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Lifter Puller (the wrap up)
Thank You For The Music
by Celeste Tabora
The discovery of their break up was sudden. Singer/guitarist Craig Finn gave me the news over the phone, as I was fixing to set up an interview for thier now cancelled Seventh Street Entry show. It took me a moment to process what he revealed, and before I could think to say anything more eloquent, I had already blurted out "What?!" In response he plainly construed that there were other priorities to be concentrated on. The band has had it's run.
The setting sun was glaring against the Weisman's shiny aluminum exterior. Lifter Puller's latest addition, bassist Tad Kubler begins, "I've told this story about thirty times now, it's going to seem a bit rehearsed. Those guys have been doing this for five to six years now. I don't want to speak for anyone else; I think they're a bit fried."
Kubler has a lot to say about the split. Wanting to get back into the combo of singing and playing guitar, as he did for his past bands like KT88, Kubler shrugs this band's end as commonplace. "To be honest, it wasn't even a decision that I made. It was an amicable split. I think it's unfortunate that it ended when it did, but bands break up all the time."
Although we're interrupted by a few friends' greetings as they pile into the building, Kubler didn't lose focus; he followed the subject right where he left off, "(We) have made sacrifices as far as our careers. I think some of us question how much longer we can continue this lifestyle. We hear people say, 'You guys are on the verge (of making it).' Well we're not. We don't have a record label that can pay for us to record the way we want. We don't have a booking agent. Craig's been on his cell phone non-stop. We're out on tour on the west coast, and he's on the phone booking an east coast tour. It's obviously hard for Craig to be away from his wife while we're on tour. He's delt with so much of it for so long."
Squinting the sun out his view, Kubler pauses and sighs, "I think Steve and my behavior probably got to Dan a little bit more than I'd like to admit. But there was no particular incident... It was just time to do other things. It's a hard lifestyle. I have no problem sleeping on pool tables or next to litter boxes, however that's not the case for everyone. You have to respect that too. It's better to leap across the finish line rather than limp."
July 29th's performance of Lifter Puller's "Nassau Coliseum" brought a tear to my eye. The band looked exhausted; the crowd's attention was given wholly to the band. During those last moments panic filled eyes as the mic was breaking up, the room kept growing increasingly humid, and the bodies against the stage were falling against and into another. "Nassau Coliseum" was imperfect; And that in itself was perfect poetry in motion. Expressions on the sea of sweaty faces told a million stories. That moment was somethng short of saying farewells to a cherished friend moving far away, never to return. It would be the last song. This was a moment of Minneapolis Rock history.
It had been five days since that show when I sat down with guitarist/keyboardist Steve Barone and drummer Dan Monick. The overcast day on a busy intersection of Lyndale fit the mood for a discussion about their break up. I began by asking if it was forseen. Monick started in, "I was just tired, that's all. I wasn't forseeing a break up, I was forseeing quitting the band."
Barone sips his iced coffee and explains, "I spoke to Craig about it. We didn't want to get another drummer and call it Lifter Puller. I think Craig was burnt out too. He's married and has other priorities. We cancelled the rest (of our shows) because we didn't want to do the 'Hey, we're breaking up at the end of the summer.' When you decide to break up, you break up. You don't go on."
Monick provides a comparison, "Like giving your two weeks notice. How much work does anybody really do when they give their two weeks notice?"
Barone, or 'Steve Dude' as he is fondly reffered to, had hopes of a return of their former bassist, Tommy Roach, who was with the band before Kubler joined in 1998, "I was concerned about Tommy not being mentioned in any articles. He recorded three records with us. He had to quit; he was getting his PhD in Cultural Studies at the U." "He didn't play on any of the singles. We did a bit of touring and he was starting to fail out of school so he was like- 'I gotta stop.' He left under these terms, and then we got Tad and he worked out pretty great," states Monick.
We spoke a little more on Lifter Puller's history; covering earlier line-ups, recording and touring stories, then eventually got to talking about their final performance. Describing that night, Monick smiles, "It was classic during the last song. Everything's falling apart; the mic's gone out, Dave Gardner- who recorded our records and, for history's sake, is an important member as anyone else was- was crawling around on stage, on his back trying to fix things. Tad's doing his thing. It was totally hillarious. Everyone had this panicked look. I was just like: these are the last four bars or measures that we're gonna play and everyone should just relax. I was laughing. Personally, I thought the last show playing-wise was a fucking disaster. But I thought it was apt for the scenario." There was no encore. That was it.
"We rarely do encores," Barone states.
"Nine times out of ten, when we do an encore, something would fall apart. We play a good set and we leave it at that. And I think that was exactly how we felt about ending the band," Monick, whose photography can be found displayed at St. Paul's Turf Club for the run of a month, closes the discussion.
Now continuing and concentrating on his other musical project, Hawaii, among others, Barone seconds that emotion. "Good anaolgy," he compliments Monick.
It was difficult to catch up with bandleader Craig Finn, who left for a stint in New York a few days following their last show. After a few crackly cut up cellular calls, I finally had to settle for an electronic mailing. In the reply touched on the vibe on the last show, "(That) was a great way to end it. The turnout was tremendous and the energy from the crowd was fantastic. It didn't hit me that it was the last one until we were all loaded up and went home." His reply also contained the aforementioned subjects of exhaustion and moving on. He wrote shortly and sweetly, "When I started LP, my intention was to play some shows and put out some records. I feel like we had more than accomplished that. In the Spring of this year we did more touring than we had before. At 28 and married, I found that I didn't want to do much touring. Rather than hold on and just play Mpls, it seemed a good time to bow out and do other things. I still consider the former members of Lifter Puller to be my best friends and my only regret is that we never got to do any touring overseas."
Thouroughly pondering of the band, Lifter Puller were to Indie Punk what the Pixies were to Pop Rock. Their hybrid of rap-singing, story telling, diverse, powerful beat-y rock was refreshing upon first witness, and catchy enough to keep you coming back for seconds and thirds and... Forcing a reluctant wave goodbye at one of the finest bands to call Minneapolis home, I give props. Respect and thanks, you will be missed.
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