Pedro the Lion

Pedro the Lion is an indie rock band from Seattle, Washington. David Bazan formed the band in 1995 and represented its main creative force, backed by a varying rotation of collaborating musicians. In 2006 Pedro the Lion was dissolved as Bazan went solo; Bazan reformed the band and resumed performing under the Pedro the Lion moniker in late 2017. Releasing five full-length albums and five EPs over 11 years, the band is known for its first person narrative lyrics with political and religious themes.

Pedro the Lion
Pedro the Lion's David Bazan in 2017
Background information
Origin	Seattle, Washington, United States
Genres	Indie rock, slowcore,
Years active	1995–2006, 2017–present
Labels	Jade Tree, Suicide Squeeze, Architecture Label, Tooth & Nail, Made in Mexico, Big Scary Monsters
Website	www.pedrothelion.com
Members	David Bazan Erik Walters Sean Lane
Past members	See list of former members

Biography

Pedro the Lion was formed by David Bazan in 1995.[1] In 1997 they released their debut EP Whole with Bazan playing nearly every instrument, a format he continued on the band's first two full-length albums, It's Hard to Find a Friend (1998), and Winners Never Quit (2000).

Winners marked Pedro the Lion's first concept album.[2] After its completion, Bazan has claimed he initially decided not to continue writing concept albums.[2] However, in the process of writing his next full-length Control, he realized he had inadvertently created a narrative link "about 70% of the way through [the album]" and decided to finish it in the same vein.[2] The album's thematic content criticizes American capitalism, which Bazan notes was largely inspired by the sentiments surrounding the World Trade Organization protests in 1999.[2]

Control also saw Casey Foubert of Seattle-based Seldom join Pedro the Lion to play bass on the album. Additionally, he co-wrote "Penetration" and "Second Best", the third and eighth tracks, respectively, on the album, which was released in 2002.

Achilles Heel followed, released on May 24, 2004, and marked the beginning of Bazan's partnership with TW Walsh as the band's primary writers and musicians.[3] Bazan described the tracks in the third full-length from Pedro the Lion as a return to the songwriting characterized by Friend and the Secure EP in the sense that there was no "pretense of anything bigger", an allusion to his previous concept albums.[2]

In early January 2006, Pedro the Lion formally announced that they had split. The split was amicable; Bazan and Walsh continue to be good friends. Bazan said that their friendship has even been strengthened by the breakup.[4] Bazan toured in support of Fewer Moving Parts, his solo debut EP. Walsh returned to his career as a Web application developer and is busy with his band, The Soft Drugs, and their debut release, In Moderation.[5] David Bazan released his debut solo LP, Curse Your Branches, on Seattle-based Barsuk Records in 2009.

The Pedro The Lion catalog was remastered for vinyl by TW Walsh and reissued in 2012.

Bazan is a member of Overseas with Will Johnson of Centro-matic and Bubba & Matt Kadane of Bedhead and The New Year. Their self-titled debut album was released on June 11, 2013.

Beginning in spring 2017, Bazan began forming a new band which he initially envisioned billing as "David Bazan Band" or something similar.[6] In October 2017, Bazan announced that Pedro the Lion would be reforming beginning with several shows in December 2017.[7] Asked if there would be new material Bazan explained that the band will initially be playing Pedro the Lion's existing catalog along with limited performances of songs from Headphones and Bazan's solo catalog, with new material to follow.[8][9]

Discography

Pedro the Lion performing in 2004, Bazan is at the far left playing guitar

Albums

• It's Hard to Find a Friend – Made In Mexico/Jade Tree – 1998
• Winners Never Quit – Jade Tree – 2000
• Control – Jade Tree – 2002
• Achilles Heel – Jade Tree – 2004
• Phoenix – Polyvinyl and Big Scary Monsters – 2019

EPs

• Whole EP – Tooth & Nail – 1997
• The Only Reason I Feel Secure – Made In Mexico / Jade Tree – 1999
• Progress – Suicide Squeeze – 2000
• Tour EP '04 – Self-released / Jade Tree – 2004
• Stations – 2004

Compilations

• "The Longer I Lay Here" (live) – Exploitation of Sound Vol. 1 – Hero Music – 1999
• "Breadwinner You" – The Unaccompanied Voice: An A Capella Compilation – Secretly Canadian – 2000
• "Rapture", "Backwoods Nation" – Location Is Everything Vol. 1 – Jade Tree – 2002
• "I Do" (live) – Location Is Everything Vol. 2 – Jade Tree – 2004
• "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day" (new rendition) – Maybe This Christmas Tree – Nettwerk – 2004

Singles

The band released various 45 rpm singles in limited quantities:

