Sebadoh

Sebadoh are an indie rock band formed in Westfield, Massachusetts by Eric Gaffney, WOZQ DJ and Pizza Factory driver (circa 1989) and former Dinosaur Jr. bass player Lou Barlow. A

Sebadoh are an indie rock band formed in Westfield, Massachusetts by Eric Gaffney, WOZQ DJ and Pizza Factory driver (circa 1989) and former Dinosaur Jr. bass player Lou Barlow. Along with such bands as Pavement and Guided by Voices, Sebadoh helped pioneer lo-fi music, a style of indie rock characterized by low-fidelity recording techniques, often on four-track machines. The band's early output, such as Weed Forestin' (1990) and Sebadoh III (1991), was typical of this style, and wavered between Barlow's wry, introspective folk and Gaffney's psychedelic noise-rock experiments.

Lou Barlow was the bass player for alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr in the late 1980s. While both Barlow and Dinosaur Jr leader J Mascis both wrote songs, Mascis' material dominated the group's output, because Barlow was intimidated by the guitarist's songwriting efforts. Barlow spent progressively more time recording his own songs at home. Barlow and Gaffney released the Weed Forestin' cassette in 1987 on Homestead Records under the name Sebadoh, which was a nonsense word Barlow often muttered in his recordings.. Both Barlow and Gaffney contributed songs to 1988's The Freed Man cassette. Homestead Records head Gerard Cosloy heard the cassette release of The Freed Man and released it as a full-length album on Homestead in 1989. Soon after the cassette's release Barlow was kicked out of Dinosaur Jr. Over time Sebadoh's releases became a way for Barlow to address the issues of control that manifested as the tension in and his ejection from Dinosaur Jr; Barlow said "I got a lot of hatred out just by writing those songs."Jason Loewenstein joined in summer 1989, the first release that he played on being the "Gimme Indie Rock" single in 1991. Only ten 'band' shows were performed throughout Western Mass, Boston, and New York over the period 1989-1990 before third album, the appropriately-named Sebadoh III was released.