Cardenas

BIO: Cardenas was a renaming of Altura, but was essentially the same band. I love listening to recordings of this three-piece pop band, especially “Petri Dish”, where we seemed to hit our stride shortly before incorporating Greg Golden in the heavier and prog-rockier Tram Tower (which Greg and I started as a more synth-guitar project that merged with Cardenas). Cardenas and Altura are both streets in Albuquerque. While they may never intersect, these two bands most certainly did.

Band Members: Sergio Chavez (bass, keyboard loops), Kevin Fullerton (guitars, vocals), Andrew Squire (drums, percussion)

Years of Operation: 2001

Location: Seattle, WA

Song List:

The following songs were recorded in Josh Gibson’s home studio in Portland, OR:

Doctor Owner Operator

Grammar School

Gross Misdemeanor

Heavy Indian

Heroes of the Underworld

Same Songs (This is one of my favorite songs from this band, even if the bass is mixed too high in this version)

Say No More

Stay Awake (I’m not sure if this is the correct name of this song, and I’ll correct it if not. This song sums up my life these days. I can’t stay awake past 8:00 most nights anymore. This song was Kevin making fun of himself for falling asleep so early every night, and I really like the mood of it. Andrew playing xylophone notes while simultaneously playing drums is impressive)

Longest Intro Ever (I think Josh thought the intro to “Say No More” needed to be mixed into a nothing-but-intro song that we all thought was pretty funny)

These are alternate versions and different mixes of the songs above, also recorded at Josh Gibson’s studio:

Doctor Owner Operator

Gross Misdemeanor

Instrumental

Instrumental (version 2, without keyboards loops)

Heroes of the Underworld (the tape slows a little bit at the beginning)

The following songs were recorded on a 4-track at a rehearsal space in Seattle:

Doctor Owner Operator (instrumental)