Beat Happening
Calvin Johnson and Heather Lewis formed Beat Happening after their former
drummer, Laura Carter, moved to Seattle. July 1983 Calvin asked Bret
Lunsford to join him and Heather in Beat Happening and go to Japan to
record. (Dominic, The Shield Around the K) Bret had never played drums,
but was enthusiastic about using music as a personal expression and happily
accepted. Beat Happenings first show occurred before they even had a
chance to practice.
“
There was a hippie band playing at Debbie Rohrback’s called Giant
Ballon or something. Debbie said, ‘Hey, you guys should play.’ So
I said, ‘Do you think we could use the other band’s equipment?’ and
she was, like, ‘Oh yeah.’ But the band was, like, ‘Oh
no.’ their excuse was that they didn’t want us to use their
equipment, but they just didn’t want us to play. So we just played
anyway on garbage cans and a barrowed acoustic guitar and that really
bummed them out. That was our first show.” –Calvin Johnson-
(Maffeo, Pgs. 3-4)
After some practices with Heather and Bret switching off between guitar
and drums it was decided Heather would be the drummer, because she was
better at it. Calvin wrote and sang most of the vocals while Bret experimented
with the guitar. Beat Happening preferred not to perform at club scenes,
but rather preformed at events (many of which were made up to create
an excuse to play.) Beat Happening could be found in basements of houses,
parks, and alleyways. (Maffeo, Pg. 3)
Their practice sessions were held in an abandoned fire station on the edge of Evergreen Campus. This area was reserved to detour bands from practicing in the dorms. In fact it was this same building that in December of 1983 the band members record their first four songs; “Our Secret,” “I Love You,” “What’s Important,” and “Down At the Sea.” In 1984 “Our Secret” and “What’s Important” were released as a single on a cassette by K records. “Down At the Sea” and “I Love You” were later released on Beat Happening’s first self-titled album in 1985. (Maffeo, Pg. 4) Their second album titled Jamboree was released in 1988. In 1989 Beat Happening’s “Black Candy” was released. Beat Happening’s album Dreamy, released in 1991, was the first work of theirs that really started getting noticed. (Maffeo, Pg. 93) This was largely related to the International Pop Underground, and the collection of punkers for the 6-day festival, that attracted fans and musicians from across the country.
