After weathering the underground Chicago indie circuit for a number of years, Illinois native, Aaron Starkey, packed up his guitars and moved west to the temperate environ of Seattle. Meanwhile, Washington State natives Corey Passons and Ross McGilvray, both former founding members of the gritty regional rock act, Preston Mill, wanted to stretch their creative legs beyond the tried and true form that Mill established during its long, successful tenure in the Northwest music scene.
A serendipitous meeting revealed a mutual affinity for English amps, thinline telecasters, heartfelt melodies, chips, and salsa. Their desire for honest, straightforward songcraft, deeply rooted in the tradition of Neil Young, Built to Spill, and The Jayhawks, further fueled the three musicians, and Spanish for 100 was born in the spring of 2002. In the months that followed, Spanish for 100 performed countless shows and regional tours, culminating in their first full-length effort, Newborn Driving (released December 2003), produced by the notorious Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, The Shins, Band of Horses).
It was the summer of 2004, and after a relentless performance schedule in support of Newborn, the band swept back into the studio, again with Phil Ek at the helm, recording the follow-up EP, Metric (released March 2005).
Enter Chris Crumpler. With SPF100's drum chair having been a bit of a revolving door, Chris came on board in early 2006, bringing with him a bevy of beats and skills that had been finely honed during Crumpler's long tenure in veteran Seattle act M-Set. Mini-hawk haircut aside, Chris powered through Spanish for 100’s 512th drummer audition.
Spanish for 100 has hit the road for multiple self-promoted and self-booked national tours, performing blistering sets at numerous sold out venues with national acts Trashcan Sinatras, The Capitol Years, and Elf Power to eager audiences at such notable clubs as The Crocodile (Seattle), Schuba's (Chicago), Great Scott (Boston), Pianos (NYC), and Kirby's Beer Store (Wichita). Keep an eye peeled for SPF100 in a town near you...
Production is wrapping up on Spanish for 100's next full-length, this time produced by Johnny Sangster (The Posies, Mudhoney, Dear John Letters), and is slated for release Winter 2006/2007.
Spanish for 100 was recently designated “Your New Favorite Band” by John Richards, DJ and Host of the Morning Show on KEXP http://kexp.org.
Check out Photos of our SPRING 2007 Midwest Tour, courtesy of Ryan Schierling
Kirbys???? Spanish for 100???? June??? If this is true I'm totally taking that day off and sittin in the bar with Paul all day and waitin impatiently for that huge, ridiculous vehicle to pull in the parking lot. EEEK! Miss you guys!
thanks for letting me know about your show this saturday... i'll be there for sure. i missed you back in september when you played with my boys... man rockwell, at jules maes.
Just letting you guys know you will be able to find my album on Cdbaby in about two weeks or so... Sean Donnelly's Aboriginal Trial if you are interested.....
Likewise guys. I appreciate the comment and the Add. Hope all is going well for you guys out there in the music industry. Maybe one of these days I will see you out there.
