COME are...
Thalia Zedek (Guitar & Vocals)
Chris Brokaw (Guitar & Vocals)
Arthur Johnson (Drums)
Sean O’Brien (Bass)
They came into being after a mutual acquaintance invited Brokaw, O’Brien, and Johnson to play with him. Brokaw was playing drums with Codeine, Johnson had previously drummed for Athens, GA band, Bar-B-Q Killers, and O’Brien had played with two other 1980s Athens bands, Kilkenny Cats and Fashion Battery. After playing one show together, Brokaw, O’Brien, and Johnson decided to split off into their own project and invited Thalia Zedek to join them. Zedek had played in the bands Uzi and Dangerous Birds. Her most recent band at the time, the post-no wave New York band Live Skull, had disbanded in 1990 and Brokaw and Zedek had been talking about playing together.
After a year of jamming together, Come released the 12-inch single “Car” on Sub Pop in 1991. The song, a seven-minute epic in the blues-noir style of The Birthday Party encapsulated what was to become Come’s trademark style: dark, intense and lengthy songs marked by Zedek’s emotional and distressed vocals, abrupt rhythms, and the tension-filled guitar interplay between Zedek and Brokaw, both extraordinarily accomplished guitarists.
In 1992, Come released their debut album, 11:11, on Matador Records. 11:11 received acclaim from both the independent and established media. After the release of 11:11, Brokaw left Codeine, devoting himself full-time to Come. Already after the release of the debut album, Come received praise from Dinosaur Jr.’s lead singer J. Mascis, Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould, and Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain.
Johnson and O’Brien left the band after Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to pursue other careers. The following album, the short Near-Life Experience, was recorded with a number of different musicians, including drummer Mac McNeilly of the Jesus Lizard and Bundy K. Brown of Tortoise.
In 1998, Come released the 66-minute tour de force Gently, Down The Stream, which took its cue from Near Life Experience, but featured a more fluent integrated sound-scape. The band took an indefinite pause as solo albums from Brokaw and Zedek were produced.
