Wild Seeds

{{short description|American roots rock band}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Wild Seeds | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | alias = | origin = Austin, Texas | genre = Roots rock, pop rock, alt-country | years_active = {{start date|1984}}–{{end date|1989}} | label = Aznut, Jungle, Passport | website =  | current_members = | past_members = Michael Hall, Russell Sanchez, Phil Reed, French Acers, Julia Austin, Bo Solomon, Joey Shuffield, Paul Swift, Steve McCracken, Randy Franklin, Kris McKay | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Wild Seeds''' are a roots-rock band from Austin, Texas formed in 1984. Michael Hall, the band's lead vocalist and guitarist, was inspired to found the band by successful post-punk bands of the time, including the Fleshtones and Dream Syndicate. The band broke up in 1989, but occasionally play together.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/wild-seeds-mn0000959552/biography | title=Wild Seeds Biography | work=AllMusic | accessdate=22 May 2017 | author=Aaron, Peter}}</ref> They have been identified as one of multiple New Sincerity bands active during the 1980s, along with the Dharma Bums, True Believers, and Zeitgeist.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skRmb_RyMikC | title=The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology | publisher=University of Texas Press | author=Powell, Austin | year=2011 | pages=44| isbn=9780292722705 }}</ref>

==Critical reception== David Menconi wrote in ''No Depression'' that the Wild Seeds were "one of the coolest bands to call Austin home during the mid-'80s." He also described their 2001 compilation album, ''I'm Sorry, I Can't Rock You All Night Long: 1984-1989'', as "about the most fun you can have this side of an enchilada dinner with a case of Big Red".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://nodepression.com/album-review/wild-seeds-im-sorry-i-cant-rock-you-all-night-long-1984-1989 | title=Wild Seeds - I'm Sorry, I Can't Rock You All Night Long: 1984-1989 | work=No Depression | date=31 October 2001 | accessdate=22 May 2017 | author=Menconi, David}}</ref> Robert Christgau wrote that on their first release, the 1984 EP ''Life is Grand'', the Wild Seeds "show off a drummer supple enough to power their rock and roll eclecticism and a taste for serious fun wide-ranging and complicated enough to give them identity problems, which could clear up with one strong live show (like at the Pep Friday)."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv6-85.php | title=Consumer Guide | work=Village Voice | date=25 June 1985 | accessdate=22 May 2017 | author=Christgau, Robert}}</ref> Christgau later awarded a B grade to the band's 1988 album ''Mud, Lies & Shame'', writing that "the first three cuts are everything one could have hoped, especially the self-explanatory "I'm Sorry, I Can't Rock You All Night Long," a true classic as these things are measured."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=wild+seeds | title=Wild Seeds Reviews | accessdate=22 May 2017}}</ref> A review of the band's 1986 album ''Brave, Clean + Reverent'' in ''Billboard'' described it as a "crisp album of straight-ahead roof-raisers."<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiQEAAAAMBAJ | title=Recommended Albums | magazine=Billboard | volume=98 | issue=52 | pages=80 | date=27 December 1986}}</ref> Tom Popson wrote that on ''Brave, Clean + Reverent'', "Hall exhibits a knack for creating interesting, concrete images that listeners can see clearly in the mind`s eye, while leaving enough ambiguity between those images to render contexts and relationships open to individual interpretation."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/03/20/universal-pictures-from-the-wild-seeds/ | title=Universal Pictures From The Wild Seeds | work=Chicago Tribune | date=20 March 1987 | access-date=22 May 2017 | author=Popson, Tom}}</ref>

==Discography== *''Life Is Grand (Life in Soul City)'' (Aznut EP, 1984) *''Brave, Clean + Reverent'' (Jungle, 1986) *''Mud, Lies & Shame'' (Passport, 1988) *''I'm Sorry, I Can't Rock You All Night Long: 1984-1989'' (Aznut compilation, 2001)

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Musical groups from Austin, Texas Category:Musical groups established in 1984 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1989 Category:Rock music groups from Texas