The Young Fresh Fellows and The Posies were fixtures of Seattle's Crocodile Cafe, owned and managed by Buck's then-girlfriend (later wife) Stephanie Dorgan.

[2][3] The song titles of the group's earliest output—among them, "Loser So Supreme," "Drunkard's Lullaby," and "Brotherhood Of Pain"—are indicative of the downbeat nature of the band's initial output.

For this EP the band was supplemented by NRBQ members Tom Ardolino and Terry Adams and Young Fresh Fellows bassist Jim Sangster.

As Auer and Stringfellow were in Europe touring behind the Posies' Frosting On The Beater, the Minus 5 performed as a duo with backing from The Silos' Walter Salas-Humara, Tom Freund and Manuel Versoza for the last three songs.

Old Liquidator is haunted by the unexpected Christmas 1994 death of McCaughey's friend Jimmy Silva, who had collaborated with Young Fresh Fellows, Stringfellow, Uno and members of The Smithereens.

A CD single for "The Emperor Of The Bathroom" was released in fall 1995 with alternate versions of three album cuts, a country-fried outtake called "Heartache For Sale" and a cover of the Fantastic Baggys' "This Little Woody.

New songs "Moonshine Girl" and "Wouldn't Want To Care" were debuted alongside Johnny Cash, Nick Lowe, Gram Parsons and Porter Wagoner covers.

New song "Bullfight" was debuted at these shows, which featured Young Fresh Fellows and Fastbacks guitarist Kurt Bloch in addition to McCaughey, Buck and Auer.

In December 1995, The Minus 5 played two nights at the Crocodile Cafe in support of Kevn Kinney, supplemented by Screaming Trees' Barrett Martin on upright bass.

The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy, cobbled together from McCaughey's many 1996 sessions, featured an impressive roster of guests including Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard, The Presidents of the United States of America, McWilson, Barrett Martin and Mike McCready.

Critics took note of the haphazard nature of the proceedings, which included Small Faces pastiche "Popsycle Shoppe" and a cover of John Lennon's harrowing "My Mummy's Dead."

No Depression called the album "Surprisingly bitter froth...Most of the record's 12 songs quake with the severely compressed intimacy and hazy chamber-ballad tension of recent R.E.M.

"[16] Geoffrey Himes wrote in The Washington Post: "Genuinely amusing when the tunes were bouncy and catchy, but the slow numbers didn't have the humor or melody to justify the dreary pacing.

After the session, McCaughey joined Hitchcock and Buck for a Crocodile Cafe gig under the name "Popscyle Shoppe Incident: Viva Sea Tac II."

[18] In August 1997, Hollywood Records reissued Old Liquidator and, curiously, McCaughey's 1989 solo album My Chartreuse Opinion in deluxe editions with bonus tracks.

My Chartreuse Opinion, a Conrad Uno-recorded affair which featured cameos from Jimmy Silva and Christy McWilson, was now credited to "The Minus 5 of Scott McCaughey."

Mammoth founder Jay Faires was now charged with breaking The Minus 5 to a larger audience, but industry watchers such as Variety's Adam Sandler questioned why Disney didn't focus on "pop music, which is a better fit with its TV and film programming, rather than indie-inspired repertoire.

was in Georgia recording demos for what would become Up, The Minus 5 played its first two shows without Buck: at Chicago's Lounge Ax on August 16, 1997, the band consisted of McCaughey, Stringfellow, Jason Finn and Dharma Bums' Jim Talstra.

The raucous gig was by far the band's longest to date: an 11-song McCaughey solo set followed by a 22-song Minus 5 powerhouse that included unreleased songs, several nuggets from My Chartreuse Opinion and covers of John Lennon and The Modern Lovers.

The following week, McCaughey played a gig with John Wesley Harding at the Croc in Seattle which included a handful of Minus 5 tunes and as-yet-unreleased Young Fresh Fellows songs.

Near the end of 1997, The Minus 5 played the two-night Crocodile Cafe's An Evenings In Edenbrook Forest event, with a lineup that included McCaughey, Buck, Martin and John Ramberg.

[23] In 1999, the group accepted an invitation to participate in a tribute album to Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence, who was terminally ill with cancer, for the purpose of raising funds to assist with medical expenses.

"[25] On January 9, 2000, The Minus 5 played a secret show at Lounge Ax in Chicago, opening for Wilco (billed as "Summer Teeth") for 300 lucky fans.

The group raced through a handful of brand-new, unrehearsed songs alongside covers of influences as diverse as Mott The Hoople, Johnny Cash and Neutral Milk Hotel.

The session included spirited takes on the Nightcrawlers' power-pop anthem "The Little Black Egg", an ode to the demise of the Lounge Ax ("The Night Chicago Died (The Death of The Minus 5)") and even a tribute to Dr.

The Minus 5 returned to the Croc on June 8 with McCaughey, Buck, Ramberg, Rieflin and John Wesley Harding playing a set which included some improvised one-off songs, Faces and Paul McCartney covers.

with sessions in Georgia and Dublin, Ireland, Buck was nonetheless available for Minus 5 gigs on July 7 at Tractor Tavern at September 2 at Bumbershoot Festival at Memorial Stadium.

During the sessions, McCaughey, Stringfellow and Mike Mills joined local group The Possibilities for a loose set that included Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Chris Bell, Joni Mitchell and Gram Parsons covers.

The Minus 5 closed out an eventful year with a Croc set on December 8, 2000, with the lineup of McCaughey, Buck, Ramberg, and Rieflin with guests John Wesley Harding, Sean Nelson, Britt Speakman, Carla Tongerson and Peter Blackstock.

Yep Roc later 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.