Indie-rock hero co-headlines SF show with acclaimed local songwriter
SAN FRANCISCO -- Pavement co-founder Spiral Stairs (aka Scott Kannberg) co-headlines this show at the Bottom of the Hill Friday night with prolific local songwriter and collaborator Kelley Stoltz.
Kannberg and high school friend Stephen Malkmus put the Central Valley city of Stockton on the map in the late '80s when the pair started recording music together as Pavement in 1989. A series of tuneful, lo-fi noise pop EPs established the group as a unique new voice the underground rock scene, earning the band critical praise and comparisons to like-minded post-punk mavericks including Mark E. Smith's group The Fall, R.E.M and Sonic Youth.
By the time Pavement recorded its proper debut album Slanted and Enchanted, the band had filled out to include drummer Gary Young (who helped record and produce the early EPs at his home studio), bassist Mark Ibold and percussionist Bob Nastanovich. Matador Records released the album in 1992 was quickly hailed as a modern rock classic with its mix of fractured arrangements, indelible melodies and Malkmus' well-crafted lyrics.
Pavement would rise to become one of the most beloved bands of the decade, producing a string of celebrated efforts including the equally adored, more accessible 1994 follow-up Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, the following year's sprawlingly experimental Wowee Zowie and the focused indie-rock tunefulness of Brighten the Corners.
The band dissolved following their swan song recording Terror Twilight in 1999, but Malkmus and Kannberg has already ventured into solo work and other projects prior to the official split in 2000. Kannberg unveiled his SF band Preston School of Industry, while Malkmus launched a solo career and eventually formed a new group, the Jicks.
Kannberg released two efforts with Preston School of Industry before issuing his first album under his Spiral Stairs moniker in 2009. A round of Pavement reunion shows at a variety of festivals and a headlining tour followed in 2010, but even after that jaunt ended Kannberg would occasionally team with Malkmus. He joined Malkmus and the Jicks for an encore at a show in Los Angeles in 2014 and two years later played a number of Pavement songs with the group when they headlined a pair of 50th birthday shows at the Chapel in San Francisco.
Kannberg has been on a creative tear since then, issuing the acclaimed album Doris & the Daggers in 2017 with contributions from fellow indie heavyweights from Broken Social Scene and the National and the eclectic We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized in 2019. Despite being occupied by the long delayed latest Pavement reunion that was announced that year but didn't actually take place until this past summer (as well as the challenges presented by the pandemic, relocating his family several times and the 2021 death of longtime bandmate and bassist Matt Harris), Kannberg managed to craft some of his most compelling tracks yet for Medley Attack!!!
For this co-headlining show at the Bottom of the Hill Friday, Spiral Stairs is joined by album collaborator and recent Pavement tour opener Kelley Stoltz. While he initially worked in the music industry while living in New York City during the '90s, Stoltz didn't release his first album until 1999 after he had relocated to San Francisco. Recorded entirely solo on four-track over the space of several years, The Past Is Faster announced Stoltz as a talented songwriter with a gift for crafting lush, lo-fi pop psychedelia.
His follow-up effort Antique Glow two years later found him upgrading his home-recording setup to a Tascam 388 1/4" reel-to-reel tape machine and further spread the word of his music with CD releases by Bay Area imprint Jackpine Social Club in the U.S. and Raoul Records in Australia.
With his profile raised by reviews praising Antique Glow and his full album tribute re-recording of the classic Echo and the Bunnymen album Crocodiles (Stoltz's version -- entitled Crockodiles -- was tracked in just a week), the musician stepped up his international touring and eventually got signed to Sub Pop Records.
His debut EP The Sun Comes Through in 2005 and subsequent string of albums for the label offered further proof of how Stoltz had refined his knack for Beatles/Beach Boys hooks and harmonies while maintaining the sometimes fractured sonic aesthetic of his home recordings. He also branched out and helped other Bay Area artists in the studio, including garage rockers Thee Oh Sees and fellow songwriter Bart Davenport.
Stoltz would eventually move on from Sub Pop after the release of his 2010 effort To Dreamers, issuing his next album Double Exposure on Jack White's Third Man Records three years later and opening on part of the tour promoting the White solo record Lazaretto (the guitarist has long been an admirer of Stoltz's, bringing him along as support for a tour by power-pop supergroup the Raconteurs a decade earlier).
The songwriter has maintained a high level of productivity in the years since, releasing six albums under his own name along with additional side project efforts -- including a concert recording by the fictional band Strat (Live at the Whammy Bar) and the collaborative Falcon/Faulkland set Energy Beats Perfection made with Garth Steel Klippert -- as well as spending two years as touring rhythm guitarist for Echo and the Bunnymen.
In 2021, Stoltz released both the punchy collection of "power pub" anthems Hard Feelings and the more pop-minded Ah! (etc), which features contributions by Echo & the Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant, noted local singer Karina Denike (Dance Hall Crashers, Red Room Orchestra) and guitarist/songwriter Allyson Baker (Dirty Ghosts).
Stoltz and his band featuring Baker and guitarist/keyboard player Doug Hilsinger (Bomb, Enorchestra) also took the stage last February at the Chapel for two outdoor dinner shows celebrating Ah! (etc) with a psychedelic light show by Mad Alchemy and Stoltz singing from a third-story window to be in compliance with the COVID restrictions that were then in place for live performance.
In November, Stoltz and company played the Great American Music Hall for a special show marking the 20th anniversary of Antique Glow and its deluxe reissue on Third Man Records. When he originally self-released the album two decades ago, Stoltz pressed a limited number of records that he adorned with unique hand-painted covers from reclaimed thrift store LP jackets. Those copies have become coveted collectors items, fetching hundreds of dollars on eBay.
This new expanded vinyl and digital reissue of the album by Third Man features a treasure trove of bonus material. With difficult-to-find cuts that were on an Australian tour-only CD as well eight additional tunes from the Antique Glow-era that have never been released before, the deluxe remastered edition of Stoltz's one-man bedroom studio masterwork features twice as many songs as the original version. The always busy Stoltz released his latest solo effort The Stylist last June. Pop-minded Oakland indie band Blues Lawyer opens the show.
Spiral Stairs and Kelley Stoltz with Blues Lawyer
Friday, January 20, 8:30 p.m. $15-$20
Bottom of the Hill