Peter Parker

Formed during the summer of 1997, the Seattle group Peter Parker followed a familiar pattern among notable local acts by taking the band’s name as a shared surname for all members. The original configuration came together after college friends Matthew Parker and Jason Parker started working together on guitar and bass; they recruited drummer Steve Parker through a classified notice in a regional publication, and the three launched into a series of basement performances. By winter Jason had departed to follow separate pursuits, prompting the arrival of Mona Parker, who answered another advertisement to fill the bass position. Just fourteen days after her entry, the band delivered its debut performance at Seattle’s Crocodile Café. Throughout 1998 the still-developing trio, openly acknowledging limited instrumental proficiency, endured what they later described as “dozens upon dozens of terrible live shows,” treating each outing as an essential lesson. The year closed on a constructive note when the group tracked its debut album, Migliore!, at producer John Goodmanson’s Seattle facility and appeared at the CMJ New Music Festival in New York City. Magic Palace Records issued Migliore! the following August to positive critical notices, while campus stations embraced the record; by then the musicians had sharpened their stage presence enough to support acts such as the Fastbacks, Versus, and Death Cab for Cutie. Following their appearance at the 2000 Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco, Peter Parker attempted to record a second album during sessions in Tacoma, WA, yet those tapes were ultimately set aside and discarded. After enlisting Josh Parker as a second guitarist, the band returned to Seattle and worked at Spectre studio, where the results proved far more fruitful. The resulting album, Semiautobiographical, appeared in August 2001 on the group’s own Recurving Recordings imprint and garnered stronger acclaim than its predecessor.