Vue

Vue stood out among the more stylish garage rock acts on the West Coast during the shift from the late 1990s into the early 2000s. The San Francisco group layered a contemporary air of excess and punk insolence onto the familiar blues-rock garage template. While the approach broke no fresh ground amid the many comparable indie acts then active, few executed it with comparable flair. The band cultivated a strong regional audience and landed a Sub Pop contract that yielded their first proper full-length, the self-titled debut.

The musicians had already cut an album under their original name, the Audience, after forming in 1997. That Audience LP surfaced on Hymnal Sound; a 1998 7-inch single, Young Soul, followed on GSL Records. As the group gained traction, legal friction with a Brit-pop band sharing the same name forced a change to Vue. After the switch they released the Death of a Girl EP on Gold Standard Laboratories in September 1999.

The lineup at the time of the Sub Pop debut—Rex Shelverton on voice and guitar, Jonah Buffa on guitar, Jeremy Bringetto on bass, Jessica Graves and Robert Peterson on keyboards, and Jason Riddle on drums—recorded the album prior to the EP, again with Davy Vain producing. Strong notices in CMJ, Magnet, and Alternative Press quickly positioned Vue as an emerging West Coast indie contender. A year and a half later they returned with their second Sub Pop album, Find Your Home. By then Rafael Orlin had replaced Riddle on drums and the band had reduced the keyboard section to Jessica Graves alone.