Above: Glo-Worm gone wild. Photog by Pat Graham.
Last month saw the release of the Glo-Worm album Glimmer [KLP054] on the long playing (LP) phonograph record format for the first time. The Glimmer album is also available in a Deluxe Edition in the digital realm that includes four previously unavailable recordings by Glo-Worm, originally a session for WHFS-FM. Recorded by Dave Marsh in January, 1995 for his radio show, Dave's Garage, these singular recordings are available now for the first time.
We spoke to Dave Marsh last week about his radio show, which broadcast from 1991 to 2003, and his Glo-Worm session, which he remembers well. "WHFS wasn't in D.C proper, we broadcast from Annapolis, MD. We faced a couple hurdles, DC was a big radio market, Baltimore was a big radio market. We broadcast to both. This session was pre-recorded on Wednesday and broadcast on the following Sunday, January 15, 1995. There were technical limitations. We recorded in the room next to the air studio, everyone would squeeze into it. We'd have one microphone, no one had headphones, we would roll tape. I'd be be sitting right next to them, I'd have my hand on the fader. We'd record half a song, listen back, maybe move the drums around a little to get the right 'mix' on the one mic, and we didn't have any reverb. It created some very unique sounding material."
Dave Marsh recorded numerous sessions over the 10+ years he hosted Dave's Garage ("Scrawl, Eugene Kelly/Eugenius, Jawbox, Shudder to Think, Chisel, many local and national artists.") but this is the first session that has been released to the public in it's entirety. it's comprised of four songs, alternate versions (from the ones on the original Glimmer album) of "Stars Above," "Change of Heart," "Tilt-a-Whirl" and "One Million Rainy Days." Asked if he had been a fan of Glo-Worm before the session, Dave responded, "I'm not sure I saw them before, they played around D.C., and I played them on my show. That first Glo-Worm EP was recorded by my friends Geoff and Charles, and that was how I first heard of them. D.C. is a big city but really it's a small town, everything was word of mouth. 'So and so from this band, check it out,' that's how Glo-Worm first came to my attention."
Thanks, Dave, for allowing us to include the WHFS sessions on the Glimmer Deluxe Edition. One can learn more about Glo-Worm and their time in D.C. from a recent interview with the band by Gail O'Hara in chickfactor magazine.
The LP version of Glo-Worm, Glimmer [KLP054] (which includes all the songs on the original K compact disc but does not include the WHFS Session material) is available now from The K Mail Order Dept.
