Naming your band Million Sellers might seem like cockiness, but these guys really coulda been huge. Kels Koch's songs are as if Buddy Holly never died and was able to later hook up with Alex Chilton and Paul Westerberg, and the two 7"-ers that Million Sellers put out in the mid-90's are two of the greatest records that practically no one has ever heard.
I first found out about Million Sellers through Pop Culture Press, a crappy Austin mag that used to include a sampler CD with each issue, every so often (and totally by accident) including an actual good song. Once I heard Million Sellers I spent months trying to track down their records through the usual mail order places, eventually buying their two EPs through Mutant Pop. I gave them a big push in the last issue of Brushback ("Million Sellers have now put out two 7-inch records with almost as many brilliant songs on them as any LP put out by Westerberg Stinson Stinson and Mars... If you only buy one record all year, make it a box set or that 74-minute Metallica CD, they have more stuff on them"), but it wasn't all that much help, I'm sure.
Million Sellers started playing out again a couple of years ago, and there's two CDs out now that have most of their output on them-- "Million Sellers' Golden Records" and "You Can't Spell Abandonment Without A Band". The EP that came out the year before this one is even better, by the way, so I should be posting that one in the very near future.
Million Sellers -
"You Don't Have To Worry About Affection"
"Love's Last Laugh"
(these files are now listen-only)
8 comments:
Yeah a vintage Minneapolis sound - the b-side reminds me a bit more of 2nd/3rd album ear Soul Asylum.
A good unearthing.
I kinda see a more rockabilly/Replacements thing with this, but then I tend to think of Soul Asylum as being more fuzzed-out power chords than anything else.
I was about to say, I need some pointers.
But forget it. This shit is great.
Ah ha, ib-- you put up the Thin Lizzy, I see!
Thought it would be "The Rocker", though, in honor of your Blogger rant:
"I am your main man if you're looking for trouble
I'll take no lip cos no one's tougher than me
If I kicked your face you'd soon be seeing double
Hey little girl, keep your hands off me cos I'm a rocker!"
Damn! Sometimes shit goes right over my head. Great lyrics. I didn't even think on this one, but I'm off to listen to "Vagabonds Of The Western World" right now to flesh out the memory.
Whoa! Someone was listening? Wish I'd known that back then - I might've kept goin' instead of pullin' the plug for 8 years before I got my ass back into the ring. Really felt like we were just throwing these at the void, what with the limited (i.e. no) promo & distro we had. Very cool and much appreciated to see that you were diggin' it then and still care enough about it 10 years later to write it up - thanks!
Don't know if you're into the MySpace jazz or not, but if so, we've got a page there with three new songs we're about to press up with one more on a - surprise! - 4-song 7" that BamaLama Records out of Toronto is gonna put out on us early in the year, with a full-length to hopefully follow on its heels. Check 'em out if ya have a minute - hope ya dig them as well, good sir . . .
Thanks again - and take care up there,
Kels
P.S. That white vinyl German pressing of Bach's Bottom is the same one I've got - fancy that!
Kels-- sure, the MySpace stuff is great (here's a link for everyone to check it out -- Million Sellers on MySpace). That "Marilyn" song is amazing, too.
The two Million Sellers EPs were a couple of the best pieces of vinyl I bought back in the 90's, seriously. Yeah, I wish they'd been better distributed, too. But, y'know, heartbreak stories are more interesting than happy endings, I think...
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The mp3 files on this post are now listen-only (non-downloadable) files. They're now being hosted on my Vox account (accessible through any of the listen-only links), along with one other song ("It's Only Friday Night") which wasn't included in the original post.
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