Setlist from last night (01 March)

"Action" - Sweet
"Solid Gold Easy Action" - T. Rex
"Right Action" - Franz Ferdinand
"Love in Action" - Utopia
"Shake Some Action" - The Flamin' Groovies

"The Walk" - The Cure (R.I.P. drummer Andy Anderson)
"Mr. Pink Eyes" - The Cure (likewise)
"Talk Talk" - The Reaction (R.I.P. Mark Hollis)
"Today" - Talk Talk (ditto)

"Amazing Journey/Sparks" - The Who (for Roger's birthday)
"Ice on the Motorway" - Roger Daltrey & Wilko Johnson (what I said)
"Gonna Make a Woman of You" - Mike d'Abo (for Mike's birthday)

"Pleasant Valley Sunday" - The Monkees (R.I.P. Peter Tork)
"Get What You Pay For" - Peter Tork (you get the idea)
"Solaris" - Failure (by request)
"Betting on the Sun" - Bird Streets (thanks Zwirn!)

"Right Now" - SR-71
"Not Now" - Blink-182
"Now, Right Now" - The Reverend Horton Heat
"Not Now, No Way" - The Pagans

"Wouldn't It Be Good" - Nik Kershaw (for Nik's birthday)
"All Along the Watchtower" - XTC (by request)
"Hold Me Down" - Gin Blossoms (for bassist Bill Leen's birthday)

"Living in L.A." - Weezer
"Walking in L.A." - Missing Persons
"To Live and Die in L.A." - Wang Chung

"Look Back in Anger" - David Bowie
"Strange Frontier" - Roger Taylor
"Computer Love" - Kraftwerk

I don't like Failure's '90s work all that much, but the two albums they've done after reuniting a few years ago are excellent, especially the newest one from 2018. Really good stuff, IMO.

I ignored Failure during the nineties for whatever reason, despite them being right up my alley. But I went to see them at Fun Fun Fest a few years ago on their reunion and enjoyed it a lot. I've since played catch up. I like their 90s albums just fine, especially Fantastic Planet, but I will say that this is the classic case of a band literally getting better with every release. Well, with a qualifier: I haven't spent much time with the new record yet, in part because I'm still waiting for the CD I ordered through their Pledgemusic campaign (yeah, I know) and haven't streamed it much yet. But The Heart is a Monster is a great record, even better than Planet, so I'm looking forward to it.

The new one is excellent. If you liked The Heart is a Monster, I suspect you'll like this one even better.

I'd never heard Failure before last week; a caller requested it. I liked what I heard, and definitely will investigate them further.

The '90s stuff is, well, very '90s-sounding. The new albums are more nuanced, with many layers of (very interesting, IMO) guitar lines. Much more variety of sounds overall. I'm really liking them. Just discovered them myself about a month ago but have been listening almost nonstop since then.

Absolutely intriguing I’ve NEVER heard of Failure before. I was/am pretty well-versed in the bands of that era and they just totally escaped my radar.

Had to look them up on Allmusic. “One of the most influential alternative rock bands of the 1990s”....what??!? Who are these guys? Is this a joke?

Not a joke. They were on a major label, freaking Steve Albini produced, their sound is indeed very post-Nirvana-ish.... practically a text-book example of the genre....why was I oblivious to them?

Did 90s alt-rock radio ignore them? If so... why?!

"Stuck On You" got some play, but no, they never hit big. Their level of notoriety came mainly due to being friends with Tool, who took them on tour a lot.

I think their lack of real success was partly bad timing. Fantastic Planet, the album most likely to have given them any kind of bump, came in 1996, right as alt.rock radio was curdling into the so-called "post grunge" era - Creed, etc. There wasn't a place for them anymore. If FP had come out in, say, 1992 or 1993, or even 1994, they might have at least scored that one radio hit that makes people scratch their heads 20 years later when they hear it - "Oh, yeah, I remember those guys. Whatever happened to them? I like that song."

One of the key members had a drug problem as well (something "Stuck On You" obliquely addresses), so that likely hindered their progress. It's one of the main reasons for their breakup.

Lead singer Ken Andrews became a producer, engineer and mixer for Chris Cornell, Tenacious D, BRMC and others, and a short-live band called Year of the Rabbit that was about ten years too late in its sound. Multi-instrumentalist Greg Edwards co-founded Autolux, who got a lot more attention than Failure, at least in the short term. Drummer Kelli Scott became a gun for hire, and has played with everyone from Veruca Salt to Christina Aguilera. They've made more of an impact separately than they did together.

Also, as Zoo has noted above, they've really done their best work since their reunion. There's no way in hell they'll ever score a hit now, but they've become a reliable touring act.

I'm with Bip on this. Never heard of them before this discussion. As if they were big in a completely different universe.

I somehow missed 'em back then too. They're touring now with Swervedriver, so I guess I'll get an opportunity to become acquainted with them next month....

That's a damn near perfect double bill. Unfortunately, while Swervedriver is swinging back through in the middle of the tour to do a SXSW gig, Failure is not.

I've seen both bands at least a couple of times the past few years, and they're both worth the effort. Bring earplugs - Swervedriver is a volume colossus.

Yeah, I saw Swervedriver in a pretty small room about 5 years ago and it was great. This double-bill is playing at a bigger place that does a weird all-ages setup so that if you want to have a beer, you have to be a pretty long way from the stage. And the sound can be kinda spotty too, but I'll be there regardless.

Damn, Swervedriver's Seattle date is on a Friday. I'll be busy.

I'll be in Salt Lake City for a week of work meetings when the tour swings through. We have evening activities that are mandatory, so I'm hoping we wrap up early enough. The show is two miles away from the hotel, so it's really convenient. I've already got a co-worker on board to go with me. Fingers crossed it works out.

Swervedriver AND Failure, at El Corazon ... I may just have to get a substitute for that night.