Trees' "Sleep Convention"

[Glen]

Thanks to the hub, I downloaded this album. I had only heard "Come Back," but I'm just blown away at how good this album was. I had never heard of them before finding this site, so many thanks to all. Were there any other songs that the band did beyond this? Any remixes, etc?

[MikeP]

Yes, it's truly an amazing album. It might interest you to know that Trees is a one-man band! Dane Conover was the sole member. I corresponded with him several years ago and the last email I had for him was: popgems[AT]inforum[DOT]net (sorry ... just sparing him from spambots!) He lives somewhere in northern California now.

I'm sure he'd love to hear from fans of the album.

Regarding the music ... I believe the album is all that was ever released by him under the Trees moniker. No extended mixes exist to my knowledge. He told me there were 3 promo videos ("Shock of the New", "Come Back" and "Delta Sleep" I believe) produced from the album. I have "Shock of the New" somewhere on S-VHS in the maelstrom of thousands of videos recorded from MTV2.

[DevoManiac101]

MikeP, I know this may be a strech here but.. Would it be possible if I maybe sent you some $ or maybe we could work out a trade? There are quite a few music video's from the A-Z music video marathon I've been dying to see and I didn't have the chance to record most of them. I do indeed have lots for trade and if there is nothing you need I have; I would gladly pay you for a few.. of course for a reasonable price. Please let me know [8D]

Thanks, Justin/DevoManiac101

[MikeP]

Justin,

Did I ever send you the list of videos? I put all of the videos aired (or supposedly aired) from the MTV2 marathon in a database (well over 10,000 of 'em). I basically have about 95% of the videos listed from the J-Z set. Let me know and I'll send you a copy.

[DevoManiac101]

No, You can send me a copy at DevoManiac101@aol.com
I am actually looking for many from that lower half of the alphabet.

Thanks, Justin/DevoManiac101

[Glen]

So Mike, why did he quit making music? There's really not a bad song on that album.

[wiota]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Glen[/i]
<br>So Mike, why did he quit making music? There's really not a bad song on that album.
[/quote]

The album, Sleep Convention, probably didn't sell enough copies. I have two copies and they are promo albums, every copy that I have seen on Ebay also has had the promo stamp. Here in Los Angeles, Trees didn't get any airplay on KROQ and I don't even recall hearing it on Rodney on the Roq either. In 1982, the year the album was released, there weren't a lot of radio stations that played New Wave and if a national flagship station like KROQ wasn't playing it, then the odds were good that it wasn't getting played in New York or elsewhere. By 1982 the KROQ playlist was jammed (no pun intended) full of great music and their stricly "Top 40" style format didn't have a lot of room for experimentation.

I first heard of Trees in 1984 from a friend's girlfriend. She had an actual copy of Sleep Convention and made everyone cassette copies of the album. She eventually wore the album out and I eventually lost the cassette. Just a few years ago, I finally got a copy on GEMM. But at the time, in my circle of friends, "Red Car" was the track that we all talked about, but my favorite was "Shock of the New". I recall thinking that those two songs were worthy of KROQ airplay and that the other songs were good album cuts. Today, I think that the entire album is a classic and I play it often.

Mike, I didn't know that there were multiple video's made from the album. That tells me that MCA was actually trying to push the album and they just couldn't break it. Damn unfortunate that KROQ didn't find a spot for "Red Car", I think that Dane would have got a shot at making another album.

[eight6]

I knew "Trees" as a result of Shock of the New, which I had heard years ago. But having heard the album a few times now I'd say that my favorite song is Delta Sleep: I just like the guitar work in it.

All in all, a great lp, but like many artists on the cusp of a new direction in music, their work goes unnoticed.


eight6

[Glen]

Hard for me to pick a favorite, but I really like "Midnight in America," "Rain," and "Delta Sleep."

[Rubellan]

This is an amazing album. I read about Trees in Trouser Press, and did actually have the album in my hands for 99 cents several years ago, put it down, came back and it was gone. I hadn't heard anything by Trees yet so I didn't know what to expect. I finally heard the music on the MTV2 A-Z marathon where they played the videos for "Come Back" and "Shock of the new", both of which I recorded. I bought a copy of "Sleep Convention" off GEMM around that time for $15. I loved the album, with the exception of the song "India". "Delta Sleep" turned out the be my favorite song. The LP I bought was a promo with a press kit, containing a photo and a write up. The bio mentions that there were actually 4 video made for the album, though they didn't name which ones. The 2 that I have are very period. They are heavy with white backdrops and silly costumes, not to mention wonderfully awful choregraphy. They look as if they were shot on the same day, as I'll assume the others were as well. Very cheap and charming. I would love to see "Delta Sleep", and though it's most likely in the MTV vault, it will probably never be aired. I think we need a CD reissue of this amazing album with a bonus DVD containing all the videos.

[skygeex]

All you guys are right on the mark. SLEEP CONVENTION is indeed a tremendous work. Totally overlooked when it came out, and only NOW getting the acclaim it deserved back then. I've had a regular retail copy of the vinyl since its release. I recently ripped it to CD, and it turned out to be a VERY clean rip. If anyone on this forum would like a copy, I'm sure Dane wouldn't mind.

He's living in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California, with his lovely wife Marisa. As stated here, their lastest project is "popgems". Still writing and recording in his home studio.

Happily for me, Dane and I got in contact a few years back, and we exchanged stories and CDs. I sent him a couple of discs of my stuff, and he sent me a disc of his unpublished material. The songs he sent me were ALL TERRIFIC. Of those, I appreciate most the tunes titled "Webster's Revolution", "Omen", and "Witch Hunt". I'm also sure Dane wouldn't mind if anyone here would like me to send them a copy of the unpublished material. It's really good!

Unfortunately, I was using a work email account at the time to correspond with Dane, and when I left that company, I neglected to take a copy of the mail I had received from him, which included a lot of backstory on TREES and SLEEP CONVENTION. Rats! I did manage to take his email address with me, which sadly turned out to be no longer valid. I haven't been in contact with him for about 3 years now. The email address available on his GarageBand pages also seems to be invalid.

We all need to find Dane again and get him over here.

Christopher Watson
San Diego, CA (Dane's hometown!)

[oneno]

Here's a link to a related thread
http://nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TO ... erms=trees
here's his website and contact info
http://www.garageband.com/artist/popgems

[Natephish]

I'd love to hear some of the unreleased material! You may want to look into joining the New Wave Outpost hub. You'd easily be able to share with any other members of the hub, and get music from all of us.

Check out these topics:

http://nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3260
http://nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7726

Hope to see you there.

[geoffolehane]

Personally I'd love to hear that unpublished material. Is it e-mailable? I can't get on the HUB, mainly because my computer doesn't like it when I try to cram 1 GB of music onto the hard drive.

I too bought the original vinyl when it came out in 83. Mine is thankfully still in pretty good condition even though it was one of those albums that was constantly on my turntable. I have ripped my favorite songs onto CD. My favorites from that are: "Delta Sleep," "No Stranger," "Midnight in America," and "Red Car."

hensoneno, thanks for the links.

[scramjet]

Definetely a great piece of work that deserved more exposure and commercial success. On of my favorites that I've learned about from this site. I'd be interested in more material too.