Monday, April 18, 2005
Tenacious D & A
When P957 broke up, TSA and I continued playing music together. The reasons for this are numerous, primarily that we both had gotten used to playing music and didn't want to give that up for any reason. For me, anyway, another reason was that I didn't know what else to do with my life on Sunday nights. I know that seems silly, but that's the truth. It was no vanity thing for me, I didn't see my chance to finally sieze the spotlight. We used to joke in 957 that we weren't comfortable with people liking us. Over time, that became more of a joke, but there was always a little bit of truth there. And me, well, I was much more comfortable just being able to stand in the wings, playing harmonica, adding backing vocals when I saw fit. We all had a hand in the sound of the band, but TSA, Brian and I weren't hanging it out there every week. That's just the way I liked it. We didn't seek any glory, we just wanted to play music and have fun.
So in September, TSA and I were playing music minus Brian (deployed to an undisclosed location) and JB (personal reasons). The first order of business was to add some tunes. We had talked of doing Brian Wison with 957, but for whatever reason we had never gotten around to it. It took me about 10 minutes to teach it to Andy and it became a staple of our stage act. That, coupled with some songs we played together in 957 and a few other new songs became the basis of what we do on stage.
So after you've got a few tunes, enough at least not to do the same four every week, people start asking you what you call yourselves. So we went through a lot of name ideas. One of Andy's first suggestions was First Cause. I kind of liked it, but it seemed a little boastful even if it wasn't meant to be. You start considering lots of things in a situation like that: BOJTSA and TSABOJ (a combination of our nicknames, plus they look really eastern european), DNA (I like it just because Andy's grandparents thought of it), Involuntary Commitment (a term used at the hospital, I loved it, but I didn't like the insinuation that we were "Involuntary Commited" to playing together because of choices made by other members of 957). We finally came up with Slappy is Jebus. The story of that name is long, it sort of contains two stages and when you get right down to it is really only funny to Andy and I. Ultimately it's practically a joke, something we thought would be fun to get Shawn to say. If he hadn't said the "is" exactly the way we wanted him to, we most likely be calling ourselves something else right now.
Still, making up band names is actually a lot of fun. A guy I used to work with at USSB made up names of bands for fun. They can come from anywhere. He came up with Funk Nebraska, because that's the name of the town his wife's grandmother was from. Me, a lot of my stuff comes from The Simpsons, during that time the favorite band name I came up with was Shame Spiral, from an early Simpsons episode. TSA and I have continued to talk band names, recently I thought Project Arcturus would be a cool name, if only because it's from the best Simpsons episode ever. From the same episode you could also get, The Hammock District or even Globex Corporation. Also cool names, but I think we'll stick with Slappy is Jebus for the time being.
That said, while leaving Cheers last night, I heard a name suggestion that I absolutely loved. John, a bass player and friend of Josh's had once told me that Andy and I remind him of Tenacious D. Now I don't think we really sound much like the D, but I see where he was going, two guys playing goofy acoustic music. And I love the D, truth is, I'd like to add a D song or two to our set list. I'd like to do Sasquatch because it wasn't on the album, but only occured in the TV series. So I like Tenacious D as a name. While leaving the bar last night, John, while standing at the bar just blurted out "Goodnight Tenacious D & A." That's fantastic! It almost makes me want to be a Tenacious D tribute band, playing Tribute every time we play. We probably couldn't get away with that name, but I love it.
It was a really slow night at the open mic last night. Andy and I went up first just to get it out of the way. Even though it was dead, we somehow managed to garner a little attention. In a twisted way I enjoy dead nights, it makes any response you get from the crowd that much sweeter. We opened up with Vibrator Dependent. That never fails to get some reaction, particularly from women. With laziness that is a hallmark of of the SIJ boys, we followed that up with Brian Wilson simply because TSA didn't have to change the capo on his guitar. I had to reach all the way down to my feet to get the correct harmonica. My laziness was evident with the next selection Two Condoms, I didn't have to change harps. Then it was the Muddy Waters tunes Rollin' & Tumblin' and Got My Mojo Workin'. They're both in the same key, so while I did have to grab the C harp for R&T I didn't have to change to play Mojo.
