Minus 5

The Minus 5 began life as a side project from the Young Fresh Fellows' Scott McCaughey who formed the band in 1993.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

McCaughey designed the Minus 5 as a pop collective, and each record the group released featured a new lineup. Throughout these releases, he worked the most frequently with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, who was featured on the group's eponymous debut EP, which was only released through They Might Be Giants' mail-order record club, Hello Records.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the time they recorded their full-length debut album Old Liquidator in 1995, the Minus 5 consisted of McCaughey, Buck and the Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. After releasing Old Liquidator on East Side Digital, the group reconvened in late 1996 to record their Hollywood debut, The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy, which appeared in the spring of 1997. The same year, McCaughey's solo album My Chartreuse Opinion was reissued by Hollywood as a Minus Five album, and the Minus Five and the Young Fresh Fellows faced off on a special double-disc split release, Let The War Against Music Begin/ Because We Hate You.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a change of guard at Hollywood Records, the Minus Five found themselves back in the independent leagues in 2003, with the Return To Sender label releasing a collection of outtakes from Let The War Against Music Begin called I Don't Know Who I Am before McCaughey signed the band to the Yep Rock label for his collaboration with Jeff Tweedy, Down With Wilco. Yep Rock also issued an EP dominated by Down With Wilco outtakes, At The Organ, and reissued In Rock, a collection of tunes McCaughey recorded in a single day in 2000.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Young Fresh Fellows: The Young Fresh Fellows are an American alternative rock group that was formed in 1981 in Seattle, Washington, by Scott McCaughey and Chuck Carroll; Tad Hutchison joined for the recording of the group's debut album in 1983....

Scott McCaughey: Scott McCaughey is the leader of the Seattle-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and (with Peter Buck) the Minus 5. Since 1994, he has been a sort of "fifth member" of R.E.M., working with the band both onstage and in the studio....

1993: 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003)....

Minus 5 related Images and Photos (experimental)

Minus the Bear - Target

Cornus Specimen Botanicum Sistens Descriptiones et Icones Specierum Corni Minus Cognitarum