Friday Mix Tape: Wetlands – Class of August 1993
Nothing conjures up images of my youth quite like thinking about NYC’s legendary Wetlands Preserve. Whether I was sneaking in as a high schooler at attending one of dozens of shows during my college years, I learned about so many wonderful bands through this gem of a rock club in Tribeca. For this week’s Mix Tape I want to follow-up on a FMT I put together back in October featuring five bands that played Wetlands during September ’95. This time around we’ll look at six groups who rocked the hippie den in August ’93.
[Image via Wetlands Rock Club Alumni FB Group]
We start off with my favorite Kimock-written composition, Cole’s Law, as performed by Zero (Aug. 11). Next, we take a trip to the great jamband graveyard and come back with Sip Of Your Wine by The Hatters (Aug. 26). Before the Dave Matthews Band (Aug. 19) hit the bigtime they were Wetlands regulars and many of their gigs at the venue contained long #36 jams. So excited that From Good Homes (Aug. 13) is back in action, even if it’s sporadic. The New Jersey-based jam-folksters give us Scudder’s Lane. Warren Haynes (Aug. 5) gives us a cover of The Eagles’ Wasted Time and from Pittsburgh world-jam act Rusted Root (Aug. 12) we’ve got Ecstasy to finish us off.
Scott Bernstein
Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.
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The hatters! featuring Tommy kaelin originally from Dreamspeak. Dreamspeak was THE original NYC jamband! you definitely need to feature them here!
That Wetlands flyer is epic. So much to digest: DMB on Thursday. I guess there was no bumping Oral Groove from the Friday night slot. Atlantic Recording artists “Formerly The Mad Hatters” on 9/26
The Hatters (Mad Hatters) had a really groovy tune called “Dig the Ribbit.” Great to see them make this list. And while I didn’t see DMB at Wetlands, I did see them in a couple of small clubs at that time in & around Denver. They completely destroyed (in a good way) those places & I’ve stuck w/them ever since.
Funny that I only went to wetlands for their hardcore shows, for the first year I went to the Tribeca joint. Those were some amazing times. It speaks a lot of a venue that they could be so diverse, hippies on Saturday, Skinheads on Sunday…
I missed this Warzone, Sheer Terror, Darkside, Killing Time and Snapcase show, but I am sure it was a blast. Ahhh memories and scars…
Man, I loved picking up those flyers at Wetlands. You know, the internet sure makes getting live show info EASY, but flyers like these (as well as calling the clubs/bands respective hotlines; getting a band’s mailer, etc) was just so much…cooler.
I’m pretty sure I was at that Last Tribe/Bogmen show. Great show. Packed.
I can’t put my finger on exactly what it was that made the Wetlands so great (other than the sound and layout), but it certainly was great. The last few times I’ve been down to NYC and saw a show there, the venues were very well-run but they were also very cold and sterile. Can a great venue exist these days in NYC? Are there any?
Very cool post! Truly puts the music in a historical/cultural context to focus on a venue like this. Great stuff! Being from Toronto, I never made it to Wetlands, but always heard of it via bootlegs/tour schedules/etc, and this fills in some blanks. Thx!