A compilation of music made by Robert Christie in the '80s and '90s. Robert was an important part of the music scenes across the Northwest: Eugene, Astoria, Portland, Oregon, and Olympia, Washington. His most well-known combos were Snakepit and Some Velvet Sidewalk; on this compilation you'll discover he had many guises in a number of worthy collaborations. Below is a testament from his high school pal, founder of Harriet Records, Tim Alborn.
"Between 1980, when I first met him, and 1996, when his last band called it quits, Robert Christie played drums (and occasionally played guitar, and occasionally sang) for close to a dozen different bands, the first in Astoria, Oregon, the second two bouncing between Eugene, Oregon and San Francisco, and the rest in Eugene. He was the uncommon denominator in all these bands, including those featured on this CD. Robert’s first band was MIP, fellow students at Astoria High School. When he decamped to Eugene in 1983, his first band, with bass player Matt Colgan and guitarist Dan McClure, was Young Death, which he once summed up in an interview: “it would be hard for us to slow down.” They went through two singers before summering in San Francisco, where a local named Kara picked up the mic and recorded a cassette tape’s worth of songs with them. Down the street, musical genius Tom Doskow gathered Robert and Matt together for a project he started (and hasn’t yet finished) called Merchants of the New Bizarre. They reunited in Eugene that fall to record some more songs. After getting back from SF, Robert supplemented his sophomore year at the University of Oregon with five different bands. The first, and the one closest to his heart, was Snakepit, what he called “a country and western car wreck band,” which he formed with Al Larsen, Dan Schmid and Steve Perry. Mike Johnson (later in Dinosaur Jr) soon joined, followed by Joe Argast and Laura MacDougal on bass and Billy Karren (later in Bikini Kill) on guitar. Johnson Unit came next, with Robert drumming (and sometimes singing) with Steve Nordby and John O’Neil. Like all drummers, Robert was in great demand, and during 1984-5 he also performed with The Evil Shape, Mind Garage, and The Four Horsemen of Rock (Snakepit with Dan McClure filling in for Al in summer ’85). In 1987, Al and Robert created Some Velvet Sidewalk, which released several cassettes, a single and an LP in its first incarnation as a duo. Robert left Johnson Unit in 1986 and Snakepit broke up in 1990.
"In 1989, Robert invited Diane Beck, Gary Schartz and Joe Brooks to form Oswald Five-O. In this early incarnation, Robert played guitar, sang, and wrote all the songs, with Joe on drums and Diane on bass. O5O soon settled into a trio, with Nick Tucker on guitar and singing harmonies with Diane, while Robert moved back to drums. They recorded two CDs on Eugene’s Grinning Idiot label along with several singles. They lasted until 1996, managing one US tour with Some Velvet Sidewalk (Al had relocated to Olympia, with a new supporting cast). Decades later, Diane and Nick collaborated on a song she wrote, “Small Town,” which remembers the difference Robert made in her life. Last November they joined Don Blair (ex-SVS) to record it in a Portland studio. Over the years, Robert started writing songs, the first few for Snakepit and several more for O5O. Three of Robert’s previously-unreleased solo recordings are included here; also “Animal Box” (an amazing Rich Jensen cover), which appeared on “The Way of Things”—a cassette that documented a show in Eugene on a cold night in November 1987, made warm by the amazing grace of music and friends. Its liner notes describe Robert as I will always remember him: “He practices Christ-like innocence when he’s not busy playing or studying.” He once compared my fanzine to a church bulletin, and I’d like to think we shared an evangelical zeal when it came to preaching about the music we loved. Although he had a hand in a few fanzines of his own, he practiced as well as preached. He set an example. He set the beat." - - - Tim Alborn, Harriet Records