The first time The Stranger covered the Posies was in May of 1993, when the writer Daniel Housman lamented that it was “easy to be confused by the Posies, especially in the last two years as they’ve searched for their own identities.” He could never have guessed how persistent that search would prove to be. After countless lineups, breakups, recriminations, and reconfigurations, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow have found a way to make their musical partnership endure for coming up on three decades. Which is more than you can say for most musical partnerships.
Another thing you can’t say about most rock bands approaching their 30th year: Their new record is excellent. Solid States is absolutely vital and contemporary—the band’s most engaged and engaging work since their DGC days, and in some ways a return to the Bellingham bedroom duo sensibilities of their 1988 debut, Failure.
On the eve of the Posies’ (now a trio) return to Seattle for a show on Wednesday, November 16, at the Neptune, Stringfellow answered a few questions via e-mail from a studio in Amsterdam, where he’s producing a record for a Dutch band called Reveller.
