Before Hop Along became one of the most fiercely beloved bands in indie rock, bandleader Frances Quinlan started the project as a solo venture under the name Hop Along, Queen Ansleis. As far as most listeners (and the archivists at Discogs) knew, Quinlan only released one record under that original moniker, 2005's Freshman Year. But a little-known Hop Along, Queen Ansleis EP from even earlier called Sympathetic Flypaper has long been a holy grail for hardcore Hop Along fans and lost media searchers. That EP has now been unearthed.
In a post on the Hop Along subreddit, a Redditor with the username Level-Expression-883 revealed Monday that in 2021, they discovered a copy of Sympathetic Flypaper in a box of possessions belonging to their mother, the musician Lisa Cerbone. As the story goes, Cerbone, who is still very much active — she released an album with multiple Mark Kozelek collaborations last year — played a show with Hop Along, Queen Ansleis circa 2004, at which time Quinlan gave her a copy of Sympathetic Flypaper. Here's how it was explained on Reddit:
I found this in 2021 in a box of my moms demos. She didn't recognize it then but now that she's making music again says she played a show with them (my moms music if anyone is interested)
I posted this on my twitter when I found it but no one cared except my one friend who loves Hop Along (shoutout anne)
I didn't know this was lost media or that anyone was looking for it, I would've posted it a lot sooner!
Cerbone's child has now uploaded the six-track Sympathetic Flypaper to YouTube. Stream it below.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
