I spent MY BLOODY VALENTINE’s career completely ignoring them, and it was only in 1993 that I ever truly “heard” the group, courtesy of Claw Hammer’s Chris Bagarozzi, who brought along a new cassette copy of “Loveless” into the Econoline while I was road-managing the band’s Spring ‘93 North American tour. Nearly another twenty years went by, and until this year, “Loveless” was the only thing by the late 80s/early 90s Irish band I’d ever heard. And don’t get me wrong – I’m not immune to the insanely loud and complex charms of the album that some have called “The Greatest Record of All Time”, but it wasn’t like I was running to collect the back catalog either.

Once again, Expressway to Yr Skull’s Erika Elizabeth rode to my musical rescue. She played this track (“Slow”) off of one of the band’s early EPs not long ago, and I totally dug it. It then led to a what-was-I-thinking reconsideration of MBV in their totality, and I’m happy to report that I’ve now acquainted myself with their entire catalog (except for the mid-80s stuff that I’ve never heard anyone say anything positive about). And let it be said for the record that I’m a fan. Us real fans, well – we just call ’em “MBV” most of the time, or sometimes just “The Bloodies”.