Pavement

Extract

Rock band. Formed as a studio noise experiment by two school friends, the singer and guitarist Stephen Malkmus (b Santa Monica, CA, 30 May 1966) and the guitarist Spiral Stairs (Christopher Scott Kannberg; b Stockton, CA, 30 Aug 1966), the group added the drummer Gary Young (b Mamaroneck, NY, 3 May 1953) and started playing often shambolic shows around northern California in 1989. Young frequently could be seen performing handstands rather than playing the drums or handing out toast to the audience before a show. The trio recorded their seminal debut album, Slanted & Enchanted (Matador, 1992), at Young’s studio. With the addition of the bass player Mark Ibold (b 17 Oct 1962) and the percussionist Bob [Robert] Nastanovich (b Rochester, NY, 27 Aug 1967), a friend of Malkmus from the University of Virginia, the band set out as a more coherent but still sometimes sloppy live outfit. ...