photography by Steve Eichner, scanned from newsprint
Mike Jaimes wrote a song in 1993 that became his signature tune. Nativology Vol. 1 featured his home demo of Down To The River. Now, we present, for your approval, the rough mix of the band recording from January 1994.
Recorded at Interface Studios, NYC. Engineered by Lou Gimenez & Dave Weil.
Native will be releasing an EP next month, with a title that befits the season — December Roses.
Drawn from the same sessions that begat Native’s And Then What album, December Roses showcases the band’s strong songcraft and production capabilities.
Recorded over a spanse of years, beginning in late 2000 and continuing up until the tragic death of lead guitarist Mike Jaimes in 2006, December Roses reveals a band at the height of its powers.
The release date will be announced soon, but know this —
Native will be sending you roses this December.
It is not known exactly in what order the epochal events occurred in the fall of that fateful year — 1993 — but this much is known…
Native played a show with God Street Wine at:
Attending that show were two people called John Fitzwater and Paul Ducharme. They liked Native enough to venture forth to one of our gigs at Ruby’s, on the Upper East Side. They got to know the band quickly. And, just as quickly, they ascertained that we were in the market for a keyboardist.
They knew John Epstein.
The Pranksterish John Epstein joined Native on a date lost to the mists of miserly time. There are no tapes of rehearsals or demo recordings of any sort in the Native Vault from the period of his joining or early involvement. We were preparing to produce our first record when he joined and all attention was focused on that and gigging.
So, the tapes we will present over the next few Cornbread Wednesdays are Ruff Mixes. That’s how Mat labeled the tapes he brought back from the studio after a session.
Native was flying high now. We had a keyboardist extraordinaire. Paul would go on to became our manager. Fitz eventually became our soundman. We had a van. All that was left was to —
(Native Alert! We will be making an announcement next Tuesday about an upcoming release that you will definitely want to get!!!!)
Native 