Biography
Shortlived indie rock / emo band from Oberlin, Ohio, that formed in late 1994 and consisted of Jen Adam (guitar, vocals, songwriter), Quentin Rowan (bass, vocals) and Dave Lerner (drums).
All three went to Oberlin College. In 1994, Jen and Dave (bassist of then-recently-broken-up Native Nod) were both traveling on the same plane from NYC to Cleveland to attend the first year, and noticed each other as they both had Fender guitar cases. During the first semester, Quentin made a flyer at the school saying he plays bass and wants to join a band, citing MBV and VU as influences. Both noticed it, and thus Flex Lavender was born.
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Their name seems to come from the wrestler Flex Lavender. In an interview with their college paper, Jen says the name came up as they were talking about stage names. Dave says during the interview that the name is actually Jen's stage name.
They recorded a 4-track demo tape (fully lost media), and recorded the first 2 songs off of it for their 7". The 2 other songs on the demo, Untitled #1 and Untitled #2, were also recorded during the 7" sessions (these versions are available on Youtube). They practiced at the college in a space reserved for students.
They played around a dozen shows in Oberlin, and their only one outside Ohio was in Philadelphia at the First Unitarian Church with Rye Coalition. Known venues where they played are: the basement of Harkness (presumably the residential hall at the college), and the 'Sco and Finney Chapel (also at their college). Dave doesn't think their shows were recorded at all.
Their sets were 8-10 songs long (originals), usually with a Spacemen 3 cover. These other songs are currently lost. The band is also mentioned in a 1997 article of the same newspaper.
The band still existed in October of 1995, as indicated by the same interview. Likely, they disbanded sometime in 1996. Jen and Quentin afterwards formed The Eaves, while Dave then played in Ted Leo / Pharmacists. Today, Dave plays in the folk rock band Trummors, where he can be contacted. Jen has taken up front-end web design (https://jenadam.com/), while Quentin became a (disgraced) writer.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.