Listen: Pretend We’re Dead / L7 L7Pretend.mp3

Did anybody see L7 on Lollapalooza in ’93? It’s as though the event was tailor made for these girls. By now ‘Pretend We’re Dead’ was near anthemic and despite sharing the festival with headliners Green Day and The Smashing Pumpkins, it was becoming tricky to top them.

Stupidly, I paid little attention to their show at The Marquee in NY a year earlier. How could one be so careless? Very regretful. The place was jammed, L7 was on the way up. Alago and I got there late, so by now we were in the back and that was that.

Yes a hot summer’s day at Jones Beach for Lollapalooza sobered me right up. I was suddenly in a panic to get the back catalog on vinyl, fairly routine in the 90′s, although clean copies of ‘Pretend We’re Dead’ weren’t easy, not the sleeve at least.

Listen: Andres / L7 L7Andres.mp3

Even better was ‘Andres’, the first single from HUNGRY FOR STINK. Never will I forget their late night performances to promote it. Suzi Gardner singing lead, pretty handy as I’d become a serious, serious stalker. They played early in the day at Seattle’s Bumbershoot that August – on the big stage, meaning the huge arena on the grounds. Despite a few thousand kids, it still was desolate – for most bands that is. No worries, L7 delivered as though the joint was heaving. Their sheer power was relentless, a quality never lost.

Why they just stopped playing, threw in the towel, is frustrating and baffling. The last NY show was at Bowery Ballroom. Seems everyone went off boil, I couldn’t find one person to join me. The show may be in my Top 10 of life – it was that good.

L7 were just about to become the dependable pillar of punk, clawing up from a quiet patch, the live band you could always go see and never be let down. I dare say they were about the fill The Ramones’ shoes. Damn.