‘80s AMERICAN INDIE-ROCK BAND ABSOLUTE GREY, WHO COMINGLED EARLY REM WITH FEMALE VOCALS AND BLENDING FAIRPORT CONVENTION WITH ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN CONFIRM PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED FULL-LENGTH LIVE AT CBGB’S 1985 VIA HEYDAY AGAIN & DISTRIBUTED BY REAL GONE MUSIC ON AUGUST 7

Archival Recording of Rochester, N.Y. Band’s Original Line-Up on Compact Disc and Digital Platforms Features 20 pages of Liner Notes Including New Essays from Early Fans / Noted Music Journalists: Jim DeRogatis & Karen Schomer and Industry Executive Luke Wood plus Unseen Photographs, Gig Flyers, Set Lists and More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, CA (THURSDAY JUNE 18, 2026) – ‘80s American Indie-rock band Absolute Grey, whose original songs echoed early REM with female vocals while blending Fairport Convention with Echo & The Bunnymen confirmed the release of a new album of previously unreleased live recordings, Live at CBGBs 1985 (Heyday Again Records) on August 7. Released on compact disc and all digital music platforms, fans can pre-save and pre-order the album here. A new music video for the track “More Walnuts” can be seen on YouTube.

Live at CBGBs 1985 consists of ten tracks from the band’s original line-up of Beth Brown, Mitchell Rasor, Pat Thomas, Matt Kitchen. It features extensive liner notes, rare photographs, gig flyers, set lists and more in the CD version plus new essays from early supporters – music journalists Jim DeRogatis and Karen Schomer as well as a teenage, obsessed Rochester fan turned musician/record executive Luke Wood (Girls Against Boys, Beats Electronics). A three-song teaser of the album can be found here.

“Worthy art stands the test of time, remaining as vital in the present as it was in the moment,” said music journalist Jim DeRogatis of the band’s live sets and debut album. “And that Absolute Grey set forty Easters ago, as well as the debut album Greenhouse, move me as much today as they did then.”

“Long before self-reflective female singers became the hip trend on the alternative music scene, Beth Brown of Rochester, New York’s Absolute Grey was writing and singing about loneliness and the challenge of independence,” said Karen Schomer in Trouser Press Record Guide.

Formed in 1983 in Rochester, N.Y., Absolute Grey were part of (then) underground indie rock scene and released four albums in five years. This was the golden era of college radio (before the major labels co-opted it), fanzines like Boston Rock, Matter, The Bob, Trouser Press and others, a thriving club scene: 9:30, 40 Watt, Maxwell’s, Scorgie’s, Club Lingerie, The Channel, I-Beam, Berkeley Square, etc. coupled with regional scenes that networked across the country: Athens, Winston-Salem, Hoboken, Minneapolis, Tucson, and so on. They embraced guitars over keyboards, organic songwriting over sampling, humans over drum machines.

While never quite part of the Paisley Underground scene due mostly to their geographically undesirable location, Absolute Grey played with a virtual who’s who of indie bands including; Rain Parade, Salem 66, Dream Syndicate, Alex Chilton, Long Ryders, Three O’clock.

Track listing for Absolute Grey’s Live at CGBGs 1985:

1. Gardens
2. Umbrella
3. (Untitled)
4. More Walnuts
5. A Joke
6. No Man’s Land
7. Memory of You
8. Willow
9. White Rabbit
10. Killing Birds

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For More Information, Please Contact Joshua Mills, It’s Alive! Media
323-464-6314, josh@itsalivemedia.com, www.itsalivemedia.com