Pushing up Posies

Breakout band from Bellingham looks back on 30 years

Story by KRISTINA RIVERA

Photos by KELLY PEARCE

Ken Stringfellow belts out a song during The Posie’s 30th anniversary reunion concert.

Boats on Lake Whatcom jet by, and the smell of sun-baked grass and fresh water fills the afternoon air. Ken Stringfellow emerges from Lake Whatcom and wraps a towel around his waist. He walks over toward his parents’ house to the patio overlooking the water. Ken is back home in Bellingham for The Posies’ 30th anniversary tour, and he’s itching to escape the heat.

After he changed, we sit on the patio of his mom and stepfather’s house overlooking Lake Whatcom. A tan umbrella shades the metal table while Ken’s mom, Janet Houston, brings out chicken salad, bread and fresh cherries for lunch. I felt welcome the moment I stepped into their house.

Janet says the first time Ken picked up a guitar was in this house. In middle school, Ken found his stepbrother’s guitar laying on a bunk bed one summer and was an expert by the winter.

The beginning of The Posies shown through scrapbooks from Ken Stringfellow’s mother Janet Houston, following her son’s musical career.

“One day, he came up from the downstairs basement and says, ‘I know all The Beatles’ songs, do you want to hear them?’” Janet says.

Ken’s love of music only grew from there. At Sehome High School in the early 1980s, Ken met Jon Auer– the guitarist and founding member of The Posies. They became best friends and began writing and playing music together.

In Bellingham, the music scene during the 1980s was small but diverse. The handful of bands that did exist, from metal to folk, formed a community and often recorded music in Jon’s dad’s studio. His father, David Auer, was a professor at Western’s College of Business and Economics and is also a musician. He and Jon built an 8-track studio in the basement of their house near Lake Padden.

As a teenager, Jon worked at a record store called Budget Tapes and Records (now Avalon Records) where he met his mentor, Henry Szankiewicz. Henry showed Jon music from The Zombies’ “Odessey and Oracle” to Elvis Costello.

“He was a unique kid,” Henry says about Jon.

Henry describes Jon as well spoken and mature when they met in 1986.

“He was like a little brother to me,” Henry remembers.

The two bonded over their love of music. Jon listened to more contemporary music, while Henry listened to earlier, more classic music.

The Posies watch as founding member Ken Stringfellow rocks out.

Jon and Henry wanted to capture the burgeoning music scene in Bellingham. Together, they recorded and produced a compilation cassette of bands in Bellingham in 1987 called “The Bellingham Complication” in David’s studio. The 8-track cassette featured The Madeleines, Karate Church, Roofdogs and more. It serves as a time capsule for the unique sound of local artists in Bellingham at the time.

The same year “The Bellingham Complication” came out, Ken moved to Seattle to go to school at University of Washington while Jon attended Western. Both continued to write music. On the weekends, Ken took the bus from Seattle to Bellingham to record music with Jon. And in 1987, The Posies released their first album, “Failure.”

In the spring of 1988, Ken and Jon meticulously cut cassette covers of 1,000 copies of “Failure” and sold them at consignment shops in Seattle and Bellingham and handed their cassettes out to radio stations.

Two days after The Posies handed their album to the stations KCMU — now KEXP — and KJET, they heard their song on the radio. An hour later, they heard their song again. From there, The Posies started gaining more and more recognition. They were on full rotation on commercial radio stations.

Ken and Jon started getting offers to play shows around Seattle and Bellingham, but at this point, The Posies consisted of just Ken and Jon. They recorded “Failure” as a demo with the intention of attracting other band members. Frantic, Ken asked a student in his biology class at UW, Arthur “Rick” Roberts, to be the bassist and Arthur’s roommate, Mike Musburger, as drummer. They agreed, thinking it wouldn’t last more than a couple weeks. But the couple weeks turned into a couple months and in 1989, The Posies had a record deal with Geffen Records. Eventually, Dave Fox replaced Arthur on bass.

Jon Auer (left) and his father David Ayer (right) perform together during the final song of The Posies 30th reunion concert at Wild Buffalo House of Music in downtown Bellingham.

