started in '97...continues today. members have included cory mccart, cody detrick, jt kelty, larry derenne, matt johnson, aaron toms, adam harris, curtis clark, andrew kratz, matt "bue" lundgren, tim morrell, josh reynolds, todd poland and FLICK MEATWOOD.
originally from wamego, ks, we were a recording band from the get-go. the first night we (cory, jt and i) got together, we recorded a tape under the name "Cockpit" (self-titled). then we went on to the magic rat sessions. from those recordings, we assembled three tapes: "Ring King", "In Between Rounds" and "Where's Donnie J?". then came derenne in '98. jt was dismissed for the short period of time derenne was in. a few recordings came out of it, yet no albums. then we went back to jt for a while...a very short while. around the time jt was indefinitely relieved of his TopHat status, the first computer recordings were made...then came cd technology. tons of recordings were made (no real albums though). enter matt johnson on bass in '99. "Sand Diggaz Vs. the LD" and "Circus Music for the Kids" were recorded. matt johnson was booted. cory and i remained a two-piece for a while...recorded a bit...and decided we needed a bassist. aaron toms was created to play bass for TopHat. in '00, as a (finally) decent-sounding three-piece, we recorded "Joey, the Roo" and "Herman Munster Fan Club". losing interest, toms leaves the band. adam harris fills in for a short period of time. new songs are written. "The Tennis Robot" is recorded featuring harris and tim morrell. then we boot harris. with the help of curtis clark in '01, cory and i recorded "Salute Your Shorts" and "Action-Packed Audio Game". after hearing those two albums, andrew kratz joined playing guitar. we practiced for a while, and then cory moved to lawrence. TopHat was on a major hiatus. kratz and i did a few side projects with curtis to stay musically satisfied. sometime in late '03, i moved to lawrence to concentrate more on TopHat. cory and i started recording a new album, but i got homesick and moved back to the area (to manhattan). after pleading with cory, he moved back to manhattan with me. andrew kratz was still around (minus two fingers) so we slapped him on bass duties. around then we recorded "This Place is Crawling with Real Bears!". in late '04, we booked our first show (with the brighton line) without having a second guitarist. matt "bue" lundgren, who had helped kratz and i out on some recordings for Mathlete, took over the duties of the second guitarist. we played a bunch of shows from '04 to late '05 and then began recording the not-yet-released "Rock for Men". shortly after his bass parts were recorded, kratz moved to lawrence to go to school. josh reynolds was brought in to fill his spot. then bue took a break from guitar and josh took over. cody's roommate, todd poland joined to play bass. as of now, members (other than cory and i) are subject to change at shows based on their availability...i could tell you the end, but its not very exciting.........
-cody
is tophat still alive? is the heart of rock 'n' roll still beating? if not you guys can join my blues band. we call ourselves "the jack russell terriers" and we have a large following of baby boomers. i'm the only member.
why aren't we involved in the "tribute to the who" concert in lawrence? we could've rocked a version of "i can see for miles" or "pictures of lily". what the fuck?
i hate frank caliendo. i wanna kill that fat little fuck. fuck him right in his fat mouth. eat my shit frank caliendo, your mother is a spermaholic! i'll see you in hell caliendo, and when i do i'll kill you again, FOREVER!!!
could you email me an mp3 of that alan thick song? you gave it to me on a cd and i had it on my computer but now i can't find either one. i'm such a doodle head sometimes!
i want to record some fiery latin passion with you guys. i'm pretty sure i'm gonna get a new job in the next couple of weeks which would put me in manhattan on a weekly basis. ears are gonna fuckin' bleed! i've been itchin' to rock some cock. we need to get together and get this shit on the road. we don't think we're good, we know we're the best! i've had an erection since november 24th, 2002! let's fuckin' do this shit!
i think we should seriously consider playing a show in arizona since puff mckinley obviously is our biggest fan. i think we could all take turns fucking him, like real rock stars!
when the candle is lit, you could call it "hot creamy custard". holy shit, i'm going to wal-mart right now. do you think gay guys masturbate while they're pooping? i know, everybody does, but it seems like the queers would do it more. it just seems natural. well, maybe not natural, but likely. adam and eve, not adam steve.
well that's good news. remember when i was thinking about storing my solid gold statue of helen keller in there? man, i'm glad i changed my mind about that.
