Pitchfork: Small Brown Bike Call It Quits

Small Brown Bike Call It Quits
Small brown tyke shipped promptly back to Cuba

[Posted Monday, November 17th, 2003 06:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Let's see... searching for a kooky bicycle-related metaphor to creatively announce Small Brown Bike's breakup... if this split was clearly a coming-of-age-we've-outgrown-this-punk-rock-life sort of thing, we could say something about graduating to a 10-speed. If we knew for sure about big-time ambitions, perhaps "removing the training wheels" would suffice. But for fans, the sentiment is probably more accurately described as, the air has been let out of the tires, once and for all.

Following two weeks of rumors prompted by missed gigs, and later by the announcement of a cancelled tour, the band posted an open letter to their fans on their website this past Monday, reading in part: "The bad news is that we have decided to break up. This may or may not come as a surprise to some of you and we're sorry that it has to be this way. The good news is that this is the right thing for us and we wouldn't have made such a hard decision if we didn't think it was fair to ourselves and everyone else involved with our band." The letter goes on to apologize for missed commitments and to thank fans, promoters, labels, and booking agents for their dedication, all while remaining fairly equivocal in their reasons for the split. However, the letter concludes by stating plans for some farewell shows.

The breakup was surprising in that Small Brown Bike seemed headed for bigger things following the September release of their third long-player, The River Bed, on their new home label of Lookout! Records. Thus, Lookout! president Christopher Appelgren posted a response to the breakup, stating, "For the record, we here at Lookout! are very saddened by Small Brown Bike calling it quits. This announcement comes on the heels of the release of an incredible album, The River Bed. I speak for all of us here at the label when I say how proud we are that this record is on our label."

Small Brown Bike formed in Marshall, Michigan in 1997. With brothers Mike and Ben Reed as cornerstones, the rest of the lineup saw periodic changes. The current lineup was set when original member Travis Dopp returned from a two-year absence in 2002 and Jeff Gensterblum took over on drums. They leave behind a fairly impressive discography: three full-length albums, and EP and a half-- the latter a split with Casket Lottery-- and a handful of seven-inch singles.