(The) Harvey Danger Database

If history without chronology is dark and confused,
chronology without history is dry and insipid. — A. Holmes

1992

Spring 1992

Jeff Lin and Aaron Huffman decide to start a band while attending the University of Washington and working on the student newspaper. The name “Harvey Danger” is taken from graffiti on the newsroom wall.

Summer 1992

Jeff and Aaron’s mutual friend Ken Hunt volunteers to play drums.

Halloween 1992

The Aaron/Jeff/Ken lineup plays the very first Harvey Danger show, at a house party.

Late ’92/early ’93

Ken leaves to concentrate on his own band, Self-Help Seminar (in which Aaron is also playing bass). Ken is replaced on the drums by Dan Fineman.

1993

October/November 1993

Dan leaves the band, and is replaced on drums by his housemate Evan Sult. Evan brings in Sean Nelson, a friend from the UW student paper, on vocals. The new foursome (plus Jim Brunner from Slugfest) play—and record—a 17-minute cover of the Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On”.^MMV

December 1993

Seattle garage band Toast releases about 30 copies of a tape titled Warm & Buttery, whose b-side includes a cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” by Harvey Danger.^JW

1994

Early 1994

Aaron, Jeff, Evan and Sean move into a rental house in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood (the house later featured on the cover of Merrymakers) and build a practice space in the basement. They begin writing songs, playing bar shows, and making recordings, none of which are ever released.

April 6, 1994

Harvey Danger play their first show as a quartet at the Lake Union Pub in Seattle, opening for Self-Help Seminar, Toast, Buzz, and Big Jim.^HDW

October 23, 1994

HD records six songs at Private Radio and releases them as a demo tape.

1996

January 27, 1996

Harvey Danger’s first radio performance on “The Live Room”, a weekly show broadcast on college station KCMU.

February? 1996

Sean meets producer/engineer John Goodmanson while doing a story for the Seattle Weekly and slips him a tape of HD’s KCMU performance. Goodmanson agrees to do a one-day demo session at his studio, John & Stu’s Place.

March 16, 1996

HD records “Private Helicopter”, “Terminal Annex”, and “Carjack Fever” at John & Stu’s Place and releases them on a single-side demo tape.

June 1996

HD returns to the studio with Goodmanson and records Side B of their demo tape: “Flagpole Sitta”, “Wrecking Ball”, and “Woolly Muffler”.

1997

February 1997

HD returns to John & Stu’s to record “Carlotta Valdez”, “Jack the Lion”, “Old Hat”, “Problems and Bigger Ones”, and “Radio Silence”, completing Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?

July 29, 1997

The first edition (1,200 copies) of Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? is released by The Arena Rock Recording Company.

October 4, 1997

The band records demos of “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo”, “Pity and Fear”, and “Defrocked”.

1998

January 12, 1998

KNDD bumps “Flagpole Sitta” from specialty play to regular rotation, and it quickly becomes the station’s most-requested song.

February 5, 1998

Arena Rock releases the second pressing of Merrymakers (500 copies).

March 2, 1998

Harvey Danger officially signs a record contact with Slash/London Records.

March 2, 1998

HD signs a record contract with Slash/London Records.^HDW

March 12, 1998

Following the national radio success of “Flagpole Sitta”, a third Merrymakers pressing of 10,000 copies is released by Arena Rock/Never Records ahead of the Slash/London reissue (then scheduled for late April).

March 31, 1998

Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? is reissued by Slash/London. The original release date of late April was moved up due to demand for the record.

April 27, 1998

Slash/London releases “Flagpole Sitta” as a single, b/w the demo recording of “Pity and Fear”.

May 17, 1998

The music video for “Flagpole Sitta” debuts on MTV.

July 19, 1998

HD appears on MTV’s 120 Minutes.

August 11, 1998

HD appears on David Letterman’s show.

October 13, 1998

Slash/London releases “Private Helicopter” as a single. The same day, Harvey Danger records “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)” for a KROQ compilation.

October 20 + 21, 1998

John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants directs the “Private Helicopter” music video in NYC.

November 29, 1998

The “Private Helicopter” video debuts on MTV.

