Will Thomas - drums
PJ Fancher - guitar
Jack Bailey - guitar
Mike Collins - bass guitar & back vox
Aaron Lay - "singing"
former members:
Sean "hamburger" Garrity - guitar
Pat Ritchie - guitar
Scott Baldwin - drums
other contributors:
Buddy Shaub - trombone
J.R. - saxophone
Scott Norman - lead guitar
Rob McGregor - harmonica
Influences
chandeliers, boats, hot tubs, fine wines, lotions, potions, oils, buying, selling, ice sculptures, vintage automobiles, entertaining japanese businessmen, ivy covered walls, fountains, cutting ribbons on large buildings, majestic sounding doorbells, thoroughbred horses, hitmen, marble pillars, big game hunting, pistols with pearl handles and silencers, french models, sturgeon caviar, aruba, jamacia, rio de janerio, swiss alps, large poodle dogs with hair cuts, spiral staircases, polo...the sport, galas, balls, pageants, bacchanalian orgies, butlers, waltzing, smacking baneful so-called "gentlemen" with our black leather gloves, summering in the hamptons, etc....
We used to hang out alot and get wasted(we still do). We decided to form a band the way most dudes do, out of an extreme hankering to rock and a whole lot of free time. Original lineup was Aaron, Mike, Sean, Pat and Scott. Scott was in Los Canadians and other south Florida bands before moving to Gainesville to attend school. We honed our signature sound with Scott on the drums. He then wanted something else and moved to SF. We then got Dub-T(Will of Grabass Charlestons) to take Scott's place. He was a perfect fit as he liked to get wasted, played drums, already knew all of us, and he liked to get wasted. We played many a fucking show as this lineup. This lineup probably saw the second longest stint. We got banned from bars and clubs all over the state, ruined at least 3 free beer policies for bands, and sold millions of records. We put out a split with Will's other band, Grabass Charlestons. Pat then decided to move to south Florida again and we employed the services of one Peter James Fancher (Peej, also of Grabass). We then somehow toured the entire U.S. in Balls Deep (R.I.P.). You might have seen us. We were the weirdos that you thought were weird. We did another tour on the west coast and then we stopped touring because we were too busy listening to classic rock, watching football, and making hamburgers. Sean and Mike then birthed the wildly successful Hair Beard Combo(probably the best band ever). If you wanna come uncontrollably, you should check out that shit. Sean then moved to Wasteoftimeville and the band has pressed on with the services of Jack Bailey helping out the cause on second chair guitar. Jack had formerly rocked in Army of Ponch. Ok, we now reach present day. We've been a band for 7 years and we are now putting out our first LP. It will be out on No Idea sometime in the next year, hopefully. Come to the Fest and check us out.
Ciao, Mike
p.s. if you ever go to Lincoln, Nebraska, don't do the "cocaine".
uhhh...update? 8/28/07: We recently realized that next July 4th(2008), we'll be ten. As in ten years old. We played our first show on July 4th, 1998 at our buddys' house. I don't know if this means we should stop or never stop. I think we should stop after that until July 4th, 2018 when we are all dead and come back as our former selves when we were like 12 which would be awesome. I think I got my first boner then. We'd probably kick ass!!!!
Sincerely, Drunk Mike
These are our "releases":
Split LP/CD - Billy Reese Peters/Grabass Charlestons(2002)
CD - Almost Heaven(2006)
yup, that's it, nine years and 1.5 "releases".
The following is a review from a 'zine called Racket, there are more reviews if you check out our 'pics':
Billy Reese Peters
Almost Heaven
No Idea Records
10/10
In all the time I've wrote for Racket, I've got a lot of free c.d's, and that's on of the best perks I think anybody could ever get. A lot of the time. it's very shitty, and I mean SHITTY metal c.d's, or something equally cringing. But a few days ago, I got a package from No Idea Records. Even a bad No Records release is better then most good one's from other labels. This is the indie label that can. Look at some of the bands they've helped "break":
Against Me!
Hot Water Music
Planes Mistaken For Stars
etc.
The list goes on. I've got to feel somehow they are the freshest label out there. They have a knack for just releasing some of the most amazing records. Then theres Billy Reese Peters "Almost Heaven". Let me sum up a lot of things with this simple statement: if the Hold Steady are the bastard children of Bruce Springsteen and Thin Lizzy, then Billy Reese Peters are the drunken, wide eye'd, kick-in-the-ass drunken cousins of the Hold Steady meeting AC/DC with a shot of coke, a fifth of Jack, and a slap in the face of the "Gainsville movement."
Plain and simple, this is delicious, sweaty, booze and smoke induced rock and roll. Never has an album cover done a c.d this much justice. It makes me realize that I personally want to live this uninhibited. Beat my bare chest, and run naked through a field while drinking cheap Tequilla. The third track, "Mexico" is simply put, the best Anthem since another No Idea Alumni, Against Me!'s "We Laugh At Danger (And Break All The Rules)
If you're not listening to this, you're missing a movement. A movement of singing with your best friends to the greatest rock n' roll possible. A movement that's a mere tribute to inhibition, and youth. This is a tribute to those nights you can't really recal due to too many shots of Jager, and chasers of New Castle. This is the tribute to waking up next to the fat chick you picked up at the bar, and this is a tribute first and foremost...to believing that production values, and "artsy" faux pas DON'T make a good record.
Cheers to you, Billy Reese Peters, if this is Almost Heaven, then it's good enough for me.
-Aaron Hale (aaron@racketmag.com)
We used to be called "Mumrik" that was looking for a singer and now we finally found a singer and the band name became STM since we are working together at a distance of 6000miles from Leeds, UK to Kyoto, Japan. And we uploaded 3 songs now. Check them and let me know what you think. Thanks.
If you came NORTH on I-75, you could play some other cool cities before getting to Minneapolis... the weather sure is nice here right now... bring the Grabasses! Please?!?!?!?!
