“Here We Are Again”
The Story of the Band of Many Names
Music. From the days of old, when men and women were singing in rhythmic cadences while strumming and plucking away at strings on funny-shaped wooden boxes, and blowing into the ends of sticks with holes in them, and pounding away on black and white blocks set in a big wooden box, and pounding away on a piece of skin pulled over a pot, to the modern days when men and women are singing in rhythmic cadences while strumming and plucking away at strings on funny-shaped wooden boxes, and pounding on black and white blocks set in funny-shaped plastic electric boxes, and pounding on tightly stretched skin-like stuff stretches on to hollowed pots, music is the art that captures and moves people, crowds, groups, and whole nations with the simplest of tunes. Songs from one person or a group of people that have meaning, and that particular beat, rule the nights in rooms with low lighting, intoxicating beverages, and people scantily dressed.
Music. The one art form that requires little thought to enjoy, but has the biggest impact on all of the human senses. Music.
Unlike paintings and photographs, and far removed from literature, where the audience must use their brains to think the deep thoughts to enjoy the work that the deep thought thinkers used in creating their art, music is a non-thought producing art form. Only when the audience intently listens to the words, or tries to analyze the meaning of the those words and music progressions, does the art of music become more convoluted by thought, sometimes losing the meaning, and thereby the whole enjoyment of the song is lost merely due to over thinking.
However, there is a band who cannot be accused of any over thinking in the creation of their art. This band followed the leads of several other musicians, performers, and lot of “outside” influences, to become the mainstay example of total unbridled creativity, bridled creativity, and creativity with a horse whip. Like many bands before and since, this band has gone by many names in their early flight of fancy to fame. Back then the names were mere words with little meaning outside of the principle members of the band. But today the names conjure up memories of total dedication, raw talent, and the fantastic ability of keen and over-zealous hind-sight. Names like “Something Soon,” “Radio Silence,” and “Lovebarf” remain the top three names of the band’s three-name list. Each name reflected the principle creators of the band, namely Mark Bowling (the aspiring procrastinator), Kevin Osborne, the analytical realist), and Mack Shelton, Jr. (the none-too-serious artists with deep passions for correctness in music).
Using the then modern-day musical technology that they could afford, and usually reverting back to the days of old, the band cranked out song after song using a four-track tape machine, the professional work of an actual studio, and occasionally the “plain vanilla” tape recorder. Their songs were deep in both thought and meaning. Some critics have cited that while some songs had a lot of thought, others had a lot of meaning. But the songs that meant a lot to the band, the ones that went unnoticed by the mainstream media to rank up beyond the mainstream critics, were the ones that they thought they had a lot of meaning. Though some of these unknown “jewels” were written in a matter of minutes, one or two were written in a matter of one or two days, respectively. Some of the songs were wild and expressive (“I’m Bein’ Followed By a UFO”, “Couch Cushion”), and others were sarcastic (“But”, “Narrow Minds”), while most of the rest had a certain depressing feel to them, sometimes leaving the listener to wonder when to slit his wrists.
But while the songs appeared to be short on technical prowess, that didn’t stop the members from playing… and singing.
So where did it all start? How did the beginning begin, and the ending end? And who was there to help it along, and who failed to stop them? To answer these questions and a lot more, we must first look back to a time where George Bush (the Beta Test Version), was in the White House. The personal computer was using Windows programs that looked a lot like Apple’s programs. Iran was the enemy, and Iraq was on our side. The “evil Russians” were still “evil”, and the Berlin Wall was still up.
And three young individuals would soon reunite to form this band. In the upcoming interview we will speak with the members of the band. We will discuss their beginnings, from their love of music to the death of Betamax. We will look deep into the minds and souls of these brash creators of Rock-n-Roll, and follow their rise from humble beginnings to their leveling off at mere existence. And we will find out the true nature of their passions, from guitars and drums, to lyrics and singing. And we will discuss The Day in the Life of the Earwig, and how it relates to everything creative. But first, we must digress and warn the readers that what will be printed and posted here will be only for those who are curious, wondering, interested, and who have just stumbled upon this site.
So coming up with something soon will be an ear-shattering look back into the early days when the radio was king, and silence was golden, and where the love was still nothing more than a word that when looked at it closely would make anyone want to barf in his underwear. So kick the kids outside, send the cat to Grandma’s house, take the phone off the hook, and make a cup of tea. And when this gets finished, we will post it for the entire world to see.
Stay tuned…