Lenoir is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 18,263 at the 2020 census. Lenoir is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the northeast are the Brushy Mountains, a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hibriten Mountain, located just east of the city limits, marks the western end of the Brushy Mountains range.
Didn’t know about this town to be honest but that’s where today’s band comes from.
The Jones! Active in the 80s and probably not known outside their town or their state, though I’d be happy if that I am wrong. The cool thing is that the band had some activity on the web about ten years ago when they set up a Facebook page, a Soundcloud and a Bandcamp too.
The Bandcamp is actually a compilation of their recorded output. Possibly not all of it though. The “Don’t You Said” digital compilation has the subtitle “Some of the Best of The Jones”. That probably means that it is not a full retrospective but a selection of their tracks. In any case they are a lot of tracks. There are 26 in total! These are “”Carpet Made of Hair”, “Pretending to Be You”, “Everybody’s on Vacation”, “Music Without Numbers”, “Mary No”, “How to Get What She Wants”, “Wordless Industry”, “Smell the Coffee”, “Precious Little Head”, “Bingo on my Breath”, “You’re Gonna Die Soon”, “Never Melissa”, “Gern Blanston: Marine Biologist”, “Pretty Albatross”, “The Natural Beauty of Wood as Soon Through Plastic Eyes”, “To See the World”, “Congratulations”, “What is the Frequency Kenneth?”, “Nowhere”, “You Can’t Break Steel Anchors”, “Supply and Demand”, “This One Could be the One”, “All I Want”, “Wait for Me on the Moon”, “Its Alright” and “Kiss Me Kate”.
We know that the band was formed by Chris Church on guitar and vocals, Mike Church on drums and John Green on bass and vocals. Safe to assume Chris and Mike were family?
There are lyrics for all the songs on all of their websites.
Going through their Facebook. I see some images of posters. I see the words Granite Falls and Morganton. I want to think Granite Falls was a support band and the band played in Morganton which is a quick 30 minute car ride from Lenoir. Or it could also be that Granite Falls is a location of another gig. There is a town of that name 20 minutes away from Lenoir.
Then there is a piece of paper that contains 3 sets, 52 songs and within them about a dozen of cover songs. It is a huge list but here it is:
Set 1: “The Only Thing”, “Just My Imagination”, “Supply & Demand”, “To See the World”, “Kiss Me Kate”, “Like Wow Wipeout”, “If Only I”, “Wishing Well”, “How to Get Wot She Wants”, “Shake Rattle & Roll”, “Araby”, “Lesson #1”, “Cinnamon Girl”, “R U Trying to Kill Me”, “Crutch”, “That Box”, “Badge” and “Smell the Coffee”
Set 2: “Figure of 8”, “I Left”, “Teenland”, “Mary No”, “Flat Top Beach Bowl”, “Him of Me”, “The Cost of Possibly”, “Bing on My Breath”, “Crusin 4 Contusions”, “Congratulations”, “My Fall”, “Message in a Bottle”, “Precious Little Head”, “Music W/Out #’s”, “Billionaire Bach”, “Stupid Girl” and “Let it Be Me”
Set 3: “Midnite Hour”, “Carpet Mock”, “Everybodys On Vacation”, “Nowhere”, “Pretending to B U”, “Veronica”, “Better Be Home Sane”, “Dream”, “Flags of All Nations”, “2 Little Tlitlers”, “This I Could B”, “Go!”, “All I Want” and some more. The image is not clear for this set. There are a few songs I’m missing.
John Green also has a Bandcamp, there he has uploaded “Pretty Albatross”, but it is a different one, it is not The Jones one. It is a demo from that time though, and it says that John still isn’t sure he even presented this track to the rest of the band. I follow this thread and find his own website (last updated 2015). I see that he describes himself as a husband, father, singer/songwriter, performing musician, web developer and scouter. Very cool!
Another nice little detail I found was that there were band t-shirts. There was one that was available with the band on an aeroplane for their Wicked Aviation Tour from 1989 and 1990.
And then a trove. Chris Church has uploaded on Bandcamp a compilation called “It’s Our Own Vault” that includes a whopping 65 tracks! There is also a bit of story about the band. We learn that sadly Mike Church, his brother, passed away. But the band was always them three. They were active between 1987 and 1990. In 1989 the band entered a regional battle of the bands and they won. The 65 tracks were recorded mostly on Chris’ portable Tascam 4 track, a few others in a studio and at least one in the production room of the radio station where John and Chris worked.
It also mentions that Chris and John reconvened in 1993 and released a tape called “Ample”. It was released by a label called Wee-Knee Records from Boone, North Carolina. Not sure what the tracklist was for it.
In any case, I’ll close this post with all 65 tracks!!!!
“How To Get What She Wants”, “Pretending To Be You”, “Burn The Big Top Down”, “Carpet Made Of Hair”, “To SEE The World”, “Congratulations (live)”, “Pretty Albatross”, “All I Want”, “Never Melissa”, “1,000”, “Music Without Numbers (live)”, “Wordless Industry”, “Alright”, “You Can’t Break Steel Anchors”, “Supply And Demand”, “Go”, “Nowhere”, “This One Could Be The One (live)”, “Wait For Me On The Moon”, “You’re Gonna Die Soon”, “Bingo On My Breath (live)”, “Gern Blanston: Marine Biologist”, “The Ballad Of Most Likely A Figment”, “The Natural Beauty Of Wood (As Seen Through Plastic Eyes)”, “Mary No”, “What Is The Frequency, Kenneth?”, “Everybody’s On Vacation”, “What’s Coming Down”, “The Present Presence Presents”, “War Is Heck”, “Crutch”, “The Hurting War”, “Umbrella”, “Like You Are Today”, “The Coast Of Possibly (live)”, “Steve Loves Dawn”, “Down”, “Precious Little Head (live)”, “Dodging Bullets”, “Eight Arms To Hold Me”, “Paper Train (live)”, “Mrs. Ostentation”, “Pretty Ugly”, “Billionaire Bachelor”, “Strange How You Won’t Come Down”, “It Will Never Last”, “Moodflag”, “Better Get It”, “Monica Vs. The Good Humor Man”, “Giggle Box”, “Cruising For Contusion (live)”, “Love Elbow”, “Here It Comes Again”, “Credit”, “If You Favor One, Never Fall Down”, “Apparent Apparel”, “News, Blah, Gran & Ollie”, “Dream (live)”, “Smell The Coffee”, “I Love Your Mouth”, “Pretending To Be You (live)”, “Blind Ears”, “Decisions, etc.”, “How I Became A Devout Vegetarian (For 15 Or 20 Seconds)”, “Kiss Me Kate (live)”
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