We just got together and started jamming.” Jeff says most of the stuff was made up very spontaneously. “When I met Joe, we just started fooling around. “I’d been recording stuff at home all my life, so this was a natural progression.” according to Jeff. Jeff had a 4-track TEAC A-3340 reel-to-reel at the time. The genesis of the band- from meeting to playing- had taken place within three days. The following night, Friday, July 15th, the trio played at a party held by Nancy Thompson, an acquaintance of both Joe and Kirsten. “Joe had a rehearsal room upstairs in his parent’s house so the next evening, July 14th, Jeff, Joe, and drummer Karl Wilhelm (older brother of Kirsten, Jeff’s girlfriend) got together to jam. “Joe and I had a mutual love of The Beatles, especially for their song “Rain,” Jeff says. The friend was Kirsten Wilhelm, who Jeff was dating at the time.
The band that would become The Green Pajamas formed on July 13th, 1983, when two young guys from West Seattle, Jeff Kelly, and Joe Ross, met at a party through a mutual friend. Every album is a jewel to be examined over and over-each time with as much joy as the last. The quality of their work has made many worldwide fans consider them reliably engaging, without treading the same waters. While many Seattle music fans followed, then moved on to newer trends, the Green Pajamas continued to do one thing write, create and record music that holds together thematically and musically. Still, over the course of 34 years, The Green Pajamas were practically ignored by all but the most obsessive, devotional fans in their hometown of Seattle. One might have to be an obsessive, devotional fan to follow The Green Pajamas in places as diverse as New Zealand, Greece, or elsewhere. The other members that have come and gone over the years have also been exceptional, though not as prolific. It’s hard to imagine a more prolific songwriter than the band’s leader Jeff Kelly, or the consistent quality of his output. None of this includes the solo or side projects recorded by band members. Their music has appeared on labels as far-flung as Greece, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, The U.K., Germany, and at least a dozen U.S. Since 1984 the band has released 22 albums (not including domestic and international re-issues) 15 singles and EPs, five compilations of their music, and included on another 40. It’s hard to imagine any other group of Seattle musicians putting out more recorded material, either as a band or in one of its many permutations. The Green Pajamas were active from 1984 until 2018, with a few hiatus along the way. In theory, this might be true, but it also might be valid on a more pragmatic level. Ford, who was writing for New Zealand’s web’zine The Active Listener concluded “They seem to be the type of band that brooks no middle ground.” This seems to be a common theme – you’ve either never heard of the Green Pajamas, or you’re an obsessive, devotional fan. In 2012 music critic Nathan Ford wrote: “It’s doubtful whether there are any other acts out there who have amassed as impressive a body of work while reaching so few as Seattle’s long-running Green Pajamas.
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