Matt Parker Writes:
So Pare was this really fun band that started in the
winter of 1996. Craig (Coles) and I were in this
band called 'Pulp Wrath'...we were this horrible
cheesy Sonic Youth wannabe band, and we played with
a girl named Heather on guitar and this fellow who
Andy (Lloyd) had introduced to us named Joel who played
bass. The four of us sort of veered more from noise pop
to just straight pop/rock. After a while, we changed
our name to Pare, I forget what it was, but Craig came up
with the name. Anyways, we were bastards and kicked
Heather out of the band, and replaced her with our friend
Matt Richmond. The four of us practiced a lot that winter.
I don't think we played many shows, if any, for a long time.
That spring we recorded a tape on Craig's 4-track called "SuperSupper". Matt Richmond came up with the name, I thought it was really cool! Most of the songs were about this girl, Sarah, who I was madly in love with at the time, it's still a fun tape to listen to.
So we kept on practicing and practicing, and then one
day we had a show in my backyard. It went really well,
except Craig wasn't there, he was gone for the summer, the little
bastard! So Dave from Nova Scooter played drums that day...
whadda guy! Anyways, Pare went on hiatus that summer
because we all left and travelled. The next autumn,
however we were back and badder than ever!
We played an outdoor festival called Autumnfest which was fun. We kept right on playing that winter, and played shows and just hung out as a band all the time. The Spring of 1997 we began recording our second release. It was called "Halfway Through the Door" because that's where you are when you find you're under the missletoe. Craig began writing a lot of really really good songs, like 'Light On' and 'Second Time Around'. We began recording, and then halfway through the magic, Joel and Craig both decided to quit the band to pursue other directions. Matt R and I worked together to finish the recording of the record just for prosperity's sake. The album was finished, and was released around July."
Pare's songs are this great blend of pop/rock with country twang. 'Halfway though the door' is an incredible record, one of my favourites. Songs like 'Second Time Around' and 'Nobel Prize' are very much ahead of their time. It's sad Pare broke up because that album showed a lot of promise by a band who was extremely talented.