The Most Secret Method

I was lucky enough to see the Most Secret Method a handful of times. The photo I took above was from one of their last shows at Fort Reno in Washington DC. I didn't make it to the very last show, but that's ok because I saw them enough times to know what a great live band they were. I read a Pitchfork review that said they were a poor man's Jawbox. I don't agree with that. Sure there are some similarities in sound, but it's not fair to just pigeonhole them as a Jawbox knockoff. I'm not really going to try and put a label on them, as the one that comes to mind I guess most just find offensive these days. They didn't leave behind an enormous discography, but they did leave behind a great one. One 7", a 10" split with The Capitol City Dusters and 2 full lengths, plus I've seen a few live comps. with tracks on them. I still kick myself for not buying a t-shirt at one of their early shows, but I was pretty broke that night and I had already bought the 7", which in my opinion was the best of their output and I consider it to be an essential part of my collection. The artwork and vinyl are awesome. It's pretty impossible to find copies now, as they didn't press many of them. The family tree is pretty interesting and really gives you a good idea of the sound that would eminate from this band:

Family Tree	© BandToBand.com
The Most Secret Method Beauty Pill Smart Went Crazy Del Cielo Bald Rapunzel Routineers Discount Unitas Lincoln Junction Glendale One Oswego T4 Channels Report Suspicious Activity Kerosene 454

The band was comprised of brothers Marc (guitar) and Ryan (drums) Nelson and bassist Johanna Claasen. All of the artwork on their releases was done by Ryan. He also put out some postcards which are actually just reprints of show flyers he designed which you can see here, although I don't know if they are still available for sale but your best bet would be Dischord. I had alot of the originals of these flyers anyway that I picked up at shows along the way, but I still bought a set of the post cards years ago which I don't plan on ever selling. Ryan also put out a comic book, "Count The Ways" with 2 other artists back in 2000. You may still be able to order copies here.

You can read an article/interview with the band here.
You can also read about them here and here.

Here is the A-Side of the Blue b/w Perfect Plan 7" that was self recorded and released by the band in 1996:

A1 - Blue

This 7" is pretty much impossible to find but here's what it looked like:



I'm also posting the first track on the Split 10" with the Capitol City Dusters on Superbad Records:

A1 - Inch

You can still purchase the 10" here.

Emusic has 1 Most Secret Method track on the Pickle Patch comp., which is a collection of live tracks from various bands, it's the last track on the comp. and can be purchased here. The Most Secret Method's contribution is "Hesitation". The original version of the track can be found on Get Lovely which was released on the now defunct Slowdime Records which was run by Juan Carrera who was in The Warmers. You can purchase Get Lovely here.

Our Success was their final record, also released on Slowdime and can be purchased here.

Since the band broke up in 2002, Ryan has been pretty busy playing in The Dead Teenagers, Beauty Pill, The Routiners and Soccer Team. Dischord also sells the physical copies of records for those that prefer it by the latter 3 bands in their store here.