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00:54 Timeline
I first heard 54 Seconds' music during late March 2001. Not too
long after the SXSW
festival. The band had of course been together a lot longer
before that -- Since 1997 in fact. See the band page
for a brief history, and also check the KO.OP
Radio Transcripts, as Stewart & Spencer lay it all out for you
there.
The following account, is what I recall in my flurry of discovering, and
subsequently following this great band, so far on their
"vision" (I wonder
if Stewart eventually got the memo for that one?... anyway...)
2000
March:
* The band is interviewed & their SXSW show filmed for BigJam.
(Transcripts & audio link)
* After being told to go check out their
official website, I was immediately impressed by the creativeness from
the whole band. From their Links page, I clicked through to the cool, and now
defunct website called Clubcast Live and heard the band's live webcasts of their
then weekly Monday Night shows at The Speakeasy. One listen &
I was hooked for life. I listened to the very first show in the archives, and I
couldn't tell who was who. At the time, I didn't know if Spencer was doing all the singing or not. Strangely enough I had expected Spencer to have a
lighter voice, and not so deep, and sexy.
* I joined the 54Seconds mailing list on eGroups, and along with the other fans we
discussed each show in depth. (Note* The original list has since closed, and unfortunately
I didn't get to save all our dissecting :o( The new list is called 00:54).
* I continued to tune in each week for the Clubcast shows. I was dragged in by
Spencer's sexy singing, and flashy guitar effects, Stewart's eargasmic
keyboard acrobats, cool wit and charm, Glenn's bad-ass bass booms, and
JJ's thick, funking drum grooves. - Also, listening for the banter
between Stewart & Spencer, waiting for Spencer to break a string;
being enchanted by the cool guest musicians, and whined about never
hearing from Glenn (Whining pays off you see. Now Glenn has his own mic,
and Stewart has to occasionally restrain him. Just the way we like it).
* Bought the EP album - twice, so I didn't miss out on Nashville/Foolish Me.
* Lots of articles & press around this time. Some I
saved, others I missed the boat, and they are now in net heaven.
April:
* Joined in on the first ever 54 Seconds chat, where we got to ask Spencer,
Stewart & Glenn questions. Embarrassed myself by asking a question for JJ, after
they had said he wasn't there. *stupid, stupid*
* Received my signed & hand numbered Promo CD. That was
very cool!!!
* Started up this Poppyseed website after falling in love with the live version from the
Clubcast live broadcasts. At that time, the song's verse was starting to become vague in my
head, & I was tightly hanging on the the chorus. I was dying
to hear it again..... ahhh <grin> some prayers are answered after
all !!! Now the band play it often & I love it more with every listen!!
Get the live version on the Promo 2 CD.
May:
* Tuned into a Clubcast show with nothing but chatter being aired. Few days
later the band announced that Clubcast won't be continuing the broadcasts, so we all had to rush
over and listen to any archives we'd missed. I think we had a week's grace. I
never did get through all of them :o(
* The band announces that they had started working on a second Promo cd.
June:
* Stewart & Spencer were interviewed by Chris Taylor for a NYC radio
station. This is a great interview. Read
it here.
August:
* 23rd - My pesky emails paid off. I finally caught Stewart out with, not
one, but TWO typos, and a grammar error. Not so superhuman after all. (I can't
believe I kept that email...lol..) This is significant only because it prompted Stewart
into sending the Skin teaser & some new promo shots.
Here's the email:
"OK, OK ya got me. And my mother an English professor at that.
Just don't tell her. Here, I'll make it up to you. Enclosed is a super
secret teaser that NO one other than Spencer and I have heard. It's a
snippet of the final mix of "Skin", which we only just finished today.
A sample of things to come."
September:
* 54 Seconds is nominated & wins "Best
Punk/Alternative band" (Editor
and Audience pick) for Austin Citysearch.com.
