11/24/2025
PRESS RELEASE (For Immediate Release): November 24, 2025
THE MEYCE ALBUM - COMING IN 2026!
In Seattle's punk rock history/lore, one show stands out as still-legendary and pioneering as, not only as the first organized punk rock bill in the Pacific Northwest on May 1, 1976, but as the first altogether on the west coast of the United States. The "T.M.T" Show included three early groups dabbling in the new, not-as-of-yet widely termed "Punk" music. The headliners were The Telepaths, a group firmly rooted in the more experimental aspects of The Stooges, early Roxy Music and The Velvet Underground. Telepath drummer, the late Bill Rieflin, would go on to be in the REM, King Crimson, and Ministry, after Telepath guitarist Erich Werner and he morphed into the Blackouts by 1979. The middle band on that bill was the Tupperwares, featuring three ex-Ze Fabulous Whiz Kidz vocalists (an early Glam/Drag performance troupe who opened for the Alice Cooper Band and the New York Dolls), and backed by a band featuring Pam Lillig, who would join the Meyce, and future members of Lone Justice and The Mentors. They would soon change their name to The Screamers and move to LA in early 1977 to become early leaders of that burgeoning punk scene down south.
The opening band that took the stage that night was The Meyce. Featuring Jim Basnight on vocals and guitar, and Paul Hood on bass and vocals (both previously in the Loverboys - a glam cover band who performed in full glam gear at their Seattle high school and got booed and harassed by jocks and teenage arena rock snobs), Lee Lumsden on drums and Jennie Skirvin (Brott) on vocals, The Meyce was a new act influenced heavily by Marc Bolan and T. Rex, Bowie, and also the Velvets, plus other more contemporary influences like the Ramones, Modern Lovers and Television, which they’d gotten their hands on. They came across as a unique mix of these influences with their quirky brand of p***y power pop tunes. Throughout the year, The Meyce continued to perform several more shows around Seattle and, in early 1977, opened for the Ramones at the Olympic Hotel during the leather-clad New Yorkers' first tour of the Northwest. Sadly, The Meyce split up not long after that show. Despite recording a dozen songs in three local studios, nothing was ever released. Some of the songs would end up in slightly different form on Basnight's band The Moberlys’ records and/or in their setlists, as well as on some of Jim's solo releases/output. But the original Meyce recordings have remained unreleased... until now!
NW Punk and Power Pop (NWPPP) present The Meyce album - features 21 songs in all. 12 studio recordings, and an additional 9 live versions, all but one from the classic Olympic Hotel show when they opened for The Ramones on March 6, 1977. A limited-edition vinyl LP will be available (black vinyl and another color variant TBD) and CD. Coming in the Summer of 2026!
- NW Punk and Power Pop is a division of NW Metalworx Music, LLC. https://nwmetalworxmusic.com
