This should be post 13, but it's 12...

...because Field Trip have a song called "Thirteen" that, even though it's not one of their better songs, I have a special place in my heart for. The song s written from the perspective of a man looking back at himself at age 13, wondering "How I'd look to me right now..." Something I have wondered more than once...

Field Trip are a band that can start a new theme of posts here on "Bands that I like that I don't think anyone else does" While I know this is not necessarily true,it has always felt that way. My friend Matt does like them, but I honestly can't think of anyone else who even knows who they are.

Who they are is a group from Pleasanton, California that existed in the late 80s and early 90s. They played upbeat rock with a slight (VERY slight) country edge. I am not sure if this makes sense but they seem to be smiling though their records. Their playing is energetic, their subject matter is usually light and innocent and there is just something special about them that comes across as positive and fun.

Here is an example: All My Fault from their Headgear LP

So of course nobody liked them in the era of grunge and the punk explosion in the mid 90's.

But really all three of their records are thoroughly enjoyable, other people agree- here and here

Their demise seemed to be written in the cards for them by the time their last album came out (seemingly straight to the discount bins) but the band seemed indifferent to it. My favorite song by them is the very last track on their last album called "Ballad of Field Trip". Singer Jim Galbraith recounts the beginnings of the band and their elation at being signed to a tiny independent record label. The song takes you from the bands youth and you grow up with them and in a strange way resign yourself to their inevitable eternal obscurity.

It's poignant, and brilliant.

Ballad of Field Trip