Round Here, we're cool as kittens, out there the dogs, they cry -- The Himalayans

Have you ever wondered what that band your favorite singer was in before he was the band he's in now sounded like? Well Counting Crows fans, wonder no more. Today we're gonna hop into our trusty DeLorean and go back in time to 1990/91, somewhere in the San Francisco/Berkeley, California area. These were magical times. So much amazing music was seeping from this city. We find ourselves entranced by a five piece band, featuring Dave Janusko on rhythm guitar/bass, Dan Jewett on lead guitar, Marty ("Mr. Jones") Jones on bass, Chris Roldan on drums and on vocals, young, pre-dread-locked, lyricist Adam Duritz. This band? The Himalayans. 


The Himalayans were primarily Dan Jewett and Chris Roldan's band. After placing a classified ad in a local newspaper for a lead singer and lyricist, they were joined by Adam Duritz. I love The Himalayans' sound. Although this is a pre- Counting Crows band, this band is NOT Counting Crows, they have a different sound. The noises their guitars produce is almost raw, sharp, tight. I think it's some of my favorite guitar work ever, and than's saying a lot. The bass lines are very pronounced, very 90s rock. Duritz's lyrics, though early in his songwriting career, are no less amazing than Crows lyrics. The songs are just as personal as future writing. We get some of our first glimpses of the legendary "Maria" in a couple of these songs. 




The Himalayans were big in the San Francisco music scene in 1990/1991. They were known for their live shows, to which they brought they own sound guy, so they sounded as if they were playing in a studio every time. Before the band amicably split in 1991, so Duritz could focus on Counting Crows, who had just been signed to Geffen, the Himalayans recorded their 17 song catalogue at Russian Hill Studios using a direct-to-DAT live recording process (three of the songs, Round Here, Diamonds and Babies and Cars and She Likes the Weather were recorded at Dancing Dog Studios and produced by Dave Bryson) The Record was finally released to the masses in 2007 on Adam Duritz's record label Tyrannosaurus Records. Since it's purchase, She Likes The Weather has quickly become a favorite.

The record opens with Jaded. The guitars in this song are pure Himalayans; they are singing to each other. Their raw twang, not country twang, but rock and roll twang, is everything to this song. This song, like many on the record, doesn't fit the traditional songwriting style of verse-chorus-verse-bridge-verse-chorus, they have read more like poetry. Does it make the songs less awesome? Hardly; it makes them better. River Shannon is one of the highlights (to me) on the record. I presume it's a story of Adam Duritz's time in Ireland when he was back-packing around Europe, I could be wrong, but either way it's a great song. Lyrically I think it's my favorite on the record. It is another track where the guitars are outstanding, the solo from Dan in the middle of the song is stellar.


The title track, She Likes the Weather is another favorite. The amazing guitar work continues to this song. I really love the bridge in the song: the bass line, the guitars, the vocals, the lyrics:
"oh my darling, oh oh oh my darling girl
oh my starving, oh oh oh my starving world
life is bitter life is cheap
she rises from the circus seat
leaves her flowers all alone now everything is overgrown"
Awesome. It's a great song to rock out to in the car, or wherever really. (The whole album has become a road trip staple for me. Whenever I have to drive the four and a half hours across Washington, this record is usually the first thing I turn on)

Diamonds and Babies and Cars is another favorite. I love the story it tells. Though I can't even begin to guess the real meaning of the lyrics, to me they tell of a fight, a break-up, a divorce maybe, of a couple, and the arguing that ensues. "Diamonds and babies and cars, don't add up to anything, at all"

I am a Counting Crows fan to the core, but I will admit that I love the Himalayans' Round Here more than the Counting Crow's version. The angst of the song, the slightly different lyrics, the fact that the song is more bass driven than guitar driven (I'm a sucker for amazing bass lines), the different bridge:
"There, on the violent tide of sleep
She's fast asleep and dreaming
Here on the lightning side of me
She comes awake"
There is just something about this version, this original version of this amazing song that hits me more than the Crows' version. Everyone has songs like that, right?

Ordinary Superman, Angels In America (more amazing guitar work,) Someone Else's Chapstick and Wishing Well are other songs that I highly recommend (really, I recommend the whole record, but if you're only gonna listen to a few songs, make it these ones.) My other top favorite on the record is Sailor Song. There isn't anything about this song that I don't like. The guitar clear and brilliant, the vocals waltzy, the song as a whole is magic. The lyrics, well the lyrics are pure Duritz:

Walk out Amanda, our fortunes are clear
These are the last of our days
Left San Francisco with time on my hands
And I got back with you on my brain
So bring me a second or bring me an hour
Bring me the world in a tear
Bring me a little of anything Amanda
And I'll keep it close to me here
Press it among the best years of my heart and my tears
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Throw me up on the shore tonight and I'll count the last light
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want...
Come on Amanda, you know what I mean
You won't be happy 'round here
Got on the wagon the tenth of December
I fell off the first of the year
And I know you wish I was better then that
I know you wish I was dry
God knows I wish I was somebody else
Right now I wish I could die
Press it among the best years of my heart and my tears
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Maybe among the earphones of my heart and my soul
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want everything
And I want to be a raider, I want anything
And I want to be a man
What's the matter?
Didn't you think we were trying?
Hey, what's the matter?
Didn't you think I was somebody else who
could lie in the wake of you smile?

Spent twenty-six stiffening years down the drain
Women who will spit in your eye
And a drunkard like me gets the worst of your love
Good riddance, good luck and good bye
Press it among the best years of my heart and my tears
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Maybe among the hill folds of my heart and my soul
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Singing 'till the sky turns and lungs burst and throat burns
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Screaming 'till the sun houses my here and my now
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want everything
And I want to be a sailor, I want anything
And I wanna be a man
I want everything
And I wanna be a sailor, I want anything
And I wanna be a man

See what I mean? The man is a lyrical genius. This whole record is worth buying. Guitar fans will enjoy and appreciate the abilities of this band. You can order it from the Tyrannosaurus Records website here: http://www.indiemerchstore.com/tyrannosaurus. Seriously, it's well worth it. Maybe someday the boys will all get together for a Himalayans reunion show, how rad would that be? Or maybe we could all get together and convince Adam Duritz to add a couple Himalayans covers to the Crow's live shows, specifically the one on August 10, in Sandpoint, ID.