Birddog Drops a New Live Album Nearly Three Decades After the Fact

Twenty-seven years after it was recorded, a live performance from the band, birddog — led by Buffalo resident and musician Bill Santen — has been released.

‘Live at the Hotel Monte Vista’ — available now on Bandcamp HERE — was recorded in 1998 in Flagstaff, Ariz., sometime during the latter half of a U.S. tour before drummer Glenn Kotche left to play with Wilco, and only shortly after tour-mate, Elliott Smith, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.

Santen, birddog’s founder and frontman for all its incarnations, said he doesn’t remember much about the night of the recording, other than the band had someplace to sleep.

“They gave us two rooms, and I remember we watched the David Bowie documentary,” Santen said in a phone interview after the recording was released on Bandcamp on Oct. 3.“I remember going down to play the show and after the show I was talking to the bass player and he said he overheard a conversation where this guy was a saying, ‘Oh yeah, birddog. They sounded really good, but they were really boring to watch.’”

While unsure of exact chronologies, Santen said he believed the recording took place mere weeks before birddog, Elliott Smith and The Brian Jonestown Massacre all played together on the same bill in Minneapolis. He also has a vivid memory of Smith playing at the Oscars while he and the band were in a Louisiana hotel room watching it on television — but again, couldn’t be sure. His memory, Santen confessed, is hard to trust, and at the time, there was a lot on his mind.

At the age of 23, Santen was tasked with keeping birddog together, as well as making some waves with the $10,000 that BMG was investing into the band’s touring. He wasn’t on a major label and that was a problem for his backers. The experience at the time left him feeling “jaded,” though looking back, he said he’s surprised he felt that way.

“That tour was the last time I toured with Glenn, I’m pretty sure. And then Steve (Poulton, the band’s bassist), he actually had a kid. He had just found out his girlfriend was pregnant, so after the tour he had to get a day job,” Santen said. “It was a really pivotal time.”

The future commitment from BMG also weighed on his mind.

Bill Santen (Photo by JP Pierre)

“They call them development deals. In the nineties they’d give money to singer-songwriters so they could maybe quit their day job and focus on the music. It wasn’t a ton of money, but it was enough to live a few years,” Santen said. “We drank a lot of beer that tour and smoked a lot of pot. I think I was very much in the present, just trying to keep the band together on the road, and I remember being in touch with BMG, just trying to get more money from them. There were different points where they’d decide to give me another $10,000. I mean, $10,000, when you’re 23, can last you a very long time.”

The eventual release of the live recording was initiated by Poulton. He called Santen one day with the idea of mixing the show and putting it up on streaming platforms. Santen said he didn’t have an immediate reaction, wanting to see what Kotche and Chris Tesluk, thought of the idea.

“(Poulton) just called me a few months ago. I hadn’t talked to him in for forever. I thought it was pretty cool,” Santen said. “After Steve got it mastered and cleaned up, I sent it to Glenn and to Chris (Tesluk, who played cello, electric guitar and lap steel player on the recording) and everybody thought the sound was really great.”

In a message on Bandcamp, Poulton writes of discovering the old recording, which was tucked away in a closet at his home in Nashville.

“Lived in this old house in Nashville for over two decades. Longest anywhere. 

Neighbors long since resigned to, or tolerant of, the unique version of lawn care, drumming, singing, and records played at Volume. Grateful to them. In the back bedroom is a closet that’s been opened only a handful of times since moving in. Recent attempts to Lighten Up demanded an inventory. Among the letters, laminates, show posters, 45s, tapes, photos, pawn tickets, court documents, tax info, and faded receipts? Spindles of CDRs, mostly transfers from cassette recordings of live shows, including this birddog set from 1998. No time like the present to live in the past?”

Reflecting on the 17-songs that make up the live album, Santen said:

“It’s really hard for me to listen to it and not focus on the lyrics. And I wish I could listen to it like a stranger would because it’s really hard to have an opinion about it, other than I know the playing sounds good. I do wonder about the songs.”

Despite the many years that have passed since that night in Flagstaff, Santen said he’s open to trying his hand once again at the music on ‘Live at the Hotel Monte Vista.’

“I forgot about a lot of those songs,” he mused. “I guess I should relearn some.”