Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
-based
indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
band, formed in 1991 by brothers Bill and Jim Ferguson (bass guitar and guitar respectively), drummer Rob Youngberg, and vocalist/guitarist Tony Zajkowski.
Career
Lotion formed in New York City's East Village and released two seven-inch singles "Head" and "Tear" on Kokopop before releasing their debut album, '' full Isaac'', through
spinArt Records
SpinART Records was a New York City-based independent record label that released recordings by The Apples in Stereo, Clem Snide, Frank Black, and Michael Penn.
The label was started by Joel Morowitz and Jeff Price in 1991. SpinART filed for ban ...
in 1994.
To promote the release of ''full Isaac'', Lotion toured America and Europe with Pavement, Throwing Muses, and
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were self-titled EP on
Big Cat Records
Big Cat Records is a British independent record label. It launched around 1990 and originally specialized in industrial and noise-rock releases. Big Cat operated a US office in New York City for a few years. Integrated with V2 Records in 1996, ...
, with a second EP, '' The Agnew Funeral E.P.'', recorded the next year. In 1996, Lotion released their second album, '' Nobody's Cool'', with
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desc ...
by
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
. At the time, after "the press registered a fair amount of amazement" at this development, the ''New York'' magazine quoted Rob Youngberg as having said "We wanted him to do he liner notes so we kept hinting... Then he offered", and reported that "the story, told in ''The New Yorker'' and other places, is that Pynchon followed the band to a gig in Cincinnati, where he revealed himself backstage. And they all became friends." The same article however continued: "Some people wonder whether any of it is true, or just Pynchon pulling everybody's leg again, with the boys in the band in cahoots. 'As I understand it, the real story is that the father of one of the band members is Thomas Pynchon's personal banker', says a music reporter. 'But I can't prove it.'" In 2009, ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''- giving details of the original story including that Pynchon "had approached he bandafter a concert at a Cincinnati laundromat-cum-rock club; that he didn’t reveal his identity until months later, when he spotted a copy of his short-story collection lying around backstage"- stated this "hoax" story to be "mostly untrue", with the band at that time stating that "they had fed reporters at various outlets an account designed to be 'as Pynchonesque as possible'" and that Rob Youngberg's mother was Pynchon's accountant; having given him an advance copy of the band's album, "he liked it well enough; at any rate, he agreed to write the liner notes".
'' The Telephone Album'' followed in 1998. During the promotion for this album, the band made an appearance during an episode ''( Phases)'' of '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and toured the US with Frank Black and the Catholics.Lotion at AllMusic/ref>
In 2001, Lotion went unofficially "on hiatus" while they pursued their own interests. Tony Zajkowski has gone on to play bass and sing for Schizo Fun Addict and has joined with former Lotion bandmate Rob Youngberg to form Honeycomb. Zajkowski and Youngberg later recorded under the name Baby Spiders and have two EPs on Bandcamp available for download.
*1993 ''Chairman of the Board: Interpretations of Songs Made Famous by Frank Sinatra'' (" Fly Me to the Moon")
*1997 ''Blatant Doom Trip'' ("Quality of Armor")