Gerald Collier Makes Up With the Band He Should Never Have Left

Gerald Collier's career commenced with shiny power-pop outfit Best Kissers in the World, but it was the devastatingly dark and beautiful solo work he did in the wake of that band's demise that made him one of the most important singer-songwriters the Northwest has produced. His inimitable ability to mix pathos and wicked humor with honest, utterly humane insights about love, lust, grief, and vice should have put him in the same class as Kurt Cobain. Collier took the lessons of Lennon to heart as much as our patron saint--he just never received as broad a platform.

That incisive and occasionally disturbing wit first revealed itself in 1996 on his now-out-of-print solo debut for C/Z Records, I Had to Laugh Like Hell. Shortly after its release, Collier hooked up with a perfect storm of collaborators: guitarist William Bernhard, bassist and vocalist Jeff Wood, and drummer John Hollis Fleischman. Despite the presence of an undeniable chemistry, the band only lasted a couple of years, eventually imploding under the stresses brought on by a sour major-label deal with Revolution Records and Collier's self-admitted struggles with his notorious temper and ego.

Nearly a decade later, thanks to the release of How Can There Be Another Day?—a collection of B-sides and live performances lovingly resurrected and restored by Bernhard—that original lineup of musicians will share a Seattle stage again for a one-off reunion show. What follows is an oral history of that unforgettable time, told in the words of the players, producers, and people surrounding them.

Gerald Collier: Bill [Bernhard] had been after me for a year or so just to come over and play with his band; he was really into the idea of his outfit backing me up. I had just come off Best Kissers in the World and really didn't want to do a full-blown band thing. I kept saying no . . . no . . . no . . . no. I was tired, deaf, and was really into being quiet at the time. I just assumed that they were, well, I don't know, loud, I guess.

Jeff Wood: I'm a sucker for a clever turn of phrase, a vivid picture painted with few words, and Gerald's got that talent in spades. A potent blend of smart and smart-ass that spares nothing and no one. I listened to Gerald's first solo record, I Had to Laugh Like Hell, nonstop to get ready for our "audition." Not only were the lyrics great, but the music really got me, too.  Fantastic songs with undeniable melodies. Harmonies just began popping into my head. I couldn't wait to give it a run.

Collier: One night I agreed to come over and was just blown away at how dynamic they were. It didn't hurt that they knew my stuff inside and out as well. It was just a magical thing. It was something that I just couldn't walk away from.

Wood: We got together with Gerald one night in the basement, played the songs, and realized that there was some serious mojo at hand.  The mood in the room was more like we were all discovering a band rather than joining one.

William Bernhard: I really loved I Had to Laugh Like Hell, and my band at the time, the Superstitions—which was composed of Wood, Brandon Milner, and myself—used to do shows with Gerald and Marc Olsen during that time period [Editor's note: Fleischman later replaced Milner on drums]. I could really hear our sound couching Gerald's songs. He was skeptical at first, but I bugged him about it till he was willing to try us out. After we finished the first song, we all looked at each other and realized, "Holy shit—we're onto something." It was magic. We played our first show three weeks later.

Don Yates (KEXP DJ, programming director): Best Kissers in the World was a fun power-pop band, but not terribly deep, which made his subsequent solo career all the more remarkable. The guy fronting the short-lived and somewhat shallow power-pop band was all of a sudden a dark singer-songwriter of considerable emotional depth and melodies to die for.

Barbara Mitchell (publicist): [C/Z Records owner] Daniel House gave me a copy of I Had to Laugh Like Hell, and I freaked out over it and made him let me do publicity for it at no charge. Gerald just had that special "something" about him that appealed to me. He's an amazingly intelligent guy who has a way of putting things into words that is simultaneously funny, poignant, and sarcastic.  

Stuart Hallerman (engineer): Gerald's songs were well-formed and full of lyrical wit. He told of characters in seemingly real lives, with a story in each song. Mini–Raymond Carver tales.

Mitchell: I can't alchemize chemistry into a handful of words, but I can say that every single person I dragged out to see those four people play music together came back to me utterly floored.

Collier: Aside from the fact that they were lightning fast and damn near perfect in the studio from take to take, they were really nice guys with no pretension at all. They made me a better player.