Backyard BBQ Broadcast

Recorded and broadcast way back when, an actual back yard barbeque Nick Hill had set up live on air at the radio station, WFMU. watermelon and everything… This BBQ record nicely captures the sweetness of the season when Giant Sand were turning into something else. Nick Hill, An old buddy from Brooklyn, had an important radio show there as well as harbouring tremendously good taste. Once when the odds were tremendously against Howe making a plane outa NY on time, he turned the car around and fetched a 2 man kayak. They went kayaking in the Hudson river instead. “Have you ever seen New York city from a kayak? nothing but stunning. And wonderfully spooky, zipping under those giant rotting piers too. That was Nick Hill.” He was the fellow responsible for presenting this record and getting it recorded and broadcasted way back when. This collection of songs was recorded by WFMU over two live sessions for ‘The Music Faucet’ show in the summer of 1994 and 1995. This 25th anniversary reissue CD also features two bonus tracks, ‘Yer Ropes’ and ‘Rolling Stones I Am’ which featured originally as a not so ‘secret track’. “Giant Sand is a mood,” says Howe’ of Giant Sand, as if trying to o er a low-key explanation for his dizzying array of artistic exploration that includes a back-catalogue of some 40 albums as a singer, band-leader and producer. After growing up in Pennsylvania in the 1970’s, it wasn’t until he moved to Tuscon, Arizona that he met his musical soul mate, the guitarist Rainer Ptaceck. The two formed Giant Sandworms and issued only a handful of recordings before the worms were put to rest: since then, Giant Sand have released 24 albums – an impressive haul when considering Howe’s equally proli c output under other projects including Black Ranchette and Arizona Amp & Alternator as well as his solo releases.