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Yanomamos, trio featuring Grant Hart on drums, issue second release after 29-year gap

by Adrian Williams

December 18, 2017

The release of Comes Alive! breaks a 29-year hiatus by the eccentric trio Yanomamos, consisting of bassist Miss Jane Mansfield, Tim Piotrowski on vocals and guitar, and Grant Hart on drums. Their debut, Quizas (pronounced "Kiss-Ass"), was Grant Hart's first project after Husker Dü's initial split in 1987, seeing a vinyl release in 1988.

It was around this time when Yanomamos had their memorable "fire show" at First Avenue. The stunt was re-created in 2011, again in the Mainroom, as a fundraiser concert after a fire destroyed Grant Hart's south St. Paul home.

The first half of the new album was initially recorded in 2015, intended as an EP that never saw a release date. After Hart's diagnosis in 2017, the trio reconvened in the studio to fill out the project into a full album.

The name Yanomamos is derived from the indigenous people of the tropical rainforest in Southern Venezuela and Northern Brazil. The namesake was meant to represent the untamable creative freedom of the project. Hart cherished the new Yanamamos LP, which they received test-pressings of the night of his passing.

It's more new music for Hart to enjoy, along with the Hüsker Dü Savage Young Dü box set that was recently released back in September. For more on the history of Hart and Hüsker Dü, listen to The Current's Do You Remember? podcast.

Adrian Williams is a musician and music business major at Augsburg University.

 

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