Blogtown, PDX

Monday, October 22, 2007

Music Lance Hahn (1967-2007)

Posted by Ezra Caraeff on Mon, Oct 22 at 9:16 AM

photo: Dave Deluxe

Few musicians or bands will ever be as active as Lance Hahn of J Church, the Austin (by way of San Francisco) punk icon who passed away this weekend after falling into a coma triggered by complications from his kidney dialysis.

Hahn and J Church (named after a SF metro line of the same name) were frustratingly prolific (here is just a sample of the 7” singles they released), and were often the butt of the joke that anyone starting an indie record label in the ’90s had to release a J Church record as a right of passage. Hahn also ran the influential Honey Bear Records imprint, releasing titles from The VSS, P.E.E., Unwound and others.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen J Church a dozen times in my life, but my favorite memory was catching them in 2003 on what must have been the hottest day of the Summer. The show was in some kid’s living room off of Belmont, and the band was loud, sweaty, and a little gross, yet the whole experience was oddly inspiring and reminded me of why I got into punk music in the first place.

From their excellent One Mississippi album, it’s one of my favorite J Church songs…
MP3: J Church - I Reach For Her Hand

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Comments

link to the 7" list doesnt work

Posted by miguelaron | October 22, 2007 9:27 AM

fixed!

Posted by ezra | October 22, 2007 9:43 AM

how many full lengths did this guy put out?

Posted by miguelaron | October 22, 2007 10:36 AM

I believe 22 LPs, if you count split albums and singles collection, etc.

Posted by ezra | October 22, 2007 10:55 AM

He will be missed. J Church was a treasure.

Posted by The Guilty Carnivore | October 22, 2007 10:57 AM

Lance was one of the most supportive, enthusiastic, and sweetest guys I have ever met. He indeed will be sorely missed.

Posted by Maggie Vail | October 22, 2007 11:57 AM

I'm glad I got to see 'em at SXSW this year - I didn't know J Church, but my friends did so we caught their show and it was great. That sucks.

Posted by divebarwife | October 22, 2007 12:55 PM

one time lance and i decided to ditch out of our jobs to go see sonic youth play in the tower records parking lot in san francisco at noon on a weekday. it was so amazing..it was the first time i had seen them play. afterwards we strolled around northbeach looking for the perfect slice of pizza to break our years-long vegan pact. afterwards we walked home to the mission to pass out in our respective apts that were next door to each other. i ended up getting fired the next day and it was totally worth it. i will always remember lance for his contsant insightment of rule breaking and pizza eating. he was truly a wonderful person and friend. bless

Posted by honey owens | October 22, 2007 10:48 PM

I have a Lance obit of sorts linked above at SF Metroblogs...

http://sf.metblogs.com/archives/2007/10/end_of_line_for_j_church_lance.phtml

Somebody tell that sweet Honey Owens to get down here next month for a memorial that's being held at the Hemlock on a Sunday night for Lance.

We miss her, and of course Lance.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LanceMemorial/

Posted by Lil Mike | October 26, 2007 1:35 AM

Anyone want to meet up in portland on that same day?

Posted by Brian | October 29, 2007 7:38 PM

or split on gas to SF? Is Shane (sharkweekly) still around? E-mail fake-fight@hotmail.com
Brian in Eugene
Listening to: Cilantro, amounts to nothing

Posted by brian | October 30, 2007 6:35 AM

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