Biography
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Years Active
1986 – 2021 (35 years)
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Founded In
Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington, United States
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Members
- Brian Young (1994 – 1998)
- Darius Minwalla (1986 – 2015)
- Dave Fox
- Frankie Siragusa
- Joe Skyward (1986 – 2016)
The Posies is an American indie rock band, originally from Bellingham, WA., United States, although all band members had moved to Seattle when the band gained prominence. The band's two core members, singers, songwriters and guitarists are Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow.
The Posies began as a set of informal home recordings by Stringfellow and Auer, but soon became a full-fledged band. Those early demos were released as the album Failure (1988). Mike Musburger and Rick Roberts joined soon after, allowing the band to play its first live shows in Seattle and Bellingham. The four then moved into a house in Seattle's University District. The band's first full album was their major-label début Dear 23 (1990). It was produced by John Leckie and features lush orchestrations for the songwriters' literate, clever, melodic pop with occasional hard-hitting guitars.
The Posies' guitars hit even harder on their third and fourth albums, 1993's Frosting On The Beater and 1996's Amazing Disgrace. These two albums are the band's most succesful and are still widely regarded as classics in indie rock and 'power pop'.
The band's rhythm section underwent many changes over the years. During the recording of 'Frosting', Roberts left and was replaced by Dave Fox. During the 1994 European tour, Musberger left (new bassist: Joe Howard a.k.a. Joe Skyward), whole Brian Young took over on drums
The 'Amazing Disgrace line-up' also recorded album #5, Success (1998), which failed commercially. The Posies went on hiatus while the members concentrated on outside projects, including solo albums (Stringfellow, Auer) and projects such as Lucky Me, Skyward and Chariot, while Brian Young played drums in Fountains of Wayne. From 1997 to 2001, there was only sporadic Posies activity, although two live albums saw the light of day: an 'electric' one (Alive Before The Iceberg, 1999) and an 'acoustic' one (In Case You Didn't Feel Like Plugging In, 2000).
After a satisfying tour as a duo, Auer and Stringfellow brought the band back to active service, now with Darius Minwalla on drums and Matt Harris on bass. The new line-up recorded and released the studio albums Every Kind Of Light (2005) and the particularly well-received Blood/Candy (2010).
From 1993 onwards, Auer and Stringfellow also joined Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens as band members of 'power pop' legends Big Star, playing on many tours as well as the Big Star studio album, In Space (2005).
The years 2010-2016 were a particularly dark time for The Posies. Ayer and Stringfellow's association with Big Star came to an abrupt end when Alex Chilton died in 2010. The Posies' 2014 incarnation included Darius Minwalla on drums and Joe Skyward on bass, but disaster would strike: on May 21, 2015, Darius Minwalla died suddenly in his home in Vancouver, from unknown causes. On March 26th 2016, Joe Skyward passed away after a battle with cancer.
The Posies, however, re-emerged with a new album (their 8th), Solid States, set for an April 2016 release.
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