And a drunk at the bar was so impressed he wants us to play a hole in the wall dive bar in Box Elder. OK, I know the folks at the bar always love us, but this is ridiculous......
BOJ
So in September, TSA and I were playing music minus Brian (deployed to an undisclosed location) and JB (personal reasons). The first order of business was to add some tunes. We had talked of doing Brian Wison with 957, but for whatever reason we had never gotten around to it. It took me about 10 minutes to teach it to Andy and it became a staple of our stage act. That, coupled with some songs we played together in 957 and a few other new songs became the basis of what we do on stage.
So after you've got a few tunes, enough at least not to do the same four every week, people start asking you what you call yourselves. So we went through a lot of name ideas. One of Andy's first suggestions was First Cause. I kind of liked it, but it seemed a little boastful even if it wasn't meant to be. You start considering lots of things in a situation like that: BOJTSA and TSABOJ (a combination of our nicknames, plus they look really eastern european), DNA (I like it just because Andy's grandparents thought of it), Involuntary Commitment (a term used at the hospital, I loved it, but I didn't like the insinuation that we were "Involuntary Commited" to playing together because of choices made by other members of 957). We finally came up with Slappy is Jebus. The story of that name is long, it sort of contains two stages and when you get right down to it is really only funny to Andy and I. Ultimately it's practically a joke, something we thought would be fun to get Shawn to say. If he hadn't said the "is" exactly the way we wanted him to, we most likely be calling ourselves something else right now.
Still, making up band names is actually a lot of fun. A guy I used to work with at USSB made up names of bands for fun. They can come from anywhere. He came up with Funk Nebraska, because that's the name of the town his wife's grandmother was from. Me, a lot of my stuff comes from The Simpsons, during that time the favorite band name I came up with was Shame Spiral, from an early Simpsons episode. TSA and I have continued to talk band names, recently I thought Project Arcturus would be a cool name, if only because it's from the best Simpsons episode ever. From the same episode you could also get, The Hammock District or even Globex Corporation. Also cool names, but I think we'll stick with Slappy is Jebus for the time being.
That said, while leaving Cheers last night, I heard a name suggestion that I absolutely loved. John, a bass player and friend of Josh's had once told me that Andy and I remind him of Tenacious D. Now I don't think we really sound much like the D, but I see where he was going, two guys playing goofy acoustic music. And I love the D, truth is, I'd like to add a D song or two to our set list. I'd like to do Sasquatch because it wasn't on the album, but only occured in the TV series. So I like Tenacious D as a name. While leaving the bar last night, John, while standing at the bar just blurted out "Goodnight Tenacious D & A." That's fantastic! It almost makes me want to be a Tenacious D tribute band, playing Tribute every time we play. We probably couldn't get away with that name, but I love it.
It was a really slow night at the open mic last night. Andy and I went up first just to get it out of the way. Even though it was dead, we somehow managed to garner a little attention. In a twisted way I enjoy dead nights, it makes any response you get from the crowd that much sweeter. We opened up with Vibrator Dependent. That never fails to get some reaction, particularly from women. With laziness that is a hallmark of of the SIJ boys, we followed that up with Brian Wilson simply because TSA didn't have to change the capo on his guitar. I had to reach all the way down to my feet to get the correct harmonica. My laziness was evident with the next selection Two Condoms, I didn't have to change harps. Then it was the Muddy Waters tunes Rollin' & Tumblin' and Got My Mojo Workin'. They're both in the same key, so while I did have to grab the C harp for R&T I didn't have to change to play Mojo.
And a drunk at the bar was so impressed he wants us to play a hole in the wall dive bar in Box Elder. OK, I know the folks at the bar always love us, but this is ridiculous......
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 6:18 AM 
