The Best Game In Town

A Lesson in Scarcity and Demand From Harvey Milk

originally published March 5, 2008

By now, you’ve heard the news. Of course, the story has gone on for about 16 years. But whenever you start to get the feeling that the last chapter has been written, Athens band Harvey Milk turns up again with a flurry of activity. Currently preparing to undertake a short tour of the South on the way to Austin, TX, for South by Southwest, Harvey Milk has a new album coming out soon; a reissue that is already sold out; and a new member whose work was arguably a core influence on Harvey Milk’s entire existence.

The band’s most recent full-length, Special Wishes, was released in 2006 via Megablade/Troubleman, but Los Angeles-based label Hydra Head will release the upcoming album, Life…The Best Game In Town, this June. Drummer Kyle Spence says, “Our pal Henry Owings said we’d be a perfect fit with Hydra Head, and that the guys that run the label are fans of the band, so we got in touch and they were cool, really into the idea of us playing shows and stuff. It seemed like a really good fit. So far, it has been. No complaints from us, they’re great.” Of the deal, not-long-on-words guitarist-vocalist Creston Spiers simply says, “Steven [Tanner] and Kyle did all that.”

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For the new album, Harvey Milk brought in Joe Preston (Melvins, Thrones) as a member, and new pitch-drummer. Spence says the origination of the idea lies with bassist Steven Tanner. He describes the situation thusly: “In late 2006, Steven had the idea to do a record called Life...The Best Game In Town with Joe playing in the band. [Drummer] Paul Trudeau and his wife were getting ready to have a baby, so he asked me to play with the band again. I think [Paul’s] exact words were, “I can’t do this shit anymore.”

Although Spence has played drums with Harvey Milk on and off for about a decade, he says what generally happens is Trudeau will quit and then he’ll come back in. He continues, “All of us got demos together in January 2007, and Steven came down for the first time in late February. We recorded about seven songs. It went really great considering that we had no practice and had never played any of the songs together; we just started recording right off the bat.”

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The group sessions continued intermittently due to other work and the fact that Preston is based in Portland, OR and Tanner in New York, but Spiers and Spence kept working at it. Spence says, “[Later,] Steven and Joe came down and we recorded another five songs with Joe playing bass while Steven ‘produced’ (empty beer cans, mostly).”

Trudeau added a couple of guitar parts he’d written, but the whole thing was not exactly a cakewalk. “There were some bad times here and there. Creston and I would always work on it when we had the chance, but it took some time to put some things together that everyone was satisfied with,” Spence says. ”We finally finished things up in December, and I mixed it in January. It took a lot longer than any of us expected, but we’re all happy with it.” Spence reports that in addition to being the band's designated driver, Preston will play guitar in Harvey Milk’s live show and Tanner will remain on bass. Of this, he remarks, “He has a 12-string now, too, so that’s gonna be good times.”

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Over the course of 16 years, four proper albums, two compilations, a mega DVD retrospective and more than a little word-of-mouth legend-making among music fans, Harvey Milk has both tickled the rock funny-bone of fans seeking a quick, riff-ready fix and blown the noggins off others with heavy-as-the-Earth, glacially-paced compositions. Harvey Milk may be among the last bands whose following was built by true word-of-mouth rather than street team hype and Internet marketing. Indeed, when Chunklet Magazine publisher Henry Owings recently announced a limited-edition, vinyl repressing of Harvey Milk’s monolithic 1995 double LP Courtesy And Good Will Toward Men, the entire run sold out in less than a week, and it hasn't even been released yet. Truth be told, though, this is hardly surprising for a band whose back catalog was nearly impossible to find until Relapse Records began reissuing it a few years back.

With regard to the band’s “legendary” status, the members reply with a characteristically sharpened wit: “I think it’s wonderful and amazing that anyone even talks about the band anymore," says Spiers. "It makes me feel all happy and weepy inside just thinking about it. When we broke up 12 years ago, no one sure seemed to give a shit. Probably says more about scarcity and its effect on demand than anything else.” For his part, Spence adds, “It’s great to be a part of something that means a lot to people, and it’s nice to know that you’ve ruined your life for a good cause.”

Gordon Lamb

WHO: Harvey Milk, Pride Parade, Scars, Ben Stevens
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Saturday, March 8
HOW MUCH: $6 (21+), $7 (18+)