_andthelike

my name is hannah! i use she/her pronouns and have been a fan of the like since 2018 - i even have a tattoo!

here is my youtube where this all got started as well as my recently revived instagram.

i'm always down to chat, but i don't have notifs on for tumblr so forgive me if it takes me a bit to reply :)

PART FIVE: Live shows, setlists, and audio (cont.)

I guess it's only fitting that tumblr made me create a new post for the most exciting / recent development in this story!

For many years, the content of the previous parts is all we had from the lost record... UNTIL May of this year when After the Show sent me some live audio she had saved!!! She is clearly the real MVP behind this entire masterpost with the 2018 interview, real time archival materials, and finally getting me off my ass to make this.

I still can't believe we have these now, and can listen to them. Unfathomable to me only a few months ago.

One show I did not mention in the last part was at 6th St. Warehouse May 30, 2008, between the Club 86 show and the Nylon/Myspace show. I have a more comprehensive post on this show in particular, but I'll include this picture of the setlist below:

Just imagining this era's version of Don't Make a Sound... are you kidding me?!?

Message board users Oddjobber and Normal Person comment that the setlist is "a carbon copy of Wednesday's show" (at Club 86) except with one extra song, "Jules."

As you may have noticed, there are some differences between the song titles the Like used during the recording sessions/Charlotte's blog posts, on the demo CD, and while playing live.

It seems that the band was calling many of these songs by the names of the people they were about as working titles, ("Valentine," "Caleb," maybe "Vera," etc.) which is genuinely hilarious.

This theory is corroborated by a comment on the He's Not a Boy studio video saying "I believe its called 'Johnny', I'm not entirely sure" - and Dan Cairns' 2010 interview where he writes that "Razorlight's Johnny Borrell ... is shredded on the recent single He's Not a Boy." (Not sure where he got that info from, but Z likes the article and didn't correct it, so there's that.)

This would make the setlist:

Don't Make a Sound, I Can See It in Your Eyes, In the End, Hazy Shade of Hate, "Caleb"/Murder of Crow, "Jules," Release Me, Cross My Heart (title mentioned in the blog posts), He's Not a Boy, and Alone at Last, if I'm reading correctly.

It's so fascinating to see titles we know and love along with ones that remain unknown/unfamiliar! Looking at the Like's released material, the jump from Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? to Release Me feels like two completely separate worlds. But, all this in-between material makes it clear that there was a murky middle that bridged the two together. The 60s influence may seem like it was out of nowhere without context, but even in 2007 Tennessee's father was taking pride in the band playing "proper beat music."

I hope that, if nothing else, this masterpost provides a clearer look at how the Like's sound evolved. And of course, if this introduced you to any new information or songs you might not have heard, that's cool too 😉❤️

Thank you so much for reading if you got this far, and I hope this was of some interest to you :) Feel free to chat with me anytime, ask questions, or make suggestions, as I'm sure I'll be editing this in the future. Big love from me to you!!

PART FOUR: Live shows, setlists, and audio (1/2)

First, let's return to It's Not Likely. This is the one song that we've actually heard at least a snippet of the final version from the lost record. It seems to be a favorite of Z's due to its continued resurgence through the years:

choosing to post the snippet from this song in 2017

playing it live in 2013, on her own

actually including it on one of her lyric cards from December 2021, which she confirmed on twitter (!!!)*

* As I'm assuming you know, this record also never came out, and we instead got the Strange Darling soundtrack a few years later. Maybe Z has some kind of second record curse (or, being a musician is a weird, difficult job). I wonder what the 2021 version of this song would have sounded like.

After the Show was kind enough to post this live recording from 2013, which introduces us to the rest of the song (and how we know the lyrics from its bridge are the same as the 2021 lyric card).

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 -- happy holidays/new year + so many photos!!!

Friday, December 14, 2007 -- Youth’s Bio

idk if it's because of something in the contents or what but tumblr REFUSES to let me save this text in a post. hopefully a screenshot will do.

Saturday, December 08, 2007 -- more fireworks and funny hats + video!

so the last day in the studio we gave youth, timmy, and clive some parting gifts. we didn't realize it but we got them all funny hats.

youth got an arrow through the head (it's hard working with us sometimes)

Friday, November 30, 2007 -- LAST DAY IN THE STUDIO!!!!

today is our last day in the studio. i'm sad.

this week was fun though..........

we recorded "cross my heart" and "the three fools"

we went a little crazy with "the three fools"

youth and timmy both sang

Friday, November 23, 2007 -- mushrooms and rave squirrels

Hello there "blogsters," it's Tennessee here (the drummer).... We've had another shockingly productive week in the studio... personally I think it's sounding excellent-- 

On Monday we recorded "A Little at a time" and our friend Valentine came to visit. We had pizza for dinner- Youth thought it was appropriate to cut his using scissors

Monday, November 19, 2007 -- FIREWORKS!!!

thursday we recorded "hazy shade of hate" and convinced clive to bring in his fireworks that he'd made.

friday we did "release me" it's the live one we have on our myspace page

after i finished tracking my bass clive went downstairs to get his supplies

Thursday, November 15, 2007 -- fall fashion, coffee, and motorcycles

monday was a sad day because timmy was gone. but it was ok because david came in to replace him. dan came in to keep us company and talk about coffee. see he bought this fancy espresso machine and milk frother/heater which we've all become obsessed with. there are like 20 different types of coffee in different colored pods which have these ridiculous descriptions about their biscuit and cereal notes and their strength (on a scale from 1-10) which we all pretend to understand but we never really notice the difference. anyway here's dan and tennessee with the beloved nespresso pods

Monday, November 12, 2007 -- end of the week

thursday we recorded "that one millionth part"

friday we did "valentine" it's about our friend valentine. you know, the one who dressed as dead kurt cobain for halloween. she hasn't heard it yet but she's stoked.

then we decided to leave the studio for the first time....... ever. we all went to a pub down the road for a drink.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007 -- first days in the studio!

so we started recording on monday in richmond. it's so beautiful here. we need to go to the park to see the deer and to the lake to feed the swans when we have a minute.

