Possum Dixon

Its a long overdue posting to my blog i know. But it was a grey summer. So it feels like most of whats in my head won't make for very fun blog reading, so instead, and to help me get into the swing of things, i propose the following.
A five part blog dedicated to the five greatest bands ever. Ever. If my ears fell off today and the doctors could implant a chip that only had the capacity for five bands, these are they. This, by the way, is a favourite past time of mine, the top five thing, and especially with music. Dont speak to me if i look drunk and contemplative, theres a good chance the first words out of my mouth will be "So you're stuck on this island and you can only take FIVE bands works with you..". I take it seriously, and quite often swear never to visit your island. I also recently read that the moment you turn thirty five your interest in music disappears. Totally. So best to get this out there while i'm still a spring chicken.

Part I: POSSUM DIXON
The indomitable Possum Dixon. Oh we are the poorer for your demise. Gifted to an almost religeous extent, you where dandelions floating through the MTv prescribed wilderness of the nineties. If we ever met, I would have bought you all long islands.

In 1995 my brother picked up a random cd in the local music shops bargain bin cos he liked the name. It had a greeny blacky cover with prints of guns on it, with the name Possum Dixon. It looked terrible. The only interesting bit was the inside cover, which had a few pics of the band at a gig, and wow, they looked insane. I wish I could say I listened to them and loved them, but I can't. For someone addicted to Weezer and the Pumpkins, this was a bit kak.
Fast forward to june 2001. I'm sitting in a 2nd hand cd shop in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. I'm in heaven, they seem to stock every rare band I've ever wanted to hear. The owner is a great guy, he's already given me a signed copy of Jimmy Eat Worlds rare 'Bleed American' cover, and then I notice he's wearing a faded Possum Dixon t-shirt. "What do you think of those guys?" I ask. I can't remember the response, but suffice to say I walk out of there with a copy of PD's "New Sheets"
Not a great album it must be said, but it got me interested in their other stuff I missed. Stuff like "Star Maps", one of my favourite albums ever. They've got so much going on there its beautiful.
Theres your standard crunchy riffs and edgy addictive beats the right side of pop. There's these off key piano lines that sound like someone smashing the keys, but its inspired and intelligent. There's these mexican slants to the guitar lines and shakers that leave the faintest aftertaste of tequila and sunburn. There's lyrics that are confounding until you let each line tell its own story.
Stuff like "The promises are breaking like dishes", or "We can bury the past in the earth beneath us." - I love it I love it!

Previous to Star Maps was the murky cd my brother had, and no its not kak at all. Its like they strung these little accidents and mistakes into a whole that makes perfect sense. Its raw and challenging, but not kak. Interestingly enough, some of their best tracks where'nt even on albums and appeared as singles, or even unreleased! "These Words" is Possum at their smoothest & sublime, but was only available as a download a few years ago.. So you get the picture? Young, arty underground indie guys take too much drugs and live under the californian sun. Nothing wrong!
Rob Zabrecky was on bass and vocals, Celso Chavez on guitar, Rich Tuel on drums and Robert o Sullivan on keyboards. I think the only one not on heroin must have been Celso, cos all the others always look like vampires. Why didn't they eat burrito's? I was in San Diego and thats all I ever ate. Two dollars a pop. Anyway, if the drugs helped them write better music then fairplay. Lyrics like:
"She's just come out of the bathroom
And she's rubbing her nose
She's just come out of the bathroom
And she's taking it hard." smack of it..

As for their name, I've read differing views. Some people think it came from a suspected murderer on some program called America's Most Wanted. I prefer the explanation that they took it from a Ford car of the same name, that only sold a handful cos they wheren't that good. You know, I'd buy one of them if I could.
But a band can't be one of the greatest just for their music, at least not with me. So what is it about Possum?
I think its the combination of a few things. To be honest, the biggest thing is that they never 'made it'. I'm a musical snob, so when I talk about Possum and people don't have a clue, it makes me happy. Especially when they are so great. From a musical perspective they must have been eight years ahead of their time. I mean, Beck used to open up for them..
It also feels, like any great band, that they're walking those hard roads with you. You can relate with the songs. Its personal. The lyrics often don't make sense, but they're so diverse you can bend them to your own means. Their official site is down now, but when it was up a few years ago, Rob and Celso would respond to fans like they where mates. You could ask them anything. They where very frank about their heroin use, apparently a big contributor to their demise: "Just say no kids. God knows we should have" I remember Rob writing.
Rob's wife commited suicide during the recording of Star Maps. I don't want to guess how this impacted on their music, just thought you should know.

So where are they now? Well Rob is apparently a magician in LA. Celso has started a band called Pill Module (Been waiting 2 years for them to finish an album now..). And I think Robert is a software programmer! (heh, thought it was supposed to go the other way around!).
But for a few years in the mid nineties they lived a life worth living, and hammered out songs like little explosions.

They are, and will always remain, one of the greatest bands ever.


A footnote: Out of interest, in my research for this posting i found a listing for a magic gig that Rob was doing. With none other than.. David Lovering from the Pixies. Told you he's good.