🎸 Downvent
Compiled from flyers, NBR interviews, tour journals, and Luna Wren’s personal archives. Some entries redacted.
“They weren’t trying to save the scene. They were trying to survive it.”
— Static Static Zine, Issue #9
🛠️ Formation
Downvent started in a garage behind a half-burnt duplex in west Nayasa Bay.
Dirk, Dylan, and Derek — three kids with broken gear, bad timing, and more sound than space.
Early rehearsals bled into pirate radio broadcasts.
Their first show was in a basement with no name.
Their second was shut down by the fire marshal.
They kept going anyway.
🎤 Original Lineup
- Dirk – Vocals, guitar (left-handed)
- Dylan – Bass, design, rhythm anchor
- Derek – Drums, backbone, blood
- (Later: Stan – Guitar on second album tour era)
📀 Discography (Selected)
MEH (1992)
The debut studio album. Written in garages, recorded on borrowed time.
It was more punk than grunge, but the timing got it labeled anyway. The sound was fast, sarcastic, and full of cracked energy. Nobody expected it to stick around — including the band.
Known for: Reality TV, Hell of a Life
Unreleased (1994)
Downvent’s first attempt at a second album — scrapped by the label and shelved before release.
It was more ambitious, more melodic, more them, which might’ve been the problem. The label didn’t hear a single.
Still, the songs escaped: bootlegs, fan-made compilations, a few tracks snuck out on local samplers.
Some fans say it’s their best work. Others say it was a warning.
Known for: Some Space, I Am Shrug, All Right All Right, Spirits on the Highway
Let Me Sleep (1995)
The official second album. Heavier. Slower. Sleepless.
Most fans blame the sound shift on Stan’s arrival. Luna doesn’t. She blames the insomnia.
Dirk stopped playing guitar onstage for the tour. Stan stepped in. The shows were tight. The band wasn’t.
Known for: Blue Emotions, Flip the Lights
Live at The Spill (Unofficial / 1993 cassette rip)
A bootleg passed from glove box to glove box.
No tracklist, no soundcheck, no plan. Just a night.
The tape is warped. The bass is blown out. Dirk breaks a string on track 4 and keeps going.
It’s perfect.
Known for: whatever survived the recording heads.
💭 Notes from the Archive
- Loosely affiliated with Static Static Records (no formal contract ever confirmed)
- First pirate radio play came from NBR, thanks to Luna Wren and DJ Spoolz
- Regulars at the Spill Sessions before the ferry terminal collapsed
- Toured regionally in summers; van broke down in 7 states
- Known for sticker-tagging venues with: “DOWNVENT MEANS DON’T LOOK DOWN”
🧷 Scene Impact
“Downvent had that thing — like if you turned your back, the song might vanish. So you didn’t.”
— Listener letter, found taped to the soundboard after a show in Oregon
They didn’t chase the charts.
They chased the feeling.
Sometimes they caught it.
📎 Final Notes
The last official entry in the archive ends in 1995.
But not everything stops when the record does.
Some songs keep playing — in side projects, in rewinds, in people who don’t return your calls.
Maybe that’s for another file.
Maybe it’s already here, just not labeled yet.