Bands of Brothers

The new Creedence Clearwater Revival reissues have had me thinking (no small feat) that it sure would've been nice if they'd put the unreleased tracks that fill out the new CD reissues on the 2001 box set. Which I paid to download from eMusic a few years back.
Another thought is how CCR exemplifies a subject I wish I'd never read books about. I enjoyed CCR's music more fully without reading multiple accounts of John Fogerty's treatment of his brother, Tom.

The Kinks, another favorite band based around two brothers, is finally getting the box set treatment, which has spurred both rumors and denunciations of a band reunion. Oasis and Kings of Leon are based around two and three brothers, respectively; both have new albums out, and I'm interested in one of them. Not too many months ago, the Mael brothers' Sparks released their twentieth album, another in a long string of inventive, addictive oddities. And if I were going to be near L.A. next week, I'd be in line for the Carl Wilson Tribute at the Roxy, featuring Carl's nieces, Carnie and Wendy Wilson; his ex-sister-in-law's group, with The Honeys; and Brian Wilson, with whom he was in arguably the greatest brother band in pop history.

The Beach Boys famously achieved their initial success with the involvement of father, Murry Wilson; the degree to which that involvement was positive is debatable. This brings me to consider my own potential for Murry-dom.

Our sons are now in not one, but two bands together.
Some Kind of Steve, seen above, made their debut a few weeks ago at our town's fall festival, and they were superb. Not that I'm impartial.

Rich Kids, Poor Planning

When last I left me, I was out of college (and the less said about that, the better) and the very promising band I'd been in, called (for reasons that were never clear), WayStar.

What are the odds, do you suppose, of two or more people, an ocean apart, having the same idea at essentially the same time?
Rich Kids* turned out to be such a great, intentionally obnoxious name for a band that ours wasn't the only one. The first, and the more obscure, sure. We had been playing as Rich Kids for a year or so when I learned -- via the lamented Trouser Press -- of the UK band of the same name. No idea who had the name first, although I think we were by a long shot.
Considering the presence of a former Sex Pistol, a future Ultravox, and producer Mick Ronson, the other Rich Kids probably had a better shot at doing something noteworthy with the name.

Our Rich Kids was, at times, a pretty decent band. We played some good gigs and played a lot. And we came this close to some success. In addition to what can generously be called reckless personal habits, we cooked up a woefully misguided "marketing" approach that put paid to any big time rock dreams we might have entertained.

Take a look at this photo ----------->
How many mistakes can you spot?
(Click on the photo to enlarge! It!)

That's right! You may think you're being blazingly clever and daring to pose nonchalantly in front of a neon sign that shouts "DRUGS" . . . you may also discover that club owners might find it indicative of undesirable qualities in prospective employees. And it truly doesn't play in conservative, small, Midwest U.S. town, not even if you point out that the sign is in a local pharmacy and that "no publicity is bad publicity."

And then there's the idealogical clash that is all-too-apparent in this photo.
Two of these things are not like the others.
The three in the shades were into a lot of the same music, and didn't have too much difficulty in agreeing on nifty "New Wave" tunes to cover, or which similar-flavored originals fit into the mix. The other two, not so much.
At a time when our set list included the Cars' "Dangerous Type," Joe Jackson's "One More Time," and "The Time Warp" from Rocky Horror, one of these guys suggested we add "The Lady in Red" by Chris De Burgh. Without an ounce of irony.

What was most remarkable about our Rich Kids was that we were able to stay booked consistently, playing a list that was 60/40, even 75/25 percent originals to covers. There were, granted, a number of bands then (late 70s) and there (the Midwest) that played all, or predominantly original material. But that was mostly feasible only for bands that were playing bigger clubs than we'd graduated to, for the most part. So it was a real accomplishment to pull it off in the local bars we played all too often.

We did a 45 that we got onto some jukeboxes and local radio. We played with Badfinger and the Elvis Brothers. We did a great four-song demo and had some people interested in working with us.

And it wound up being a colossal cluster-flub, as these things usually do, in my experience, anyway.

By the time this photo on the left was taken, we're back down to four members, but one of the faces is new. And one of the faces is sporting the sorriest, Caleb-looking facial hair this side of a barn-raising.
Hopefully, those rockin' Zodiac shoes distracted from the hirsute head. Coolest shoes I ever owned, and some of the most expensive. The clerk when I bought them, in San Francisco, took the opportunity to use my credit card number to charge himself an airline ticket.

If you thought the DRUGS sign was ill-considered, take a look at this promotional shot (below, right):

Maybe that is sugar spelling out the band name on the mirror, and maybe the rolled-up bill in her hand isn't that visible. It's still a strong exhibit in the "What Were They Thinking?!" file on the Rich Kids.
And fairly near the end of the line.

Here's a tip, all you rock kids: don't try to live like a rock star until you are one.
And, really, you probably shouldn't then, either.
Not that Rich Kids would have become successful on anything but the most limited scale, but the way we conducted ourselves assured us of failure.

Ok! That was both depressing and embarrassing!
Next time, I'll tell myself all about the first Illicit Affair, truly a concept before its time.

[* Not like anyone reads this, but because I haven't sought any of their permissions to use their names and because I might inadvertently write something unflattering or even untrue, I'm not naming any names with these old band anecdotes. In the extremely unlikely event that ANYone else wanders into this blog and reads it, if they know any of us, they'll know who I'm writing about.]