Idiosyncratic lifegaurd to the cosmos. A clown, a baboon, a horse. He doesn't know what time it is, or what day it is, or take showers.
He smells like Charles Bukowski. Without warning he throws up all over himself, or if you're close enough he throws up all over you.
William Shattner is his idol. That's the person he emulates when he sings. He poops a lot too. He's always pooping. Everywhere he goes.
It's like a ritual. The last time he shaved was when the Vandals sacked Rome, and his favorite movie is "Strange Brew." He loves that flying superhero dog.
That's all he talks about. And to make matters worse, he even likes the taste of beer.
JERAMY MARTIN
GUITARIST
An atheist who doesn't believe in evolution. He's a fisherman, a cosmoses, a welder. He'll bite your ass. Influenced by poets
like Rimbaud and Baudelaire, he often drinks himself silly or slobbers on his arm. But he's been playing the guitar since before the
Greeks made their stand at Thermopylae, and he's fond of Romans. If you ask him why
he decided to be in this band, he'll probably draw you a picture in the Victorian
style like Aubrey Beardsley, otherwise he'll just try and make love to your leg.
CHRIS BROWN
BASSIST
Well, he plays bass, but this reclusive genius is rather demented. He doesn't like classical
music unless it is served with brandy. In fact, he won't accept anything unless it is served with brandy.
He likes brandy. She's the one who always makes him remember the way it feels when the Nile River overflows its banks
and spills into the Nubian gardens. He's a princess, a lover, Hunter S. Thompson's best friend.
Ask him about Picabia or Duchamp, and he'll show you a collection of his doo doo. His dream is to one day
own a ranch like Ken Kesey, eat acid, and invite the Hell's Angels over to piss on the pigs.
MIKE SCHUMAN
DRUMS
You may have seen him runnning through the forests of California, or maybe you caught a whiff of his royal skunkiness when you were down south in the Everglades, or maybe, if you've been on top of the world, you may even have seen him trudging along a high ridge in deep snow drifts on a lonley and desolate Himalayan mountain peak. He's a beast of burden, nature's abomination, a wild, tameless creature that howls at the moon, and sometimes turns into a wolf, or a wolverine. If you ask him about his favortite concubine, Hera, he'll tell you a long and painful tale about a burning bush. He's a kind hearted and secretive enigma, but overall, he is one hairy, sexy monkey. And if you wish to climb his colossal frame, the only thing that he asks, is for you to wait until after a show, when he's good and lubed, when his slick fur is greased with sweat and his body is soaked in musk and pheromones and moonshine.
Influences
All the great musicians who play from the soul, and live for their art.
Sounds Like
A Freight Train howlin' like a hurricane blowin' through the Great Oyster Shack.
"Skull and Bone Band is much more than a redneck punk and improv-jam act. The Tampa quartet defies prevailing notions of rock classifications with soulful vocals, gritty irreverence and dizzying skill. And they're freaking hilarious."
-Julie Garisto, TBT June 13, 2008
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt
The origin of the SKULL and BONE BAND name:
A native American medicine man from the Seminole Tribe w/ mixed blood from Ex- African American slaves gave us our name. He said that the two cultures had both been treated as an inferior species. Many supposed Freed African American slaves ended up in New Orleans after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 (and because of relocation schemes before and after of the Civil War) along with members of the Seminole Tribe. They banded together in order to protect themselves from harm. The result was a new blending of African and Native American traditions. And each year for the Mardi Gras festival, they would put on their Native costumes and join together in a procession to celebrate the circle of life and death.
In each of the two cultures, they had a common understanding about life and death. Neither believed in atheism or monotheism. They supported an idea of animism, whereby all of nature is alive, all of nature has a soul, and they are a part of natures soul, no greater or worse, but an integral part of the whole. In the beginning they werent allowed to participate in the Mardi Gras celebration. So they invented their own. They chose the skull and bone to represent their communion with the spirits. The Skull and Bone krewe consisted mostly of mixed African American and Native American blood.
The medicine man explained to us that the skull represents mortality. It is our future face. One day we will come face to face with death. We should understand this principle and take it seriously. He said the bone represents fertility. It is life and it is full of energy. This is the playful and joyful realm of the living. It is a time to sing and dance. And then he said that the two taken together represent the circle of existence. He had no doubt that life is eternal. There is a small break he said in the circle. That is the nothing where we go and from where we came. But it is never truly nothing, he explained, because something is always coming and something is always going.
I WILL BE TUNED IN FOR SURE IN THE AM! GOOD LUCK! CANT' MAKE THE C.D. RELEASE PARTY CUZ WE'RE PLAYING IN DUNEDIN. CHECK YOUR INBOX ABOUT YEOMANS GIG...
Hey thanks for the great time last night at your Pirate Party. I thought your set kicked ass, and it was a very cool band room. I sure didn't feel like the oldest guy there! Cheers!!
Thanks a lot for thinking of me! I don't wanna get you guys in trouble, however. I'd be trashing Toby Keith before I struck my 1st chord. We shall rock again soon enough!
So I was just looking at your page and I think you music sounds pretty awesome and original. Are you guys looking to record any time soon? If you want to save some money by avoiding the expensive studios and still get a great quality sound, come check out my page. I'd love to record you, and I would only charge you 15 bucks an hour! Compared to the 50 bucks an hour studios charge, that's a ridiculously good deal!
THANKS FOR PLAYING GUYS!!! HOPE YOU GOT A GIG AND I KNOW YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL PLAYING THERE!!! YOU GUYS KEPT THE CROWD AWAKE AND SHOCKED THE HELL OUT OF THEM WHEN YOU STARTED PLAYING...CANT WAIT TO PLAY A GIG TOGETHER SOON! I AM WORKING ON IT, OFCOURSE, WE ARE IN FOR THE NEXT PARTY AT THE BUS!
Awwww...I've been lookin' forward to this since last year!!! T-R-O-P-I-C-A-L H-E-A-T-W-A-V-E!!!!! Woooohooo!!
Get yo' asses out to the Cuban Club, Ybor City to see the Gurus rawk it. Oh, and if you don't know......that place it hauted! Even better! :) hehe....see ya'll there!
Thanks so much for the friendship! Please visit my site and check out all the photos, videos and text information! There is a blog message to all local musicians I want you to read!
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