Red Museum

Red Museum started out over drinks. Ilia Yordanov and Jay Beaman were among the guests at a small party one Saturday night in September 2006 at Thomas Erak’s place when it was suggested that they, Ilia and Jay, play together. For the better part of a year Ilia had been writing material and looking for musicians--a drummer, above all--with which to start a project. Jay, in addition to playing with Reidar, had been interested in pursuing a new, different direction musically. When they met up that next week at Ilia’s house they began to work on music whose concept Ilia had initially conceived that summer, and that was to develop into Red Museum’s debut self-titled concept album. In the following months--with the addition of Ilia’s 16-year-old brother, Dimiter, on bass--they worked through several songs, finally realizing the material Ilia but a few months before only dreamed of hearing with a band while frequently jamming to get a better feel for one another’s styles and abilities via improv. In this way they cohered as a band. And it was in this way, too, that they prepared to record. Gordon Greenwood, who did The Fall of Troy’s Ghostship demo as well as The Hills Have Eyes's Demo, recorded the album in Ilia’s living room from mid-January on into February with a great deal of both skill and patience. Aya Sato did the artwork for the disc and, with Ilia, did the layout. By then--later February--Red Museum was ready to play shows, announcing the arrival of something new and significant on the Seattle music scene. Though Red Museum was new, it was not without roots, however: Both Ilia and Jay had played in bands of some repute before. Ilia had been in a number of bands, most prominently The Hills Have Eyes (of which Thomas Erak was also a member), and had been playing shows at that point for four years. Jay not only was, and is, in Reidar--he has also played in a few bands over the years including, six or seven years ago now, one with Thomas Erak and myself called The Tribune. All of which took place while we were all in high school. The past aside, Red Museum is all about the future. The CD release show will take place April 20th at the Old Firehouse; their first album, mastered and pressed, will be available as well as the first run of merch, featuring t-shirts printed with Aya’s designs. The band plans to play a number of shows in the Seattle area this Spring and Summer while shopping for a label. They then hope to sign and begin touring sometime this Autumn. So keep your eyes open. Red Museum has come a long way in a short time. And it has a bright future ahead of it. -Mike Munro Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.