They’re back!

If you ask me, Peter Parker was one of the best, but most underrated crunchy power pop bands in Seattle in the late ’90s. After releasing two records (1998’s Migliore! and 2001’s Semiautobiographical) they threw in the towel, playing their last show in the Winter of 2002. But now, just as another local pop band makes their exit from the scene, Peter Parker is making their comeback—they’re set to play what will be Racetrack’s last show on Friday October 20th at the Fusion Café in Downtown YMCA (hosted by Vera).

When I was 18-19 years old, Peter Parker was one of my favorites. They played local shows just about every weekend, and I lost count of how many times I saw them. I remember drives up to Bellingham and down to Tacoma to see them with Juno, Waxwing, Death Cab for Cutie, Polecat, Harvey Danger, Automaton… they were everywhere, always playing, always being a lot of fun. And even after all these years I still listen to and love their records, but rarely find new friends who appreciate (or are even familiar with) the band’s work. But I’m so excited they’re back!

I got in touch with singer/guitarist Matthew McGowan, to find out more about the reunion.

When was Peter Parker’s last Seattle show?

“Our last Seattle show was at the Crocodile in December of 2002. At the time, I never, ever wanted to play any of our songs ever, ever again, so I broke my guitar. That was dumb.”

How long has the band been rehearsing/in talks of playing again as Peter Parker?

“We’ve been talking about playing and occasionally rehearsing for a little over a year now, but mostly just getting comfortable with each other again. We’d take weeks and months off in the middle without really playing at all.”

Why now?

“Because Racetrack asked us to play their final show. And because I finally replaced the guitar I destroyed at our last show.”

Is this a one-time gig? Or are there more shows to follow?

“I hope that we’ll play more than just this one show, but we’re all so busy with other things now that it’s hard to say. I think we’re eventually hoping to play one or two shows every three or four months. We used to play out so much that doing it all the time like that again doesn’t really appeal to us.”

How about new material? Is there any of that? Or will you stick to Semiautobiographical/Migliore! material for the show?

“For this show, we’ll be sticking mostly to songs from the two albums, with maybe one or two newer ones. From what we have worked up so far, it should be a pretty fun set.”

Pretty fun indeed! And I know I’m not the only Peter Parker fan out there. Who else is giddy?