Specializing in an idiosyncratic brand of smart and witty indie pop with plenty of unexpected left turns and influences that run from the British Invasion and vintage glam rock to the playful end of new wave and contemporary indie rock,
the Minus 5 is one of the many projects built around the talents of
Scott McCaughey.
McCaughey is the principle songwriter and vocalist with
the Minus 5, but the rest of the lineup is fluid, with different collaborators stepping in for various projects, though former
R.E.M. guitarist
Peter Buck is the closest thing to a second constant within the project. With each album featuring different musicians, it's not surprising that they also have unique personalities, such as the sweetly sad
Killingsworth (2009), the '60s pop flavors of
Down with Wilco (2003), and the country accents of
The Minus 5 (2006, aka "The Gun Album"), but the dour wit and melodic approach of
McCaughey's songs shines through in any context.
The Minus 5 began life in 1993 as
McCaughey's side project during time off from his long-running Pacific Northwest group
the Young Fresh Fellows.
McCaughey envisioned
the Minus 5 as a pop collective, with each release featuring a new lineup.
McCaughey worked most frequently with
R.E.M.'s
Peter Buck, who was featured on the group's eponymous debut EP, released only through
They Might Be Giants' mail-order record club, Hello Records. By the time they recorded their full-length debut album,
Old Liquidator, in 1995,
the Minus 5 consisted of
McCaughey,
Buck, and
the Posies'
Jon Auer and
Ken Stringfellow. After releasing
Old Liquidator on East Side Digital, the group reconvened in late 1996 to record their Hollywood Records debut,
The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy, which appeared in the spring of 1997.
The same year,
McCaughey's solo album
My Chartreuse Opinion was reissued by Hollywood as a
Minus 5 album, and the
Minus 5 and
the Young Fresh Fellows faced off on a special double-disc split release, Let the War Against Music Begin/Because We Hate You. After a changing of the guard at Hollywood Records,
the Minus 5 found themselves back in the independent leagues in 2003, with the Return to Sender label releasing a collection of outtakes from Let the War Against Music Begin called I Don't Know Who I Am before
McCaughey signed the band to the Yep Roc label for his collaboration with
Jeff Tweedy,
Down with Wilco. Yep Roc also issued an EP dominated by
Down with Wilco outtakes,
At the Organ, and reissued
In Rock, a collection of tunes
McCaughey recorded in a single day in 2000. The full-length
In Rock and the EP
At the Organ appeared in 2004, followed by the eponymous
The Minus 5 (aka "The Gun Album") in 2006 and
Killingsworth in 2009.
Peter Buck had frequently employed
McCaughey as a guest musician with
R.E.M., and after the band broke up in 2011,
Buck recruited
McCaughey to help record a pair of solo albums (2012's Peter Buck and 2014's I Am Back to Blow Your Mind Once Again) in
McCaughey's personal studio that featured other
Minus 5 associates, including
Kurt Bloch on guitar and
Bill Rieflin on drums. The lineup that cut
Buck's solo albums would also form the basis of a band that would back up
Alejandro Escovedo on his 2016 album
Burn Something Beautiful, and accompany
Sleater-Kinney's
Corin Tucker in the group
Filthy Friends. For 2014's Record Store Day,
McCaughey compiled a limited-edition, vinyl-only box set of rare and unreleased
Minus 5 material, Scott the Hoople in the Dungeon of Horror. In March 2015, Yep Roc issued
Dungeon Golds, a 12-song collection of highlights from the Scott the Hoople box set.
In August 2016,
McCaughey released a new
Minus 5 album,
Of Monkees & Men, which featured songs paying homage to each member of the celebrated media-made pop group. The album also found the
Minus 5 tipping their hats to
Monkees songwriters
Tommy Boyce and
Bobby Hart, the celebrated alt-country band
Richmond Fontaine, and actor
Robert Ryan. December 2017 brought the release of
Dear December, a collection of 11 original seasonal tunes from
McCaughey and his associates. The Yuletide album arrived less than two weeks after
McCaughey suffered a stroke while on tour with
Alejandro Escovedo; in a social media post,
McCaughey's wife Mary Winzig wrote, "The road to recovery will be a long one, and we believe it will come through music." Winzig's words were prescient;
McCaughey's next
Minus 5 release, 2019's
Stroke Manor, was drawn from a set of songs he began writing just days after he was hospitalized, and frequently dealt with his new struggle to communicate both musically and verbally.
Stroke Manor found many of
McCaughey's friends and associates pitching in to help, including
Peter Buck,
Jeff Tweedy,
Steve Wynn, and
Corin Tucker. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Mark Deming