NOT ALL THERE

Homebase: East Wenatchee, WA
Stats: 1998-2018...

"Not All There: 20 Years Of Local Punk"
by Dustin Hays

Wenatchee bands come and go. Even the good ones don’t always last. Over the past 50 years very few bands or solo acts have lasted a decade without breaking up, moving, or quitting music all together. East Wenatchee punk rockers Not All There have successfully survived that last two decades only lightly scathed, and stronger than ever.

In the summer of 1998, recent Eastmont High School graduates Matthew Smith and Albert Hair (on guitar and vocals respectively) recruited bassist Jason Pearce and drummer Joey Forster to play in a punk rock band. Neither Smith nor Hair had ever performed with a band, while both Pearce and Forster had been members in the Eastmont High School Pep Band, with Forster also previously playing in the East Wenatchee band Dama. Some of the band’s first shows were at Wenatchee’s Centennial Park while several other early appearances were made at house parties across the valley.

The band’s name was ultimately decided after no one could agree on a moniker. Suggested by Smith, Not All There stuck after no one could think of a better name. Forster had initially proposed “Joey and the Boppers” along with suggesting random objects scattered throughout their rehearsal space.

During High School Smith had been privately writing songs while actively going to punk shows at the Franklin House, but both Pearce and Forster weren’t familiar with the genre or the local scene. Just before their first recording session (booked with Wenatchee engineer Darik Peet) Hair moved to Bellingham, forcing Smith to fall into the role of the band’s singer and main songwriter.

Not Fit For Parents the band’s first album was recorded in 1999 at the local FP Studios (ran by local musicians and engineers Eric Frank and Brad Petit). While still remaining in the group, Smith joined competing local punk rockers Wayward Youth as a second guitarist in the latter half of the year.

During the early years of the internet, the band posted their material on mp3.com - an early music file sharing website that predated Napster. The band soon began being featured on radio stations on the website and were featured on punk rock compilations Time For A Change Vol. 1 (Unified Records) and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em (Evil Midget Records). In November of 2000 the group had four songs featured on the Evil Gnome Attacks compilation released by the local Evil Gnome Records, ran by members of the Wenatchee High School punk band Perfect Flaw.

A brief online dispute between other US Not All There bands caused the band to bill themselves as We’re Not All There before removing the “We’re” for the release of their third album Toilet Humor.

The band’s followup releases Communist Party (2000) and Toilet Humor (2001) were again recorded at FP studios. Supporting the punk aesthetic, Petit recorded the band in a shed-converted-live room, recording all the instrumentation live without click-tracks, covering the guitar amplifiers with blankets and pillows to stop sound bleeding into the drum microphones.

Now a signature element of the band’s sound, Smith’s unhinged and sometimes unintelligible shouts were initially used to cover up his insecurity with being an inexperienced singer. Several early songs about partying and beer were written while Smith was still insecure and unsure of his writing ability. He added “There was no real substance to those words”, continuing “I’m just gonna scream really loud and they won’t even be able to understand my lyrics. Everyone wins.”

“When you’re 16.. 17.. 18.. There’s not a whole lot of deep shit going on in your life. For the most part.. I guess, if you’re lucky there’s not deep shit goin’ on.” Along with the angst and snark ingrained into their early recordings are several comedic moments, perfectly showcased on the Communist Party track “Mad Matt” in which Smith plays the character of a crazed salesmen, hustling the bands merchandise and ultimately the entire band.

Falling victim to Smith’s songwriting, an unlucky ex-girlfriend was inadvertently immortalized in three of the bands early songs “Lisa” (Not Fit For Parents 1999), “The Stripper” (Communist Party 2000) and “Lisa’s Back” (Toilet Humor 2001) . The third composition tells the fictional story of Lisa’s life following the diagnosis of a sexually transmitted viral infection. 18 years after the track’s release, it has become one of their most well-known and the band frequently closes their sets with the song.

Toilet Humor features a slowed-down version of “Stupid Things”, a song that first appeared on the band’s first album. Originally clocking in at one minute and 19 seconds, the “new wave” version is an almost half-speed performance yet only lasts two minutes and four seconds. The song’s reinvention came from Forster and Pearce jokingly performing their songs at slow speeds during rehearsal, with Smith deciding that track being worthy of re-recording.

Since the departure of their original singer in 1999, the group had operated as a trio, excluding a short period in 2000 when guitarist Tom Kastilitz played with the band. Around the release of Toilet Humor in 2001, Pete Schubert (formerly of The Losers) was added as a second guitarist with fellow Loser Tony Grahm replacing Pearce on bass when he left the group in 2001 to attend college in North Dakota.

