A friend calls him difficult. His roommate says he’s impossible. And when he quit Sebadoh in 1993, a band member described his departure as a relief. He’s Eric Gaffney and he’s back.
Gaffney started Sebadoh with Lou Barlow during the late-’80s and, together with Jason Loewenstein, they wrote songs that combined the intensity of hardcore punk rock with the intimacy of the confessional singer/songwriter. Yet, just as the group was set to break into the national consciousness, Gaffney left the band and slipped into the deepest reaches of the underground. Since then, there’s been little but anger and strife between its founding members. But when Sebadoh plays NYC this weekend, Gaffney will be back in the fold, bringing the group together in its original form for the first time in 14 years.
“It took Eric and I this long to wade through our differences and reach some common ground,” says Barlow, who wrote introspective tunes analyzing relationship pitfalls. Gaffney, on the other hand, never met a melody he couldn’t undermine with a blast of noise. With his towheaded, boyish good looks, he served as Sebadoh’s unhinged mad scientist. But just as the band started gathering momentum, rifts started to appear.
“We had got a spot opening a tour for Fugazi for a few shows so we planned [our very first] tour around it.” explains Barlow. “Eric quit two weeks before the tour … He just had to leave.”
For the next two years, Gaffney’s departures became a pattern. He would walk out abruptly and then return. The group weathered each disappearance with a replacement. Then Gaffney quit for good.
“For me, it was over,” Gaffney explains via email. “I probably would have preferred to front my own band on guitar or just put out records and not tour for a while.”
Barlow, for one, was glad to see him leave: “I was like ‘Go, get out.’ He was such a pain in the ass.”
After Gaffney’s departure, Sebadoh’s popularity skyrocketed. “We were just building the reputation of the band and getting our name out,” says Barlow. “When he quit, all of that work really came to fruition.”
Gaffney, on the other hand, slipped from view. According to his website, he didn’t play his first solo shows until 1995, and then released a limited edition cassette in 1998. Gaffney finally got around to releasing a CD in 1999, the limited edition Brilliant Concert Numbers, which sold out its 1,000 print run. His most recent album, Uncharted Waters, came out late last year.
“I went back to my roots,” Gaffney explains, “started putting out tapes all over again and getting back to the 4-track and songwriting.”
However, Gaffney and Barlow were not finished with each other. When Gaffney threatened to sue Barlow for unpaid tour money, Barlow responded with angry, 10-page letters. Later, they switched to email to continue their feud. But out of the fighting, a reunion was born.
“I’m doing this because my relationship with Eric,” says Barlow. “It has nothing to do with our perceived influence on any music going on now or any revival of our music. It’s nothing to do with that because there isn’t any as far as I can tell.”
Looking back on the Sebadoh legacy, the members have a sense of what could have been. “It was such a personal relief [when Gaffney left the band] that I didn’t think about the creative loss we had suffered,” says Barlow. “I wish he had never quit. I wish we had just figured out a way to keep it going.”
For his part, Gaffney agrees. The band was better with him. “Not to sound cruel, but I’m not partial to the later stuff,” he says. “I like the earlier songs best.”
March 31, Webster Hall, 125 E. 11th St. (betw. 3rd & 4th Aves.), 212-353-1600; 6:30, $20. (April 1 at Maxwell’s)
