stayed with Ron in Chicago. Joe and I, basically brothers, probably had a few too many, and we’re standing in front of one of the greatest record collections we had ever seen… arguing about The Kinks Loud, dumb, passionate. I think he was saying Village Green was better than Arthur. And I was fighting for Arthur.
And Ron, perfect host, calm as ever, just goes…
Fellas… one’s peanut butter and one’s jelly. They’re both great on their own, but together… there’s nothing better.
Yoda level wisdom.
And it just stopped us, we instantly chilled. I still think about that all the time… why was I arguing like that about music I loved so much?
That’s Ron. Just steady. Thoughtful. Always about the bigger picture and the story that picture tells.
Ron and Will Cullen Hart became best friends over the years. Not just friends, but collaborators. Ron understood what Will was doing in a way not many people could, and he’s made it part of his life to keep that music alive and moving forward, even after Will’s passing.
On a few trips to Athens to visit Will, Ron came across a box of CDRs… Will’s recordings in all kinds of disarray. Fragments, ideas, pieces of something bigger just sitting there. Hundreds and hundreds of tracks earmarked for The Olivia Tremor Control or Circulatory System releases… a library of sounds unheard and unreleased. And thankfully, Ron did what Ron does… The ever so present preservation society... he preserved them. Took the time to digitize them so they wouldn’t just disappear. So they wouldn’t be lost.
Which brings me to this.
I consider myself so lucky to own the original Black Swan Network 7-inch from 2000, part of that HHBTM singles club box set Mike put together… but now that 7-inch is coming back as something bigger and even better...
Black Swan Network – The Early Music Vol. 1
Expanded into a full 12-inch, built from those very recordings Ron took the time to save. That in-between space after Olivia Tremor Control and before Circulatory System. You can hear Will figuring it out in real time. Painting with sound. Lo-fi psych melodies. Weird textures. Ideas drifting in and out. It’s raw and beautiful and it feels a little different every time you listen.
Ron and Mike, along with Kelly Hart, made sure this music didn’t just sit somewhere unheard. Because it deserves to be heard.
I’m just really grateful. Grateful Rudy Fischmann Mathew Bell and I got to talk to Ron about all of this on Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts . Grateful for the music. Grateful for the people behind it.
The world misses you, Will.
Ron and Mike have always been people who show up for the music and the artists behind it. Over the years they have showed up for me too. And that means more than I can probably ever say out loud.
Like them… this music never ends.
It just keeps finding new ways to show up.
Listen to the new episode of Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts Now! Streaming everywhere!