Within a year of Pearce leaving for college, Forster soon followed, leaving only one original member in the group. By the following year the group stopped playing shows. Smith stayed active in the music scene, booking shows around town at East Wenatchee’s Tradewinds Coffee Company (595 Grand Road in East Wenatchee) and the Breakwater Book Lounge (23 S. Mission Street in Wenatchee).

In 2007, Smith and Forster reunited to perform in the short-lived punk band The 30 Bombers. Only playing a few house shows, the combo featured Smith & Forster with guitarist David Savage and singer Jeremy Logan. Logan abruptly left the group, so Forster and Smith started re-learning their old material. With original members Smith & Forster, Not All There’s fourth album and return release You Suck (2009) featured new members Dave Savage on guitar, and Daniel Travis on bass.

As Snatchee Records started recording bands and hosting shows in 2009, Not All There began playing on bills sponsored by the label at Cashmere’s Pioneer House, Monitor’s Outpost Saloon and Wenatchee’s Wally’s Tavern. The band soon recorded with label founder Raymond Malstead and had the tracks included on Snatchee’s Sounds of the Apple Underground: Vol. 1 CD compilation released in 2010.

After Savage left the group in 2009 the group was forced to record their 2010 four song EP These Are Not The Songs You’re Looking For as a three piece.

Halfway through the recording of their next full length album Got Gremlins (2011), founding member Jason Pearce returned to the group, after a brief departure by Travis. Soon after the albums release, Travis was added back to the band as the second guitarist. Drummer Sean McKay (formerly of Wenatchee bands Drama Kills, Good Trees Bears & The Skinny) was recruited in 2011 to replace Forster who had plans to move to California. McKay wasn’t featured on any recordings until the band’s eighth release Thank You For Not Pressing Charges (2014).

In 2012 Smith partnered with Andy Peart and Jasmine Hall to purchase Snatchee Records from Malstead. The label had spent the last three years booking shows across the state, along with recording several area bands and releasing short D-I-Y CD runs of the material. Since the change in ownership the label has released almost 20 vinyl records of bands from across the country as well as releasing the last three Not All There albums.

Seeming to be tradition at this point, the band’s lineup again changed in the middle of recording their ninth album Holy Crap! It’s Not All There. Recorded with veteran Wenatchee musician and engineer Eric Frank, both McKay and Travis appear on multiple tracks on the album, even though both left the band before the album’s release. In 2014, with just under half the album recorded, McKay moved to China quickly being replaced by beloved local musician Tiffany Shaefer.

Active in the local scene since her mid-2000s in the Wenatchee punk duo Bitchy Vicky, Shaefer grew up playing music in a family band and performed in multiple groups with her brother Brandon, before moving to Wenatchee in 2003. With Shaefer on vocals and guitar and her brother on drums, the two performed several shows with Not All There, with Shaefer even booking them for an acoustic set at the East Wenatchee Hot Topic in 2009. After Bitchy Vicky, Shaefer played drums in the early Snatchee Records group Virgin’s Thorn (that also featured Not All There’s Dan Travis) and next played bass in the ska trio Panic Bomb. Familiar with their catalog from years of seeing them perform, Shaefer quickly learned the songs from Not All There’s current set list and even before McKay’s departure was recording backup vocals on their newly recorded tracks.

In 2014 Everett, WA’s 48th Ave. Studios and BonerenoB Records included the 32 second “Casey’s Whoa Song” (Thank You For Not Pressing Charges) on a 7” vinyl compilation Carefull What You Step In 3. The following year “Dirty Trick” (eventually released on Holy Crap! It’s Not All There)  was included on N.O.W.T.H.I.S. a 7” compilation released by the Everett companies along with Next 7 Exits Records.

Shortly before the December 2016 release of Holy Crap! It’s Not All There Travis again exited the group.

2018 marked the 20th year of the group and on February 9th they performed at the final “First Friday” event for the Apple Capital Records exhibit at the Wenatchee Museum and Cultural Center. The band perform three career-spanning sets, with all their “adult material” saved for their last half an hour set.

When asked about their two decade local legacy, Smith stated definitively “We’ve shunned fame” with Pearce adding “We’re not in it to make money, we’re (just) playing the music we enjoy.” Pearce also reflected on that outlook keeping the band together for all this time, “To me it’s really about the friendship… We’ve turned it into a hobby. We’re in it to have fun… If we’re not having fun, there’s no point in doing it.” adding “As long as we’re still having fun... we’ll do this until one of us keels over, and we’ll replace them with somebody else!”

Speaking on learning from past members of the group Smith said “I’ve learned how to be a better band-mate and just fuckin’ relax. The key to success is learning how to be a better friend and just staying with it.”

[Note: This is an edited version of a "B-Sides" column that originally appeared in Wenatchee's The Comet Magazine in October, 2018.]

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