December 10, 1998

PolyGram, the distributor for Slash/London, is purchased for $10.6 billion by Seagrams Co.^KJV25

1999

January 1999

Harvey Danger records several cover songs, and submits “Save It for Later” to be included on the soundtrack of the MTV film 200 Cigarettes.

February 1999

Preproduction begins on Harvey Danger’s second album at John & Stu’s Place, where the band records demos of several new songs, including “Authenticity”, “Thrilling Conversation”, “(Theme from) Carjack Fever”, “Defrocked”, and “World’s Greatest Living Dancer”.

February 3, 1999

Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? is certified gold by the RIAA for selling 500,000 copies.

February 26, 1999

Mercury Records releases 200 Cigarettes: Music from the Motion Picture, featuring HD’s cover of “Save It for Later”.

March 1999

HD heads to Bearsville Sound Studios in Woodstock, NY, and spends three weeks recording the basic tracks for their next album.

April 1999

The band completes additional recording, including overdubs, at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, WA.

May 17, 1999

“Why I’m Lonely”, “You Miss the Point Completely”, “(Theme from) Carjack Fever”, and “The Same As Being in Love” get mixed at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, CA.

Summer 1999

The band is informed that their record label, along with all other PolyGram imprints, has been assimilated into Universal Music Group, and that their contract—and second album—are effectively in limbo until the massive corporate reorganization is complete.

Fall 1999

The music video for “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)” is filmed over two days in a borrowed apartment and two local movie houses.^XMAS

October 1999

“Show Me the Hero”, “Humility on Parade”, and “Loyalty Bldg.” are written and recorded at John & Stu’s Place.

Mid-December 1999

The “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas” music video is screened at the original Little Theater in Seattle.

2000

March 3, 2000

Harvey Danger 2.0 (with Mike Squires on guitar and John Roderick on keys) debuts at the OK Hotel.^FB

June 2000

The remaining tracks for KJV—“Show Me the Hero”, “Humility on Parade”, “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo”, “Authenticity”, “Pike St./Park Slope”, “Thrilling Conversation”, “Loyalty Bldg.”, and “Underground”—are mixed at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, BC.

Summer 2000

After months of waiting, HD learns that their record label is now London-Sire, and the release of KJV can proceed.

August 7, 2000

London-Sire Records releases “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo” as a single.

August 15 + 16, 2000

Evan Bernard directs the “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo” music video in Los Angeles.^HDW

September 12, 2000

King James Version is finally released by London-Sire Records.

September 24, 2000

The “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo” video fails to debut on MTV.^HDW

2001

April? 2001

In their very last recording session of this era, the band records demos for “Mainland”, “Moral Centralia”, “Cold Snap”, and “Diminishing Returns”.

April 21, 2001

HD plays their (first) final show, opening for Hazel and Quasi in Portland.^HDW

2004

February 1, 2004

Harvey Danger reunites for a successful recording session.^SCN

March 9, 2004

HD announces their forthcoming 10th anniversary show.^HDW

April 21, 2004

HD plays their reunion show at the Crocodile Cafe, debuting several new songs.^HDW

2005

January 8, 2005

HD (with John Goodmanson and Steve Fisk) begin recording Little By Little… at Robert Lang Studios in Shoreline, WA. Tracking is completed on January 23, and mixing finishes on January 27.^HDW

September 13, 2005

Little By Little… is released in stores. It will be released for free via BitTorrent on September 20, and for free download from the band’s website on September 27.^JJL

November 8, 2005

Kill Rock Stars releases the “Cream and Bastards Rise” single.

November 16, 2005

Little By Little… crosses the 100,000-download mark.^JJL

2006

July 15, 2006

Harvey Danger records several songs live at Avast! with Kurt Bloch as producer: “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Wrecking Ball”, “Radio Silence” “Humility on Parade” and “Maneater”.

July 25, 2006

Kill Rock Stars re-releases Little by Little….

October 10, 2006

Barsuk Records releases the Little Round Mirrors EP.

2009

May 28, 2009

HD announces that they have amicably decided to disband.^HDW

August 29, 2009

Harvey Danger plays their final final show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle.

2010

September 10, 2010

Dead Sea Scrolls and The Final Recording are made available for free download from harveydanger.com.