When cancer stole Sean Meyer from us this past January, the Bellingham music community lost one of its most talented and creative members. From avant-garde weirdness to hot country to power pop to classic rock, he took it all on and gave it his own distinctive spin.
He might be best known among the general public around here for his years fronting Scary Monster and the Super Creeps, a David Bowie tribute band. Although Meyer’s own work doesn’t necessarily sound like Bowie, a similar spirit of restlessness and adventurousness carries through into all of his music.
Most recently, he put out three albums with a group called Spine Readers, who found a way to mix guitar-based pop sounds with all sorts of other influences. He was also an accomplished visual artist and heavily involved in the filmmaking community.
The surviving members of Spine Readers, with some artistic help from some other friends of his, have recently released their final LP, “Lab Results.” The album stands as a fantastic introduction to Meyer’s talent for anyone who didn’t know him, and a fitting capstone to his legacy for those who have been following him all along. To honor its release, I thought it would be worth hearing from some of his closest collaborators about just what made him so special.
Julia Skerry (partner): “For someone so gifted in a lot of areas, Sean wasn’t afraid to be a humble beginner and ask questions. He loved to learn and he was an excellent problem solver. He would deep dive into studying or practicing — intensely tinkering away and most likely mastering the thing — be it a hand-lettered font, a guitar technique or perfecting the banana pancake.”
Aaron Cramer (Spine Readers bandmate): “Sean was an exceptional creative partner. He was never short on ideas, always willing to try anything, he had a do-it-now spirit, always building up other creators around him, driven, innovative, inspiring, always searching. He was a true artist and a hard-working guy all around. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of music.
Off stage and outside the studio, Sean was an amazing visual artist! He could draw caricatures of people that were amazing. For his 41st birthday, he sat at an easel and drew a caricature of everyone at the party. He illustrated a full comic book to accompany our second album, ‘The Hook and The Snake.’”
Tyler Swank (artistic collaborator): “He wanted to entertain, he wanted to be exciting and interesting, anything but boring. He wanted to give people their money’s worth. Sometimes that meant broken guitars (or bones) but for him, it was worth it.”
The new album is out now on streaming and vinyl. The vinyl comes with a whole bunch of extra digital downloads, giving a fuller picture of the band’s creativity over the past few years. In Meyer’s honor, surviving members of the band did a fundraising campaign along with the album, raising considerable sum for music education in Bellingham Public Schools.
It’s a terrible thing that we have to tell this story without Meyer here — but I’m a firm believer that continuing to celebrate someone’s art after they’re gone is one of the very best ways to keep a part of them around. I hope you’ll join me in continuing to enjoy Meyer’s music and art for years to come.
Jesse Stanton's music column, The Beat Goes On, appears weekly. Reach him at jsbhammusic@gmail.com; @JSBhamMusic. Check with individual venues to make sure events are still taking place as scheduled. Live music events in Whatcom County: http://www.cascadiadaily.com/category/living/arts-and-entertainment/music/music-calendar
