Photo of The Service

The Service

The Service Radio

General Info

  • Genre: Alternative / Americana / Garage

    Location CHICAGO, Illinois, US

    Profile Views: 5937

    Last Login: 3/26/2012

    Member Since 12/23/2007

    Website www.pravdamusic.com

    Record Label Pravda

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    In the Chicago rock scene of the 1980's there were few bands like The Service. An adventurous, full-speed-ahead, deeply American rock band, The Service never achieved the fame -- or notoriety -- of fellow midwesterners The Replacements or Husker Du. But like those bands, they define a time and a state of mind that reflected the liberating effects of the punk and new wave revolutions. The Service roamed the land in the days when a band could, without warning, break into a half-baked country cover; break up laughing in the middle of a "serious" moment; and then break your heart with a song that somehow summed up everything you were going through in your own life. They played with abandon and good humor, and they left a legacy of recorded material and vivid memories. Formed in 1982 when guitar/vocalist Rick Mosher met keyboard player Kenn Goodman in college, the band moved through a series of line-ups. Along the way John Smith became the permanent drummer, and Dave Briggs took over as vocalist, but bass players continued to come and go. By 1984 the group had put out its first release, the little-missed cassette-only compilation FOMA. This was a baby step -- the real potential of the group became apparent with the release, later that year, of the 4-song EP ZEBU. A rangy, vibrant record of a band just feeling its own power, ZEBU featured sighing pop songs, jangley REM-esque rock, and the full-on slice of Americana called "Arctic Express," which told the story of three fictitious bums who come across a car crash in the middle of a midwest winter, push the driver's frozen corpse out of the car, and drive themselves all the way to Mexico. It was mythic; it was ridiculous; it was pure Service. Touring constantly under the most spartan conditions, the band coelesced around their shared experiences of endless highways, half-baked gigs, and comically tragic misadventures. The next album, AMERICA'S NEWEST HITMAKERS, bled power and pathos, and the songs became a permanent part of the band's set list for years to come. College radio sat up and took notice, as did publications ranging from Maximum Rock n Roll to the UK's trend-spotting Melody Maker. These shards of fame propelled the band through frozen Minnesota tundra and stifling Louisiana bayous. They played upwards of 200 shows a year, and even though they lived to rock, they were still well south of being famous. The band's next full-length album, GEORGE'S DUTY-FREE GOULASH (1987), was engineered at Madison, Wisconsin's Smart Studios by Butch Vig. The album kept the band pretty much were they were, while Butch Vig went on to produce Nirvana's NEVERMIND. Pressed in blue vinyl with a clear sleeve, GOULASH was a raging album of striking, off-kilter pop punk that did nothing to alienate old fans or, unfortunately, win many new ones. At this point singer Dave Briggs left the band, and Mosher took over on vocals. Now a four-piece, The Service returned to the studio to record IN NONSENSE IS STRENGTH (1988). This record could be the high-water mark of the band's career, with sparkling production and arrangements, bristling performances that virtually leap off the vinyl, and deeply-felt songs drawn from what was now a long and rich history together. NONSENSE is the sound of young men who have spent the best years of their lives together and want desperately to convey to the listener the mixed emotions and powerful memories of those shared experiences. The record did what Service records had done all along -- earned rave reviews, made fans around the world, and sold fewer than it should have. With larger fame still out of reach, the band recorded one more album, the underrated HEAD VS WALL (1990), and called it quits. This story is not one of tragedy -- the band lived a good life together, made records, played shows, met strange and wonderful people, and saw the world. That they never "made it" is in many ways beside the point. The records they left are documents of their history, and the people who loved the band will forever carry images of the boys frantically stalking the stage, knocking over mike stands and cymbals, wrestling as they keep playing, laughing, crying, ruling, failing. It's a human story, with no tidy ending and no moral -- just a ragged American rock band with something to prove.

  • Members

    Rick Mosher, Kenn Goodman, John Smith, Gary Schepers, Sean Mayercek, Dave Briggs, Adam Marlowe

  • Influences

  • Sounds Like

Videos

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Comments

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  • Bernadette J. Buffington

    Hey!i love you music


    2 years ago
  • Kathleen Evans



    The continuing adventures of humpty dumpty.



    2 years ago
  • Cynthia P. Steele



    Hello,how are u?
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    2 years ago
  • Beverly C. Cherry


    Hello,How do you do?

    2 years ago
  • Cynthia P. Steele



    How are you? My new friend, thanks for adding me a

    2 years ago
  • Hotbox

    Please let me hear more of that wonderful sound. You are dressed with filaments and people take pains to make you fully incandescent this evening. What wonderful vibrations you are capable of. The music that flows from your instruments overwhelms me with creativity. Your layers of absinthe and torsion form concretions of hyper-alimentation. Your hair sends forth a sheen remniscent of golden sunlight winding through shadows. Your beauty is equal to the smoothness of a polished gem. All my thoughts are lost to your graceful gaze? Your reflections bring happiness that rends naked glass. May you always have stables of horses to service your needs. Your eyes are like spheres of crystal water filled with shimmering dreams. Your cleverness helps me breathe without the need of oxygen. How it passes there and back again like a tear drop glistening in moonlight. The skin I shed is a perfume that makes water bubbles so terribly clear to me. Your eyes show as many deep and full shades of fire as a volcano in heat.

    2 years ago
  • LEanna PReuett

    Thanks for the add

    3 years ago
  • Gene Loves Jezebel

    Thank you for adding Gene Loves Jezebel!!


    3 years ago
  • Reducto Sonico

    Photobucket

    4 years ago

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