“Part of living with a mild permanent concussion is I don’t retain new ideas and memories as easily as I did before,” reveals Tracy Wilson, vocalist, guitarist and bass player for Virginia-based indie-rock band Positive No. “Anytime I read or hear something that strikes me as interesting, it goes into a notebook or on a scrap of paper.”
“In this case, an old friend, Mark Pickerel (original drummer for the Screaming Trees -ed.) made a Facebook joke back in Jan of 2018 that struck me,” said Wilson, who with guitarist/bassist/husband Kenneth Close forms the core of the band. “He captioned “Teenage Wasteland” to an old photo of himself with a comment correction joke saying “Teenage Waistline”. I loved the comical twist on what most folks call the song “Baba O’Riley,” so it went in the ole’ notebook.”
“At the time I didn’t know if it would ever be used but that is part of the fun of having random stuff fill the pages of a notebook,” she continued. “When it comes to working on song lyrics, it works a lot like putting together a puzzle from various lines scattered in years of notebooks. When Kenny and I finished writing the music for this new song, I knew exactly what I wanted the title to be. So in a surprise turn of inspiration, I can thank the drummer of the Screaming Trees for planting the seed! Our song title usually comes last in the writing process but not this time, it came long before the lyrics.”
Set for release tomorrow as a digital single by Dromedary Records, the propulsive “Teenage Waistline” recalls great ’90s bands like the Breeders, Fugazi, and Throwing Muses, as befits the band members’ pedigree: Close has played guitar in a series of noisy rock bands in Virginia since the mid ‘90s. Wilson was the singer and co-songwriter in the ‘90s emo band Dahlia Seed and has also recorded electronic music under the solo moniker Ringfinger. Drummer Keith Renna co-founded the early ’90s indie-pop group Dunebuggy (of which Wilson was also briefly a member) and most recently, recorded new music with occasional Positive No member Jon Procopio under the name Unbutton. Newest member to the PN family is bass player Coldon Martin, who keeps himself busy as the frontman and guitarist of RVA indie rock band Lightfields.
A limited-edition, lathe-cut 7” picture disc, previously released by Dromedary, is sold out, but the band will have copies available at these upcoming shows:
May 23: Bandido’s, Richmond VA (release party, with Young Scum)
May 24: Dwell DC, Washington DC (with The OSYK, Kid Claws)
May 25: Pittsburgh PA (with the Gotobeds – Gotobeds release party)
June 15: The Woodland, Maplewood, NJ (with Quattracenta and Green Dragon)
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