Saturday, November 03, 2007 -- halloween!!!

halloween was amazing. tennessee dressed as a lamb

PART THREE: The Myspace blog posts

Click on each of these to read + view photos.

Saturday, November 03, 2007 -- halloween!!!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007 -- first days in the studio!

Monday, November 12, 2007 -- end of the week

Thursday, November 15, 2007 -- fall fashion, coffee, and motorcycles

Monday, November 19, 2007 -- FIREWORKS!!!

Friday, November 23, 2007 -- mushrooms and rave squirrels

Friday, November 30, 2007 -- LAST DAY IN THE STUDIO!!!!

Saturday, December 08, 2007 -- more fireworks and funny hats + video!

Friday, December 14, 2007 -- Youth’s Bio

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 -- happy holidays/new year + so many photos!!!

For those who don't want to read (although I will assure you they're worth at least a skim), the most important parts in relation to the record are the studio photos, song titles, and this video in the studio:

Charlotte calls this song "That One Millionth Part," which is why I mentioned That One Millionth Part being He's Not a Boy in the previous section.

Let's move on to Part 4: Live shows, setlists, and audio.

PS: the colors have no meaning, I just wanted to make this part look less boring 😅

PART TWO: What do we know about the tracklist?

This photo of Tennessee with a demo CD from May 14, 2008 was posted on theskullset.com. Will write out the tracklist below.

Shhhhhhhhh (Don't Make a Sound)

In The End

Murder Of Crow

Release Me

He's Not a Boy...

Alone At Last!

Hazy Shade Of Hate

It's Not Likely

Stick To Your Guns

The Limit

I Can See It in Your Eyes

Way Back When

As you can see here, a few of the songs would end up rerecorded and reworked for Release Me. I spoke to Charlotte over DM in July 2020, and she said these versions of the songs were slower and did not have keys.

However, some of the titles here do not match up with what was on setlists/in articles/blog posts.

Here is an article from NME detailing an August 29, 2007 show at Club NME LA (Spaceland) that notes "a distinct ’60s vibe backed by Tennessee Thomas' propulsive drumming."

They played:

Vera, I Can See It in Your Eyes, Hazy Shade of Hate, I Thought It Would Be Mine, Release Me, Murder of Crow, The Three Fools, "Sh…Sh…Sh…" which is Don't Make a Sound, and That One Millionth Part (which I believe is He's Not a Boy, but we'll get into that later).

Here is another very short article mentioning their plans to record.

Also on August 29, 2007, the band guested on Jonesy's Jukebox and played Release Me. This track is more readily available as the band then posted it to their Myspace page.

Speaking of Myspace, the Like had a very active Myspace blog during this time period. Unfortunately, a site redesign in June 2013 deleted all previous blogs without warning. But, there is one snapshot on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine that miraculously is from the time the band was recording this lost record.

I'll include the archive link here, but I will also be transcribing the content in the next part for ease of reading (some of the pictures can be finicky).

Without further ado, click here for Part 3: The Myspace blog posts.

PART ONE: What is the lost record?

The Like's first record, Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?, was released in 2005. Their second record, Release Me, was released in 2010. But in between these two, the band recorded a whole other album that was fully mixed and mastered, but shelved by their label (They finally convinced execs to give them another shot at making a record in collaboration with Mark Ronson, which is how Release Me was born).

Z Berg posted this on Instagram on July 12, 2018 about the record, which is where my profile picture is from.

"#tbt The Like had just finished our second record - mixed and mastered, and we shot photos with my hero @ellenvonunwerth at Spaceland when it was still so named and the blue curtains had not been unceremoniously removed. I had gotten this guitar for my high school graduation. The label then refused to put the record out and we were left in limbo for many years! Still have the recordings and this contact sheet scan. I sold that dress and I lost those shoes somewhere along the line. Music is a seriously weird job. I think I did a sick job curling my hair that day."

On July 4, 2017, Z posted this short snippet of the song "It's Not Likely."

"Today, while you party, remember we stole this country, and perhaps give a little back to the people from whom we stole it! https://www.naha-inc.org. (Also this song is a snippet of a track from the second The Like record that never came out, hope that's cool @tennesseebunny) Happy Fourth of July!! Try not to blow off your hands. @sonjaleila"

Z speaks more about the lost record in this May 2018 interview with After the Show.

Last year you put a clip of “It’s Not Likely” on Instagram. That snippet might be the prettiest piece of music I’ve ever heard…wow! I’d love to hear that unreleased The Like album – is there any chance you’ll ever post those songs?

I’ll definitely think about it. I realized when I posted it that it was such a crazy experience to make that record. We went to England for two months and recorded the album, and went to New York and mixed it for a month.

And we mastered it and did the photo shoot … it was an emotional experience. And then the label just said ‘nope.’ So when that happened you kind of want to bury it and never think about it again.

This article from Nylon Magazine's 2008 music issue provides the most background information (influences, inspiration, the process, etc.) as it was written and published before the album was shelved.

This article from 2010 also provides some more insight into that time period.

The important aspects will all be discussed here, but feel free to also browse anything on my blog tagged with lost record mention.

Stay tuned for Part 2: What we know about the tracklist.