This is an archival page for Crayon, a cult indiepop band that existed from 1990-1994. A two disc CD retrospective of the band's songs is being planned for release in 2007. Thank you for your interest!
Crayon first played together on Valentine's Day, 1990. The trio of Jeff Fell, Brad Roberts and Sean Tollefson met while attending Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, USA. Sean introduced himself to Brad who was working at a local record store. Sean had heard Brad's all-Northwest college radio show, called Our Secret (named after the first Beat Happening single), and the two bonded over similar tastes in music.
Not too long after this, Sean introduced Brad to Jeff when they all happened to be out watching some bands play at the "World Famous" Up & Up Tavern, the local-band hot spot at the time. Brad mentioned that he had a friend who had a house full of musical equipment that they would be welcome to play with. Since image was everything to these guys, they decided on a band name before they left the club that night. "The Crayons" was suggested by Brad, inspired by an admiration of The Pastels. Jeff and Sean immediately vetoed this as "stupid." They all agreed on the singular "Crayon" instead.
A few days later they went out to local music guru, Michael Griffen's house. None of them knew how play an instrument at the time. Still, the practices were immediately focused on writing original songs (and post-practice Taco Bell runs). After some initial instrument shuffling Jeff was found to be a "natural" on the drums (his Dad had once played drums with Surf Rock legends, The Astronauts). Brad gave Sean his $20 pawn shop bass and bought a Korean, Fender Stratocaster copy for $50. Jeff never did get his own drum kit, but did invest in a lion costume to wear while playing. Sean and Brad generally stayed clear of such showmanship, though all three did later participate in a memorable "let's all wear glasses on stage" night. There have been many hushed rumors of a "let's all wear sweaters on stage" night, but photographic evidence of this purported event has yet to surface.
The band practiced weekly at Michael Griffen's house for several months before playing their first show which was, appropriately, at The Up & Up. Early shows were often shambling, out of tune, and noisy (establishing a precedent the band would keep throughout their "career"). Their friends were very polite about it all. The local art and funk bands said nothing directly abusive. The pool players were just apathetic. The band later developed a fuller audience playing all-ages shows, which they often set up themselves. New songs were introduced constantly. After a a few months of playing the Bellingham College Bar circuit (all three of them), the band recorded a six song cassette, A Cartwheel For A Kiss (learning chords and how to tune instruments would not occur to the band until their second single). A copy of this tape was sent to Tim Alborn, a history professor at Harvard, who published the seminal, Incite! fanzine and ran Harriet Records. Alborn offered to put out a Crayon single. This led to several more singles, recordings with Pat Maley at Olympia's Yoyo Studios, shows outside of Bellingham (!) and finally a full length album. A tour down the West Coast, and two through the Midwest and East Coast followed.
The band were thrilled to play with some of their heroes along the way, including such bands as Wimp Factor 14, The Softies, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Kicking Giant, Unwound, Superchunk, Seaweed, The Spinanes, Crackerbash, Tiger Trap, Lois, the Crabs, the Melvins, Versus, Hazel, New Bad Things, Tattle Tale, Pavement, Game For Vultures, Built To Spill, The Mountain Goats, Nothing Painted Blue, Franklin Bruno, New Bomb Turks, Small Factory, Calamity Jane, Lync, Smog, Neutral Milk Hotel, Modest Mouse, Heavens To Betsy, Bikini Kill and Mecca Normal among many others (how lucky can a band be)! Crayon went to the Crayola Factory in Pennsylvania (it was closed), saw the Grand Canyon and explored Taco Bells in many different states. A UFO was spotted in North Dakota. Jeff forgot his drum sticks once so the band played live on Calvin Johnson's radio show with Jeff using tree branches he found in the parking lot. They witnessed the great Milky Way one night in the Arizona desert.
The Brick Factory CD topped many College Radio playlists, including making it to number one at Harvard. Crayon were now receiving letters and interview requests from around the world. They became minor fanzine darlings and were even contacted about a possible Sprite commercial. Crayon also published 11 issues of Thrill! fanzine throughout their time together. The fanzine featured blatant Crayon propaganda, music reviews, tour diaries and other fun fluff. It was an essential communication device in the days before the Internet explosion. Thousands of copies were circulated (for a stamp or for free). A variety of stickers and T-shirts were also produced by graphics ace, Sean (who also found time to pursue his solo project, Six Cents And Natalie). Crayon were set to tour Canada with Cub and there was talk of a tour with Lou Barlow, of Sebadoh fame ... Alas, it just was not meant to be. Soon after returning from their second East Coast tour, Brad quit the band. Sean and Jeff would soon regroup for future successes in Tullycraft. The last Crayon show was at the first Yoyo A Go Go festival in Olympia, Washington on Tuesday, July 12, 1994. :)