Title	Year	Label	Pressings
"Big Trucks"	1998	Made In Mexico	1,000
"Song A" / "Song B" (Sub Pop Singles Club)	1999	Sub Pop	1,300
"Helicopter"	1999	Homemade Recordings *Not an official PTL release	1,000: 250 on red vinyl, 750 on black vinyl
"Progress" / A Guitar for Janie	2000	Suicide Squeeze	2,000: black vinyl + story book
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"	2002	Suicide Squeeze	1,500: 500 on green vinyl, 1,000 on red vinyl
"The Poison Makes" / "Walk Slow" (Pedro the Lion / Seldom split)	2003	Bedside Recordings	500: hand-numbered
"The First Noel"	2003	Suicide Squeeze	3,000: white vinyl
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"	2005	Suicide Squeeze	2,000: marbled vinyl

See also: David Bazan discography, Headphones discography

Personnel

Member	Contribution	Tenure	Associated acts
David Bazan	vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keys, percussion	1997–2006, 2017–present	Headphones, The Undertow Orchestra, Unwed Sailor, Lo Tom, others
Benjamin Brubaker	drums	1998–1999, 2003	Damien Jurado, Denison Witmer
Jeremy Dybash	drums	1998	Velour 100
Johnathon Ford	bass	1998	Unwed Sailor, Roadside Monument
Casey Foubert	drums, keyboards	2001–2004	Seldom, Crystal Skulls, Sufjan Stevens
Ben Gibbard	bass	2000	Death Cab For Cutie, The Postal Service, ¡All-Time Quarterback!
Josh Golden	bass	1998–2000	Damien Jurado
Sean Lane	drums	2017–present	Perfume Genius, Yppah, Pickwick, Noah Gundersen, Hey Marseilles, others
Frank Lenz	drums	2004–2005	Starflyer 59, Headphones, Fold Zandura, The Lassie Foundation, others
Ken Maiuri	bass	2004–2005	The Mammals, The Soft Drugs, Mark Mulcahy
Trey Many	drums, bass, guitar	1998, 2000–2001, 2005	Velour 100, Starflyer 59, His Name Is Alive, Lo Tom
Yuuki Matthews	keys	2000–2001	Seldom, Crystal Skulls, Sufjan Stevens, The Shins
James McAlister	keys, percussion, drums	2004	Ester Drang, Sufjan Stevens, Denison Witmer
Paul Mumaw	drums	1998	Rose Blossom Punch
Brian Olson	drums	1997
Nick Peterson	guitar	1997–1999	Fleet Foxes, Headphones
Tim Schiefer	guitar	1997
Travis Smith	bass	1997
Tim Walsh	bass, guitar, keys, drums	2000, 2002, 2003–2006	The Soft Drugs, Headphones, Lo Tom
Erik Walters	guitar	2017–present	Silver Torches, The Globes, Perfume Genius
Christian Wargo	guitar	2003	Fleet Foxes, Crystal Skulls, Scientific
Blake Wescott	drums	1998	Seldom, Crystal Skulls, Damien Jurado, Denison Witmer, Bloomsday
Casey Wescott	keys	2001	Fleet Foxes, The Vogue, Seldom, Crystal Skulls

Soundtracks

• The band is featured in the 2004 Christian music documentary Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?[10]

References

1. "David Bazan – Official Website". DavidBazan.com. Archived from the original on 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
2. Josh Holden (2004-01-12). "An interview with David Bazan". The Other Journal at Mars Hill Graduate School. Archived from the original on 2007-11-15. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
3. "Pedro the Lion: Sharing the Lion's Den". TimMcMahan.com. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
4. Brundage, Matthew (February 11, 2006). "Interview with David Bazan". Iota Club and Cafe, Arlington, VA.
5. "A Conversation with TW Walsh". hardtofindafriend.com. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
6. "Sasquatch! 2018 Music Festival Lineup". Sasquatch Festival. LiveNation. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2018-05-07. Last spring, after 11 years of performing and recording under his own name, Dave Bazan's growing fatigue with working alone hit a tipping point. "I missed the energy of making music with other people on stage and constantly traveling alone was starting to really sting", Bazan recalls. "I needed to be in a band again". At that point, assuming this new band would be billed as "David Bazan Band" or similar, he began to set the wheels in motion to make it happen. He rented a rehearsal space again, hired a couple buddies for upcoming tours, and started fleshing out demos for the band to cue off of. He didn't realize it at first, but by mid-summer something big started to dawn on him: he had stumbled back into the very same process that yielded the first three Pedro the Lion records. "To my surprise, it felt a bit like coming home."
7. David Bazan [@davidbazan] (2017-10-04). "Here we go" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
8. David Bazan [@davidbazan] (2017-10-04). "Full band playing pedro catalog to start. New material to follow" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
9. David Bazan [@davidbazan] (2017-10-04). "Basically it will all happen under the Pedro brand 4 awhile (LPs/tour). We'll include Headphones/bazan songs live (tho minimally at first)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
10. "DVD Review: Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 19, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-04.

External links

• Pedro the Lion official site
• Jade Tree (record label)
• Extensive feature article and interview with Fine Print Magazine
• Interview with www.CountryMusicPride.com
• SuicideSqueeze.net