20 years of Poi Dog Pondering: A history
Poi Dog Pondering releases its seventh studio album next week, and now looks back on 20 years of making earthy, often danceable music. Here’s a look back at the mulling mutt’s long journey from Hawaii to Chicago:
1988: Poi Dog Pondering’s original lineup (which included Abra Moore) drifts ashore from their native Hawaii and settles in Austin, Texas. Singer Frank Orrall tells the Sun-Times, “"It was just a point on the map where I wanted to visit, but when we stopped here on this street thing, this busking tour, here's where we felt really comfortable.” The band records two EPs: a self-titled debut and “Circle Around the Sun.”
Poi Dog history
1989: Columbia Records signs the band and combines the EPs into the self-titled debut LP, featuring the songs “Living With the Dreaming Body,” “Postcard From a Dream (Toast and Jelly)” and “Wood Guitar.” By year’s end, a second full-length album is out, “Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea,” containing songs such as “Watermelon Song,” “Everybody’s Trying” and “Thanksgiving.”
1990: The band appears on David Letterman’s late-night talk show and tours extensively. Another EP, “Fruitless,” is released, including a cover of New Order’s “Love Vigilantes.” Orrall says: “We've always played demented covers, especially in Chicago, where our audiences are bigger and tend to get wilder than anywhere else."”
1991: The group records a series of instrumental songs, which Columbia refuses to release. Back into the studio, Poi Dog records their third album, “Volo Volo,” including the songs “Lackluster,” “Get Me On” and “Jack Ass Ginger.” Singer-songwriter Frank Orrall appears briefly as Happy-Go-Lucky Guy in Richard Linklater’s acclaimed film debut “Slacker.”
1992: Orrall and many core members of the band’s shifting lineup resettle in Chicago. The band re-examines its mission. "When Max [Crawford] and I first moved up here in 1992, we just stopped touring and recording. We seriously examined what we wanted to do with our music and our shows, and jettisoned everything that wasn't getting to the heart of the matter," Orrall tells the Sun-Times.
1993: Columbia releases the band from its contract.
1994: Orrall releases an album, “Vague Gropings in the Slipstream,” under the name Palm Fabric Orchestra. This is electronic, instrumental music based on some of the original song ideas for the wordless album scrapped in ’91.
1995: Poi Dog releases its first proper Chicago-based album, “Pomegranate,” featuring the songs “Complicated,” “Diamonds and Buttermilk” and “God’s Gallipoli.”
1996: The influence of Chicago house music rears the Poi Dog head in a collection of remixes and electronic new tracks, “Electrique Plummagram,” which includes a cover of Frankie Knuckles’ “Hard Sometimes.” In July, the band performs the entirety of “Pomegranate” in Grant Park with the Grant Park Symphony.
1997: The band releases its first official live album, “Liquid White Light.” Crowds at the band’s Chicago performances reach record numbers.
1998: More remixing — the short collection “That’s the Way Love Is.” Poi Dog opens for the Dave Matthews Band, and many in attendance agree with Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis’ opinion on the show: “The wrong group headlined. In fact, I could have done without the Matthews Band entirely.”
1999: Orrall announces in January that the latest (and fourth) lineup of Poi Dog is disbanding. A smaller band releases the next Poi Dog album, “Natural Thing,” featuring more electronically inspired tunes, including “That’s the Way Love Is,” “Come Together” and the title track.
2000: Poi Dog releases another live recording, “Soul Sonic Orchestra.”
2001: Orrall joins the band Thievery Corporation as a drummer and percussionist. Meanwhile, Poi Dog releases a collection of outtakes and rarities from 1987 to 1994, titled “Sweeping Up the Cutting Room Floor.”
2002: Orrall begins performing more solo shows, including an acclaimed set at Martyrs.
2003: Poi Dog releases its sixth record, “In Seed Comes Fruit,” including the songs “10-28,” “Keep the Faith” and the title track.
2004: “Audio Visivo,” a documentary about the recording of “In Seed Comes Fruit,” is released, filmed and produced by Marco Ferrari.
2005: Poi Dog performs at Symphony Center with the Chicago Sinfonietta. They collaborate on a few Poi Dog standards, then join to perform Orrall’s “remix” of Dvorak’s New World Symphony.
2006: Poi Dog performs at Lollapalooza, now based in Chicago’s Grant Park.
2007: Poi Dog returns to the stage with the Chicago Sinfonieta, performing a “mini” and “remixed” version of the opera “Carmen.” Another project finds them composing and performing an original score for the Brazilian silent film “Limite” by Mario Peixoto.
2008: The seventh album, suitably titled “7,” is released, including the songs “Perfect Music, “Candy” and “Lemon Drop Man.”
