Career
Sean Nelson is best known for his work as the lead singer and co-songwriter for the Seattle-based indie pop band Harvey Danger, which was founded in 1993 and played its farewell show in 2009. The band's first album, Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone (Arena Rock Recording Company, 1997/Universal, 1998), generated the high charting "Flagpole Sitta" and eventually went on to sell over 500,000 copies, earning a Gold Record award. After touring extensively, Harvey Danger released another major label album, King James Version (Sire/Warner, 2000), and, after a hiatus, a third, Little By Little... on Northwest independent label Kill Rock Stars. Little By Little... is also available for free download at harveydanger.com. The band has toured internationally, made six music videos, and appeared on several national and regional television shows (Late Show with David Letterman, Late Late Show, Total Request Live, 120 Minutes, among many others). Its music has been licensed to dozens of films, TV shows, and other commercial uses in the US and UK, including as the theme song for five seasons of the British sitcom Peep Show.
Nelson has also recorded and performed with Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Robyn Hitchcock, The Long Winters (of which he was a founding member), Nada Surf, The Minus 5, and others. In 2006, he recorded Nelson Sings Nilsson, an album of songs by the late American composer Harry Nilsson, accompanied by a 25-piece-orchestra. Nelson was also a member of the short-lived side project The Vernacular, along with Chris Walla and Nathan Good of Death Cab For Cutie.
In addition to writing and performing, Nelson spent over 10 years working as a writer/editor at Seattle alternative paper The Stranger, where he is still a regular contributor and holds the title Associate Editor Emeritus. He co-owns a thriving independent record label (Barsuk Records), has taught a songwriting class at the University of Washington Extension, co-hosted Audioasis on KEXP-FM for five years, wrote a book about Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark for the acclaimed 33 & 1/3 series, and had his essay "Dead Man Talking" published in the Da Capo anthology Best Music Writing 2008.
In 2008, Nelson co-wrote and played a supporting role in Humpday director Lynn Shelton's third feature film My Effortless Brilliance, which enjoyed a successful run on the film festival circuit and will be released on DVD by IFC Films in November 2009. He has also acted in David Russo's cult film festival hit The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle and alongside Dax Shepard in Kathryn Aselton's The Freebie, which was released in September 2010.
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