“By pure dumb luck, total serendipity, things totally blew up from that point on,” Ken says.

But if you asked anyone close to The Posies, they would say it was their hard work that got them there.

“The reason Jon and Ken made it was because they were willing to put in the time,” David Auer says. “They had the drive, they had the ambition, they had vision and they were willing to put in the work it took to actually play.”

The Posies’ effect on the music scene in Bellingham isn’t lost on Brent Cole, editor of What’s Up! Magazine. Brent grew up listening to The Posies’ first album and has been in the Pacific Northwest music scene for 32 years.

“There was nothing really happening in Bellingham,” Brent says about The Posies when they first started. “It was the very early beginnings of what’s now the Bellingham music scene. And it kind of started in a large part because of The Posies.”

Jon says living in Bellingham affected their music because they didn’t have many outside influences when writing or creating. Unlike Seattle, they didn’t have to compete with other local bands.

But what set The Posies apart from other bands wasn’t just their sound or just their lyrics, it was their willingness to accept everyone, no matter their background.

“I was beaten to a bloody pulp daily after [middle] school,” Ken says.

Because of this experience, he wanted to create music where people could feel like they belong. Ken says calling the band “The Posies” creates a safe space for people who don’t quite fit in with everyone else. He says The Posies were able to get so popular because they were individuals, and their music celebrated individuality.

Before The Posies’ 30th anniversary show at The Wild Buffalo, Ken walks into the venue with his guitar on his back and a box of Posies merchandise. Jon tunes his blue guitar on stage,

while Mike Musburger sets up his drums and Dave Fox takes out his bass.

Jon says this early-’90s lineup of him, Ken, Mike and Dave may be his favorite. He likes their musicality and chemistry together.

“Something about this just seems to work the best live for me,” Jon says. “Even though they’re a bunch of jerks, and I hate them,” Jon jokes as he smiled and glanced at his long-time friends.

Ken runs to the back of The Wild Buffalo to count and fold T-shirts at the merch table. Ken walks up to one of the Wild Buffalo employees to make sure they have enough seats reserved in the back for his mom and the parents of the rest of the band. Ken does everything he can when it comes to The Posies. He’s the band’s tour manager, spokesperson, manages their social media and writes the music.

At around 7:30 p.m., people slowly trickle in.

By 9:30 p.m., The Wild Buffalo is packed with hundreds of people in their 30s and 40s eagerly waiting for The Posies to come on.

“We’ve been following these guys since the early 90s,” I overhear in the crowd.

“I have an original ‘Failure’ T-shirt,” another chimes in.

The lights on stage change from blue to purple. One by one, Ken, Jon, Mike and Dave enter the stage to a crowd of screaming, drunk fans.

Ken steps up to the microphone in the middle of the front of the stage. He leans in, looks out at the densely-packed Wild Buffalo and smiles.

“Well I have to admit this has potential,” Ken jokes to the packed crowd. The audience screams in response.

The Posies hit the stage with the confidence of seasoned veterans, but bring the energy of a band just starting out in the industry. The first song they play in their two-hour set is their hit “Dream All Day.” The crowd sings along with every word and never misses a beat.

As the night goes on, the energy from the crowd and the stage never wavers. Ken’s shoulder-length black hair clings to his face as he jumps and strums on his maroon guitar. Jon’s curly dark brown hair bounces as he dances around the stage. The crowd matches The Posies’ high energy.

After playing “Solar Sister,” The Posies exit the stage. The audience is antsy and chants for The Posies to come back. The roar of the crowd grows louder and louder until all four members strut back on stage for a six-song encore. For their second to last song “Flood of Sunshine,” Jon asked his dad if he would join The Posies on stage.

“This is the man who made me a guitar player,” Jon says with a grin. It’s the first time Jon and his dad have performed on stage together. They couldn’t stop smiling at each other as they played their guitars together.

As the show ends, the crowd stumbles onto the streets and into the night.

“That was the best show I’ve seen at The Wild Buffalo,” I overhear in the rush of people.

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