KCRW releases over 50 newly-remastered archival live recordings that have not been heard since they originally aired in the ‘80s and ‘90s
Sessions include live performance recordings of R.E.M., Tom Waits, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Meat Puppets, Harry Dean Stanton, Pere Ubu, The Church, Blue Aeroplanes, Robyn Hitchcock, Shawn Colvin, Concrete Blonde, Daniel Lanois, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam, Sarah MacLachlan and Suzanne Vega
In tandem, KCRW launches BENT24, an on-demand streaming channel with full-length episodes of Deirdre O’Donoghue’s SNAP
KCRW Members Early Access: November 4, 2022
Public Release: November 14, 2022
Santa Monica, CA (November 3, 2022) – On November 14, 2022, one year after KCRW released the critically acclaimed podcast Bent by Nature: Deirdre O’Donoghue and the Lost SNAP Archives, L.A.’s tastemaker radio station is set to make publicly available a massive digital archive of newly-remastered live recordings, recently unearthed and unheard for nearly 40 years. This archive includes early live performance recordings from underground and alternative iconoclasts like R.E.M., Tom Waits, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Meat Puppets, Harry Dean Stanton, Pere Ubu, The Church, Blue Aeroplanes, Robyn Hitchcock, Shawn Colvin, Concrete Blonde, Daniel Lanois, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam, Sarah McLachlan, Suzanne Vega and many more. These early radio performances have not been heard since they originally aired back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s.
In tandem, KCRW will launch BENT24, a 24-hour, on-demand streaming service featuring a shuffling playlist of full SNAP episodes (1981-1991). Restored from the original board tapes, BENT24 is designed to transport the listener back in time, recreating the experience of listening to Deirdre’s groundbreaking Saturday night show. KCRW members will have early access to the performance archive and BENT24 starting tomorrow, Friday, November 4. The general public will have access on Monday, November 14.
When approached by KCRW for permission to release his live performance, Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan wrote, “In a town filled with sounds borne of the marriage of music and commerce, Deirdre [O’Donoghue] was a voice and venue for the undiscovered or marginalized and a refuge for artists who felt estranged from the prevailing currents. She opened so many ears and hearts, including ours, with her earthy and irreverent voice and wide ranging enthusiasm for all music. So great someone thought to do this.”
Taken as a whole, the Deirdre O’Donoghue archive amounts to a “secret history” of the pre-Nirvana underground (1982-1991), offering a unique and unprecedented time capsule for fans of ‘80s independent music. Spanning hundreds of reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes, the entire archive was gifted to KCRW by her family after Deirdre’s untimely passing in 2001. Bob Carlson (KCRW’s UnFictional) and Myke Dodge Weiskopf (KCRW’s Lost Notes), co-producers of Bent by Nature: Deirdre O’Donoghue and the Lost SNAP Archives, spent the last three years painstakingly transferring and restoring these vital artifacts of an under-explored time. The ten-part podcast offers newcomers a window into O’Donoghue’s life and work at KCRW. Hosted by former KCRW DJ Tricia Halloran, the “lovingly crafted” audio documentary made the case for O’Donoghue as a tireless innovator, passionate music lover, and unheralded icon of public broadcasting.
Bent By Nature was named #8 in The Atlantic‘s 50 Best Podcasts of 2021 and #2 in Time Out’s Best Podcasts About Music. It was also featured by Vulture, The Guardian, BBC, and FLOOD Magazine, among others.
KCRW’s official website for Bent By Nature serves as the portal into Deirdre’s world. Already available is the entire podcast, as well as incredible archival interviews with Brian Wilson, Brian Eno, David Lowery, Michael Stipe, Joe Strummer, Jonathan Demme, Paul Westerberg, Robert Fripp and more!
BENT BY NATURE: ARCHIVAL PERFORMANCES
Luka Bloom (4/26/1990)
The Blue Aeroplanes (7/18/1990)
Camper Van Beethoven (8/10/1987)
Camper Van Beethoven (9/14/1989)
Peter Case (8/7/1989)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (3/3/1989)
The Chills (5/10/1990)
The Church (3/24/1988)
Shawn Colvin (11/20/1989)
Concrete Blonde (4/23/1987)
Cowboy Junkies (12/6/1988)
Cowboy Junkies (2/19/1990)
The dB’s (12/3/1987)
Downy Mildew (12/20/1990)
The Dream Syndicate (2/27/1986)
The Dream Syndicate (7/14/1988)
Fetchin Bones (10/16/1989)
Glass Eye (9/3/1987)
Glass Eye (2/21/1990)
John Wesley Harding and the Deceivers (6/10/1991)
Hetch Hetchy (5/31/1990)
Hex (1/21/1991)
Peter Himmelman (5/29/1991)
Robyn Hitchcock (4/24/1989)
Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, & Ilene Markell (7/19/1990)
Hurrah! (11/19/1987)
Paul Kelly & The Messengers (10/7/1988)
Kitchens of Distinction (2/14/1991)
Daniel Lanois (12/11/1990)
Love Tractor (1/8/1990)
Love Tractor (6/26/1989)
Lyle Lovett (4/26/1989)
Nick Lowe (2/26/1990)
Sarah McLachlan (3/30/1989)
Meat Puppets (1/16/1986)
The Mighty Lemon Drops (5/12/1988)
Aaron Neville (10/15/1990)
Pere Ubu (as Petit Ubu) (6/14/1991)
Sam Phillips (6/6/1991)
Poi Dog Pondering (6/13/1988)
R.E.M. (4/3/1991)
The Railway Children (9/21/1988)
The Reivers (1/29/1988)
Shelleyan Orphan (7/9/1989)
The Silos (4/18/1990)
Harry Dean Stanton (6/24/1987)
Martin Stephenson & The Daintees (9/20/1990)
Syd Straw, Peter Holsapple, & Ilene Markell (9/4/1986)
Syd Straw & Marc Ribot (8/23/1990)
That Petrol Emotion (10/26/1989)
Throwing Muses (5/27/1991)
Timbuk 3 (8/11/1988)
Suzanne Vega (4/10/1985)
Tom Waits (8/24/1987)
Steve Wynn (12/9/1987)
Dwight Yoakam & The Babylonian Cowboys (7/30/1986)
For more information, please visit: kcrw.com/bent
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Press credentials granting early access to the digital archive are available upon request. Please inquire directly to:
Laura B. Cohen, LC Media: lcmediapr@gmail.com
About KCRW
KCRW is your always-on connection to music, news, culture, and each other — on the radio, online, and in-person. We belong to Los Angeles, connecting diverse perspectives and the sounds of Southern California with curious communities around the corner and around the world. We are NPR’s flagship member station in Southern California and a community service of Santa Monica College. You can find our broadcast signal in LA, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Mojave, Palm Springs, San Luis Obispo, and worldwide via the KCRW app and at kcrw.com.
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