Old Time Relijun

Originating within the K Records orbit in Olympia, Old Time Relijun progressed across the 1990s and 2000s from a raw, unhinged garage attack into a sharper yet equally volatile style infused with global influences. Anchored by frontman Arrington de Dionyso, the industrious outfit reached its most intense phase via three albums issued from 2004 through 2007—Lost Light, 2012, and Catharsis in Crisis—before slipping into an informal pause that ended only with the 2019 arrival of See Now and Know.

From 1989 to 1995, Arrington de Dionyso committed nine homemade cassettes to his four-track machine and issued them himself on Pine Cone Alley. He supplied nearly all the instruments across these tapes, which he passed to acquaintances or sold via tape-trade listings. Growing local interest in Olympia, Washington, led bassist Aaron Hartman and drummer Bryce Panic to persuade him to assemble Old Time Relijun for live shows. Percussionist Fezdak Water came aboard soon afterward yet departed within a year following creative disputes.

The remaining trio tracked Songbook, Vol. 1 in November 1996 and released it in April 1997 on Pine Cone Alley. K Records took over distribution, and the album earned broad critical acclaim. Throughout 1997 the group appeared on several compilations, among them Selector Dub Narcotic and Cha Cha Cabaret on K, KAOS Radio on Cottleston Pie Records, and Overboard on YoYo Records. Despite these placements, Old Time Relijun stayed inactive; Panic quit performing, sold his drums, and headed to India to study meditation.

De Dionyso restarted Old Time Relijun in 1998 without Panic or Hartman. Drummer Phil Elvrum, later known for recordings as the Microphones/Mount Eerie, joined and began producing all subsequent material. Working as a duo, they recorded the 1998 single Jail/Office Building. Calvin Johnson, founder of K Records, learned of the reunion and new songs and urged the band to issue the 7" and every future recording on his label.

Hartman rejoined on bass in 1999, enabling the trio to record Uterus and Fire, their first full-length for K. The band followed with La Sirena de Pecera in 2000 and, the next year, Witchcraft Rebellion, which honed noise rock with precision. The 2003 compilation Varieties of Religious Experience gathered early home recordings and assorted oddities. Lost Light, featuring a more conceptual design, appeared in spring 2004, while the futuristically titled 2012 arrived a year later; both formed part of the trilogy de Dionyso had planned. Catharsis in Crisis completed the sequence in 2007, now featuring Benjamin Hartman on saxophones and Germaine Baca on drums. Extensive touring supported this run of releases before momentum faded.

Although de Dionyso issued multiple solo albums, the only Old Time Relijun output across the ensuing decade was a 2010 reissue of Songbook, Vol. 1. The quiet ended in 2018 when the band revealed they had begun recording again and would deliver a new album plus tour dates in 2019. Their eighth album, the self-produced See Now and Know, was set for spring release on K Records.