Earwig Demos (2016)
Blake Babies
Track list
- Dont Suck My Breath
- From Here To Burma
- Your Way Or The Highway
- AKA Deluxebury
- Steamie Gregg
- Not Just A Wish
- Lament
- Put It Outta My Head
- Boiled Potato
- Take Your Head Off My Shoulder
- Grateful
- Take Me Take Me
Demos recorded on 6 and 7 March 1988 at Fort Apache Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the album that became Earwig (1989).
The tapes were recovered in 2015 with these recordings released separately as Earwig Demos through a 2016 PledgeMusic project, as a download, black and coloured vinyl, and packages including an archival DVD.
Interviews
In July 2016, Juliana told The Boston Globe that she had not listened to the demos since they were made: “I know I have to listen to them at some point ... I’m afraid to go back.”
All three Blake Babies discussed their careers, the early records and the release of the demos in a WGN Radio interview.
In Freda's Talkhouse essay, she wrote that the band were “utterly defined by the sound of Juliana’s vocals.”
In an interview with chicagoist before the Evanston show, John said he would “love to find a way to do more with Freda and Juliana”.
In October, Juliana described the reunion to the Nashville Scene: “There’s an ease to playing with them, John and Freda ... a chemistry that I don’t have with any other things that I’ve done.”
PledgeMusic campaign
The PledgeMusic project included the aforementioned recordings and DVD plus selected Blake Babies memorabilia and reunion experiences, including private performances in Boston and Evanston. See the full Earwig Demos PledgeMusic campaign history for more.
Reunion
After the three private PledgeMusic shows the band continued to play later that year at Nashville's Basement East and Birmingham's Saturn on 15 and 16 October 2016.
Of note, the support at these shows was future megastar Phoebe Bridgers.