Drop Nineteens...

The shoegaze movement of the early 90’s was primarily a product of England, however, as big as it became it was surely bound to crossover in the states just enough to spawn some contributors to the scene. The number of those wasn’t very high though, and generally the majority of them were lost among the genre frontrunners like MBV, Ride, etc. One of the better American groups to come out of that time period though was the Drop Nineteens. Only together for roughly 4 years, the Boston MA based group released two EP’s and two full-length albums during that span. However, the time together was a rough one, as the group saw a number of lineup changes after the release of their first album Delaware, which was released on Caroline Records. Original members Paula Kelley (vocals, guitar), Chris Roof (drums), and Motohiro Yasue (guitar) would all leave the band leaving members Greg Ackell (vocals, guitar) and Steve Zimmerman (bass) to continue on.

The band was able to regroup and was joined by new members Megan Gilbert (vocals, guitar), Pete Koeplin (drums), and Justin Crosby (guitar) to release their second album titled National Coma released on Caroline in 1993. However, the band wouldn’t last much longer after that as the members were once again dealing with artistic differences which eventually proved to be to tumultous for the band to get over. They did manage to put out an EP called Your Aquariam in 1994, but the end result was the band breaking up sometime in 1995.

Not to terribly different than any of the more prominent English acts of the same time. The Drop Nineteens had a bit of a more indie rock feel to their sound, but still relied on the swirling guitar effect to the likes of My Bloody Valentine or Swervedriver for the majority of their first album Delaware. With their second album National Coma, the rock influence played a bit more of a role in the bands sound along with a bit of an odd experimental side that the band didn't necessarily touch much upon previously. The band however was always much more praised upon in the UK. Not surprising as shoegaze pretty much lived and died there.

Drop Nineteens - Delaware [MP3] (Delaware)
Drop Nineteens - Winona [MP3] (Delaware)
Drop Nineteens - Skull [MP3] (National Coma)

Both full-lengths are no longer available for purchase any more, so scouring the Internet for a good deal on a used copy of either is the only method of obtaining any material. Amazon or eBay, again and again and again. Why can’t anything be in print?