"I spent the day dropping off
"EP" in all the local record stores. I was surprised at all the
clerks who'd already heard of us. St"
November:
* The band re-vamps their website. This time it's really cool, and is all in
Flash 5, with a slight problem of it being a liiiitle slow. Okay, it was REALLY
slow. Too bad though, it was an excellent design.
2001
January:
* JJ plays his last show with the band. (None of us knew this at the time), and
soon after his name disappeared from the band's email sig line :o(
(there has never been an official announcement about this either. Shhh....).
February:
* The band appear on the Fox 7 morning show (tv).
*Glenn takes to the mic for backing vocals (cool <grin>). Stewart shifts into a higher
harmony. I believe he had to grab something to achieve this. .. Just can't quiet
recall what they were.
* The best news in ages. The band announced they had started recording every show,
and would be selling them. They got them out so fast that it was
hard to keep up with them. It was like being a kid again, at a lolly factory, with the sides of
the bag splitting, but you have to get in more.
* The new studio, Area
54, is finished! Recording starts on the new studio album.
March:
* SXSW 2001 - Caroilin catches Stewart's playing for Jimmy LaFave, and raved about
his
standing piano solos. I think she said she had a birds eye view! ;o)
* Radio edit version of World Stood Still surfaces.
April:
* Ahhh .... Blue
Bonnets! - New photos of Stewart & Spencer at their friend's
wedding.
May:
*Spencer & Stewart appeared on KO.OP Radio
91.7, which included
interviews and live in studio acoustic performances of Early Warning & Poppy
Seed. Stewart made up a mix of his influence, and suggested a contest
with the winner receiving a 54 Seconds T-shirt AFTER he had worn it. Heather
won! Stewart signed the shirt and stamped all over the shirt with their 54
Seconds logo about 50 times. Cool stuff, although I am told, very stinky.
* The new flash 5 design of 54seonds.com is launched. Very cool design!... and fast!
* The Live at the Speakeasy album is pushed back to concentrate on the new
studio album. Which is cool, as we had been eating up those live
"bootlegs".
* Promo 2 cd, and the re-mastered re-release of "Jez
Spencer- 4 Track Mind" were released simultaneously. *slurp*<G>
June:
* The new studio album is 3/4 finished.
August:
* Heard the song "Better" which is expected to be the
first single for the new album. It's utterly gorgeous!!
November:
* Recording has finished & the mixing has commenced for the looming studio
album.
2002
February:
* Mixing of the studio album is half way done.
March:
* Spencer wows the audience of the Jupiter
Records Bob Dylan Tribute, with his rendition of Clapton/Dylan song
"Sign Language".
June:
* Advanced copy of the new album titled "Coma"
finds it's way to my mailbox, along with a bonus EP called "Memoirs
of the Superficially Happy". 
I'm a happy lassy.
* ... http://www.leviticusthemovie.com/
The band are very low-key, whilst they prepare
to launch their new studio, plus record other artists, including "Parade".
2003
January:
* Bandpromote's
#12 Sampler is available, with "Meaningless Conversation", as one
of the tracks.
February:
* The enhanced features on the "Coma" CD are finished.
March:
* Jen White's short film "Lowlight" (about the making of the song
"Better?") screens at the SXSW Film Festival.
* "Lowlight Sound" studios are born!
April:
* 54 Seconds start playing live again, debuting songs from their new Coma CD.
They played "the entire CD in its running order with very few pauses and then finished off with “Strange Day”.
* Lowlight Sound Website
is active.
* Promography is released.
In between all that we got the World Stood Still teaser, spent about a week
deciphering Spencer's accent with the song "Complicated", got a
few more promo photos & posters, dissected more songs/CD's & accents,
posted tons of our own cropped, chopped, enlarged, coloured, warped (and then
some) band graphics and photos, discovered a truck load of other bands related,
similar or friends with 54 Seconds, and the rest filled up with dribble talk.
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