The Lawnmowers: (from left) Ron Carnell, Andy Davenhall, James Palmer, and Scott Richardson.
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LAWNMOWERS
ORBITER
Chop Suey, 324-8000, $7
9 p.m. Fri., July 19
Andy Davenhall's original reason for forming the Lawnmowers was, if not simple, at least succinct. Sitting on a Lake Union dock with fellow Lawnmower guitarist James Palmer under a blazing blue summer sky, he explains his decision quietly.
"My friend died, and he had written a bunch of songs, and he wanted me to record them. So I did."
The friend was Ryan Vego, Davenhall's drummer from his early '90s band, Sister Psychic. Vego was a talented artist but a troubled man. After years of physical and psychological maladies, he took his own life. The request he left Davenhall was in his suicide note.
"He was a great friend of mine," Davenhall continues heavily, "but he decided to leave this world prematurely and go on to another. At the time, I wasn't doing anything [musically]. I was kind of retired, living and working in Los Angeles. But I guess that got pre-empted."
Around that time, Palmer decided to visit Davenhall in California.
"I was still in Seattle playing with Doti," Palmer says of his old art-rock combo, "and we were still trying to figure out how to replace Andy, who had become our drummer after Sister Psychic broke up. Well, it was impossible. We had a record out, we were playing, but things weren't exactly going swimmingly."
Davenhall, who'd planned to record in L.A. with a group of session players, instead returned to Seattle last summer. Along with Palmer, he recruited drummer Ron Carnell, formerly of Sycophant and Ottoman Bigwig, and ex-Sister Psychic bassist Pat Pederson (Pederson has since been replaced by Scott Richardson).
"I was really excited to play with Andy again," says Palmer, "to pull him back out from behind the drums. We had sung backup together in Doti, and I really enjoyed it. Andy was my lifeline; I fed off those harmonies. So it was even better doing it out front."
"James is a real showman," Davenhall adds. "Live, he's just all over the place, which is great 'cause it takes a lot of the pressure off of me. We knew we had something special from the first couple of rehearsals, so we cut a demo and played our first show at the Tractor Tavern. KEXP started playing the demo, and it got really positive reaction. Suddenly, we were picking up shows left and right, labels were calling, and it was building its own momentum."
The Lawnmowers put in some dedicated rehearsal time and then quickly recorded their debut CD, Fearless, released earlier this month. Davenhall penned five of the songs, two were by Palmer, and three came from the Vego legacy, including the sweet, sad opener, "The Goat." While the Lawnmowers' moniker might suggest music hard and cutting, it's really more about that lush green carpet left in the machinery's wake. The band's songs are vibrant, enticing, and not without a certain elegiac quality.
"We aren't BMRC or the White Stripes," says Davenhall. "We're that other thing you can whistle to. As for the songs, I wanted a balance. This was never intended to be just the Ryan Vego Memorial Marching Band."
"Ryan's songs are special," Palmer says, "but they were also a starting point to let us see what else we could do."
After their official release party at Chop Suey this week, the band is looking at more writing, recording, and touring. "We want to do SXSW," insists Palmer, "and we have a slot at CMJ in New York. We just want to get out and let people hear us live."
"People really do respond to our shows," says Davenhall, "and it's great to get that kind of feedback. But personally, the Lawnmowers have given me a lot of . . . serenity. I've had a hard time going through a couple of things, and the Lawnmowers have been a vehicle for me to express myself and basically get on with my life, to get back to doing the things I'd taken for granted. The last year was fraught with a lot of emotional turmoil; this has provided me with sanctuary."
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