Biography

25 years ago, The Van Pelt released their second album, the seminole "Sultans of Sentiment". It wasn't supposed to be a hit. Their first album was the one filled with licks and anthems and a sort of Steve Lillywhite on DIY production -- that was the one that was supposed to be a hit if they hadn't turned down every major label offer (legend has it $2 million was turned down at a Polish diner one morning on the LES of NYC). Sultans, instead, was a bummer of an album that subjects the listener to the point on life's curve where the hubris of youth gives way to a cresting crashing defeat no kid with heart could ever have seen coming. Seeing as humanity are miserable masochists though, the popularity of Sultans grew and grew and continues to win new loyal fans even today. Unfortunately, the band broke up while recording their third album "Imaginary Third" and disappeared into the ether. After a series of reunion shows though, they found it took more effort to not write new Van Pelt songs than it did to face the fact that they were still a band after all. "Artisans & Merchants" is the first album to come out of this realization. This band, and this album, function as critical missing links that takes one from The Fall to Yard Act, from Television and The Minutemen to Parquet Courts and Sleaford Mods, from punk as a sound to punk purely as an ethos. While any Van Pelt album is a stand alone album, the unique approach they take begs one to enter their world and dig deep in.