Posted by Jeff Kuykendall under Minders
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From the Minders’ MySpace page (thanks to ryanlescure for the head’s-up):
The Minders would like to thank all of our friends, families and fans for their love and support. While there will not be any more Minders records or performances, we will still be making music and new friends, which is what it’s all about!
While some of us saw this coming, this is pretty sad news. When I think of the Minders, I think first of two things. One is first hearing the band–because I was going to see them live, I bought their singles comp Cul-de-sacs and Dead Ends at a Seattle record store, then spent forty minutes or so driving aimlessly around Seattle just to hear all of those infectious songs. Instant adoration; I remember “Build” and “Paper Plane” becoming fast favorites of mine. The other memory is seeing them a second time in Salt Lake City, arriving at Kilby Court way too early, having never been there before, and running into lead Minder Martyn Leaper outside the dark club. He very helpfully showed me where the show was going to be, and cheerily chatted with me for a little while. Not too many people came to that show (it was on a Sunday night), but he performed enthusiastically anyway, covering the VU’s “Who Loves the Sun” and doing a version of “Hand on Heart” that was about twice as rocking as the version on Golden Street. Their last album, It’s a Bright Guilty World, was in my estimation the most undervalued record of 2006, a great return to form and, bringing the band full circle, even Robert Schneider, who produced their first record, was on board again for many tracks. They’ll be remembered as one of the great retro-minded indie acts of the 90’s. Which gives me an idea for the next in our series of “Essential E6 Records”…
Here is the last officially-released Minders track, from the compilation Bridging the Distance. Appropriate for the occasion, it’s a cover of ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down.”
The Minders – Don’t Bring Me Down (ELO cover)
As a footnote, Minder Rebecca Cole’s new outfit is the country & western-themed Hungry Holler; their MySpace is here.
Some minor gallery updates were made yesterday – a few images added to the of Montreal, Music Tapes, Minders, and Elf Power galleries. Just filling in some gaps (I had forgotten, until I pulled it off the shelf recently, that of Montreal’s If He is Protecting Our Nation… tour CD had slightly different art than the “official” release, so now both have been uploaded). Expect some major art updates soon, including a new Dressy Bessy gallery. 
