Come (American Band) - Band History

Band History

Come came into being after a mutual acquaintance invited Brokaw, O'Brien, and Johnson to play with him. Brokaw was playing drums with Codeine, Johnson had previously drummed for Athens, Georgia band Bar-B-Q Killers, and O'Brien had played with two other 1980s Athens bands, Kilkenny Cats and Fashion Battery. After playing one show together, Brokaw, O'Brien, and Johnson decided to split off into their own project and invited Thalia Zedek to join them. Zedek had played in the bands Uzi and Dangerous Birds. Her most recent band at the time, the post-no wave New York band Live Skull, had disbanded in 1990 and Brokaw and Zedek had been talking about playing together.

After a year of jamming together, Come released the 12-inch single "Car" on Sub Pop in 1991. The song, a seven-minute epic in the blues-noir style of The Birthday Party and These Immortal Souls, encapsulated what was to become Come's trademark style: dark, intense and lengthy songs marked by Zedek's emotional and distressed vocals, abrupt rhythms, and the tension-filled guitar interplay between Zedek and Brokaw, both extraordinarily accomplished guitarists.

In 1992, Come released their debut album, 11:11, on Matador Records. 11:11 received acclaim from both the independent and established media. After the release of 11:11, Brokaw left Codeine, devoting himself full-time to Come. Already after the release of the debut album, Come received praise from Dinosaur Jr.'s lead singer J. Mascis, Hüsker Dü's Bob Mould, and Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain.

Come's second album, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, was released in 1994. Though somewhat calmer than its predecessor, it was equally as grave. Among the highlights of the album, and of the whole of the band's impressive song catalogue, are the two dark ballads, "Let's Get Lost" and "Arrive," each closing a side of the vinyl edition.

Johnson and O'Brien left the band after Don't Ask Don't Tell to pursue other careers. The following album, the short Near-Life Experience, was recorded with a number of different musicians, including drummer Mac McNeilly of the Jesus Lizard and Bundy K. Brown of Tortoise.

In 1998, Come released the 66-minute tour de force Gently, Down The Stream, which took its cue from Near Life Experience, but featured a more fluent integrated soundscape.

Zedek and Brokaw took a break after Gently, Down the Stream, and never brought the band back together again, essentially marking the end of the band. Since then, Zedek and Brokaw have each released multiple solo albums, but have performed together on a few occasions to play some Come songs live. On November 11, 2007, Brokaw and Zedek came together for a brief, two-song set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Middle East Club in Cambridge, which had been the site of Come's final performance. In November 2008, Brokaw and Zedek came together for a one-off performance in Castellón, Spain, as part of the 2008 Tanned Tin Festival, playing a set that included the songs 'German Song', 'Off To One Side', 'In/Out', 'Saints Around My Neck' and 'Sad Eyes'. In April 2011, Come re-united for a set at the TraniWreck festival in Cambridge MA, US featuring the songs 'Off to One Side', 'Fast Piss Blues', 'Bell', 'William', 'Last Mistake', 'String', 'Brand New Vein', 'SVK', 'Sad Eyes', 'In/Out', 'Submerge', 'German Song', 'Cimarron', and 'Car'.