I grew up listening to 70’s prog music. I loved the long, complex songs, the multi-layers and the musicianship. Although I liked a lot of music in the 80’s I could not find that first love in the music I was hearing. Then in 1990 a cute girl I liked was listening to her cassette walkman in the high school cafeteria and I asked her what she was listening to. She handed me her headphones and I heard a song that did absolutely nothing for me. But the next song changed my life. I would later find out it was called ‘Tristessa’ and she had taped it off the radio. That song got stuck in my head right away. It had what I had been looking for: a prog sensibility. I wanted to hear more. I went to my local record store and asked about it. They were able to track down the band with the strange name and they said they could order me two releases. Those releases were the ‘Tristessa’ single on SubPop and the ‘I Am One’ single on Limited Potential. When they finally came in, I was hooked. Then the ‘Gish’ album soon followed, on cassette first, then vinyl (currently framed and hanging on my wall as it was signed by WPC and JC at the 20th anniversary show at Massey Hall). The music spoke to me throughout and it really connected with my prop sensibilities. My friends called it grunge but I called it prog. They thought I was crazy and they moved on from TSP, but I have been here ever since. I saw the band live for the first time in 1991 and I have not missed a TSP or WPC tour since.