Apr 19 2009

A Skivereen binding

In the spring of 1997 an amazing musical bonding happened. Shane, the guitarist and musical wellspring for Pint o’ Guinness and I started hanging out more and more. We had been friends and bandmates for several years at this point; but, up until this point we had never really collaborated much outside Pint o’. Conveniently, Pint o’ was to be on hiatus for a few months while some of our other band members were studying abroad in Ireland. During that short period the two of us made an attempt at writing a few songs for the band. The more we got into the process though, we realized that the songs probably wouldn’t fit with Pint o’ Guinness–but they were too cool to just throw away. The songs were deceptively simple but melodic and layered with multiple harmonies. In many regards you might say this was our Simon and Garfunkle moment. Shane was clearly Simon and I was Garfunkle. It was also at this time where the two of us realized how closely our voices locked together,  a little erie to be honest. We managed to record two of the songs written, again for the Campus Music Network at the University of Puget Sound and you can find those two tracks listed below. We called ourselves Skivereen, which is an old world word for a person who binds leather books, seemed fitting. Since then the two of us have come together to do a few other bits and pieces here and there, but life happens. I’m not sure posting those tracks would be entirely appropriate for various reasons. Shane now plays in several amazing progressive metal bands which are definitely worth checking out. Notably Lucid Spiral and Holophrase are two of them. Onward, through the fog!

Skivereen Tracks:

Skivereen–winter days

Skivereen–Few and Far