Terry Eason- All Guitars
Rob Gilboe- Drums
Peter Linman- Bass on the Long Weekend EP
Steve Parker- Bass on live shows
Nic Santiago- Vocals/Songwriter
Influences
Ramones, Motorhead, AC/DC, The Mighty Mofos, Joan Jett, ZZ Top, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Beethoven's 5th, 7th & 9th Symphonies, Girlschool,
The Runaways, Smashed Gladys, The Hypstrz and Roger Daltrey
Sounds Like
The Ramones on quaaludes or Bachman Turner Overdrive on speed or like
Soundgarden with a Boone's Farm hangover or like L7 but in a slightly higher register.
ALL OF THE ABOVE SONGS CAN BE ADDED TO YOUR PLAYLIST FOR FREE!
HAVE AT IT MOTHER F^%$@S!
Is futility the godfather of obscurity or are they really second cousins by marriage? The story of this virtually un-Googleable quartet is like a thousand others. It's leader (a loose use of the word) Nic Santiago began toiling in anonymity as a front man in punk/power pop bands in 1981. In 1984, one of those bands (he refuses to this day to utter the band's name) caught fire in Minneapolis and was asked to join the roster at local label legend Twin/Tone Records, home of the Suburbs, Soul Asylum and Nic's second favorite band, The Replacements(The Ramones are his all-time champs). Turning gold into straw faster than Rumplestiltkin could say, "Yikes!", this feeble band of malcontents managed to eek out but a single 45 rpm record before disbanding. The record made it's way up the college music charts but the album never followed. Perhaps it's okay, as their decidedly Brit Pop influenced tunes were not destined to age well. In 1987, feeling alot less pretentious, Santiago wrote a large batch of straight ahead, simple, meat and potatoes three chord rock anthems and enlisted the aide of some friends to record and play local gigs with him. The result is sampled here on this page. Babylon Pink (Minneapolis version) had two goals, to entertain and to write/license/put over one or two three chord classics so Nic could get rich and become the recluse he's always wanted to be. They unfortunately labored so far under the radar, even locally that commercially they can only rank as a failure. This stems from Mr. Santiago's phenomenal lack of managerial pinache. While the band had an obvious appeal to people into three chord, basic hard rock, Santiago insisted on booking the band in the same trendy, new wave oriented night clubs he'd always gigged in, where the general response from the audience leaned more toward head scratching than applause. Secondly, their EP, their hard rock calling card (which did receive scattered air play and some glowing reviews around the country) was, at Santiago's insistance released on Vinyl only, killing any chance of gaining a shelf life or an audience that didn't have a Victrola lying around the house. That being said the talent on display and the two things besides some killer rockin' tracks that make the record special at all are a) the ingenious recording and engineering by Mark Freeman who produced the entire record in a living room, a basement and a storefront (for free by the way) and b) the unbridled performance of Twin Cities guitar legend Terry Eason, who is never more carefree or downright dirty than on these tracks(Note: Terry's 2007 solo album "Sentimental Vanity" is honestly one of the best collections of pop songs I've ever heard. Please check out his MySpace page for details). He alone makes it a batch of tunes worth listening to. Rounding out the talent pool on the recording are performances by two solid pros, Pete Linman on bass and Rob Gilboe on drums. They'd gain much higher profiles as members of legendary local bands Rhea Valentine and The Glenrustles respectively. On stage, the bass player for 80% of the band's existence was Steve Parker, a guy so reliable, decent and low maintenance Mr. Santiago barely remembers him. Since 1995 he has called Los Angeles home because it's warmer than Chicago and isn't Minneapolis. For ten years he's been working in the entertainment industry(DON'T SEND ME YOUR NEPHEWS OR SCREENPLAYS!!), dabbling in stand-up comedy and has successfully begun 11 novels and nearly finished three. Of all the bands Mr. Santiago was in Babylon Pink was his true love, pet project and favorite bunch of guys. So listen, enjoy and tell your friends because after nineteen years in a box in his closet this hard rock gem has finally been unleashed. While sadly, there will be no more gigs at least these timeless tracks are out in the world to let people know that from 1987-1991 on the tundra, a truly rocking band existed by the name of Babylon Pink.
Nic Santiago’s Babylon Pink's Friend Space (Randomized)
Hey! Thanks for being our friend !! If you like what we are doing then please support us & check out our CD, it's only $7.50 or u can download tracks individually from itunes. Also our new single 'the Clapping Song' featuring Jennie Bellestar is on itunes NOW! Thanks for your support so far :-) Lee & Brendan. xx
Thanks for the comment O larger than life one. Almost called you tonight. Ran into Steve M last night, don't know why, but made me think of you. I'll see Rob soon. Wanna get that live BP tape from him, just for the hell of it. Hope all's well.
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