Under the Radar : Damnations, TX / Half Mad Moon (1998)
8.8
When I attended my first SXSW, in 1999, there was no band I wanted to see more than Damnations, TX. Fronted by sisters Amy Boone and Deborah Kelly, their debut, Half Mad Moon, had the unlucky timing of being released in 1998, a year in which I probably bought 100 CDs and alt.country, a genre that the Damnations sorta fell into, was on supercharge. But they crept through, and when I finally got a chance to see them, if memory serves, in that huge park in Austin, I was thunderstruck. Those harmonies. The guitars. The songs were just perfect.
Mind you, 1999 was wayyyy pre-Interactive, and SXSW Music was still home to up-and-comers. Damnations, TX were one of about 50 bands I intended to see. Bottle Rockets, Joe Henry, Spoon, Meat Puppets, Josh Rouse, Slobberbone, Calexico, Lucinda Williams, Freakwater, Flaming Lips. And I'm just getting started. But there was something about the Damnations, TX. Half Mad Moon was just a blowout, jaw-dropping debut. And as I'm listening and typing, it sounds just as good today, now just shy of two decades later.
The songs on this record are so damn contagious that, unlike almost any other record save the true greats, I can remember points in time when this record complimented a moment. I was on a business trip in France in 2008, and I vividly recall sitting on a bench and looking over the Mediterranean with the album's closer "Catch You Alive" blasting. At the time, I think France was the third country I'd ever been to outside the US, and that song and visual remains forever stitched into my past. Since that moment, it's been one of my favorite songs. While working at the digital-music start-up SNOCAP, I made a mix CD for my buddy Danny. About a week after dropping it onto his desk, he walked over, "Man, who sings that song 'Kansas'?" Yep, Damnations, TX.
They had it. And just like that, they were gone. Half Mad Moon was actually released on a major, Sire/Warner, the same label that brought Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar up the chain. But then it was effectively over. They went on to quietly release their follow-up, Where It Lands, on an indie in 2002 and they were gone. How could a band this good not make it? I mean, these were Everly Brothers harmonies but fueled by a Texas grit that had you thinking of Gram Parsons one moment, and The Replacements the next. Gorgeous yet furious.
I've been singing the praises of the Damnations, TX for as long as I can remember. And I can't imagine that'll end anytime soon. Some bands just can't be forgotten.
When I attended my first SXSW, in 1999, there was no band I wanted to see more than Damnations, TX. Fronted by sisters Amy Boone and Deborah Kelly, their debut, Half Mad Moon, had the unlucky timing of being released in 1998, a year in which I probably bought 100 CDs and alt.country, a genre that the Damnations sorta fell into, was on supercharge. But they crept through, and when I finally got a chance to see them, if memory serves, in that huge park in Austin, I was thunderstruck. Those harmonies. The guitars. The songs were just perfect.
Mind you, 1999 was wayyyy pre-Interactive, and SXSW Music was still home to up-and-comers. Damnations, TX were one of about 50 bands I intended to see. Bottle Rockets, Joe Henry, Spoon, Meat Puppets, Josh Rouse, Slobberbone, Calexico, Lucinda Williams, Freakwater, Flaming Lips. And I'm just getting started. But there was something about the Damnations, TX. Half Mad Moon was just a blowout, jaw-dropping debut. And as I'm listening and typing, it sounds just as good today, now just shy of two decades later.
The songs on this record are so damn contagious that, unlike almost any other record save the true greats, I can remember points in time when this record complimented a moment. I was on a business trip in France in 2008, and I vividly recall sitting on a bench and looking over the Mediterranean with the album's closer "Catch You Alive" blasting. At the time, I think France was the third country I'd ever been to outside the US, and that song and visual remains forever stitched into my past. Since that moment, it's been one of my favorite songs. While working at the digital-music start-up SNOCAP, I made a mix CD for my buddy Danny. About a week after dropping it onto his desk, he walked over, "Man, who sings that song 'Kansas'?" Yep, Damnations, TX.
They had it. And just like that, they were gone. Half Mad Moon was actually released on a major, Sire/Warner, the same label that brought Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar up the chain. But then it was effectively over. They went on to quietly release their follow-up, Where It Lands, on an indie in 2002 and they were gone. How could a band this good not make it? I mean, these were Everly Brothers harmonies but fueled by a Texas grit that had you thinking of Gram Parsons one moment, and The Replacements the next. Gorgeous yet furious.
I've been singing the praises of the Damnations, TX for as long as I can remember. And I can't imagine that'll end anytime soon. Some bands just can't be forgotten.
