Get Ready… This Is Going to Be Embarrassing.
But as Dan Bejar says, “I’m a dreamer, watch me dream.”
Between the ages of 14 and 17, I had a secret imaginary band called HARP. Not just a passing thought.. a real imaginary band. Just me. Yes, I was in high school. So cool right?
I drew posters for HARP shows, designed album covers, even mapped out setlists for festivals where we shared the stage with Pavement, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fiona Apple, and Green Day. But the heart of it happened late at night, alone in my room, standing in front of a full-length mirror. Plastic baseball bat in hand like a guitar.
Our setlist was made up of classics Bohemian Rhapsody, Penny Lane—those were HARP songs, Not Queen of the The Beatles. But we didn’t have anything that felt new, anything that belonged to us..
That changed when I was 17.
That’s when Tripping Daisy released Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb. It quietly took hold of our small town—well, maybe just me and a few friends in Sibley, Iowa—but it felt massive. To me, the album was everything: wild, melodic, punky, psychedelic, playful, strange, sweet… and deeply emotional.. and the production was unreal.
So, of course, I decided that Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb wasn’t Tripping Daisy’s album anymore. It was HARP’s. We’d play it front to back, every night, on every imaginary stage.
I’d close my bedroom door, crank the volume, and go on tour in the mirror and the mind. I’d leap off the bed like it was an amp, strum my baseball bat, fall to my knees during emotional solos. Every night was a concert. Every song was ours.
Those mirror shows were more than high schooler fantasy they were a rehearsal man. And years later, when I found myself doing splits, kicks, and chaos on stage with The Poison Control Center, I might not have played guitar as good as my bandmates, but fuck my moves were down.
A few weeks ago, I finally got to see Tripping Daisy live for the first time.. on the 30th anniversary tour of their album Elastic Firecracker, at Wooly's in Des Moines. After the show, I got to meet Tim DeLaughter, their lead singer, who’s now probably better known for The Polyphonic Spree.
I said, “Hey, it’s such an honor to meet you, thank you for the show. I used to have a fake band called HARP… and when I was 17, Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb was our album. I played along to it almost every night in my room on a plastic baseball bat in front of a mirror.”
He looked me in the eyes and smiled—sincerely, warmly.
He said, “Wow. That’s great, man. That’s so awesome. Thanks so much for telling me.”
At that moment, It wasn’t embarrassing at all. Because sometimes when you tell another dreamer your dream, they get to be part of it, and they get to watch someone else's come true. It's good to be in other peoples dreams.. Right?
I didn’t tell him that I went on to play hundreds of real shows, using the very moves I practiced to that record. I didn’t have to. He knew what he had done for me.
That record didn’t just inspire me, it gave me permission. It made me believe. It made me want to do it.
While other bands in the late ’90s leaned heavier or grungier, Tripping Daisy went weirder.. more psychedelic. That album carved out its own strange, beautiful universe.
And at the glowing center of that universe is the perfect song: “Sonic Bloom.”
It sounds like how new love feels. It sounds like being lit up from the inside. That dizzy, hopeful, euphoric feeling when your heart starts to float. I’ve always loved songs that try to describe what love feels like and Sonic Bloom absolutely nails it. Emotional Mysteries to come.
That’s why I had to talk about it with Rudy Fischmann on the Perfect Songs podcast for Discograffiti - Patreon ONLY sign up
Big thanks to Dave Gebroe for making the best Deep Dive Music Podcast in all the land.. Check out his huge The Beach Boys Pet Sounds Series Now he just interview fucking Graham Nash
Thanks Tripping Daisy for the rock
By Patrick Tape Fleming