About this artist
The Donner Party was a San Francisco-based indie rock band, performing between 1986-1989. The band consisted of Melanie Clarin on drums and accordion, Sam Coomes on guitar, violin, and banjo, and Reinhold Johnson on bass. The band released two albums, both self-titled; the first was released in 1987 on the Cryptovision Records label, and the second on Camper Van Beethoven's Pitch-A-Tent label in 1988. These two albums, plus an unreleased third album and some live tracks were collected and released as Complete Recordings 1987-1989 in 2000 on Innerstate Records. The band played a one-time reunion show on April 16, 2000, at Slim's in San Francisco.
Named after a group of 19th-century American travelers who turned cannibals while stranded, The Donner Party's songs frequently took a comic view of death and its attendant dread. Titles include "When You Die Your Eyes Pop Out", "John Wilkes Booth", "Try to Imagine a Terrible World", "Boxfull of Bones". "When I Was a Baby", recorded with a cheap organ with almost whispery vocals to sound somehow homey and quaint, begins: "When I was a baby I looked like a pig/My nose was a snout and my ears were too big," and only gets creepier from there.