Circa 1991
When I lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, my then roommate worked as a light guy at Scandal’s in Ocean City. Consequently, I went to a lot of shows he worked. The Loft, The Faith(not the Dischord band) and Y-Not, among others, played there regularly and they all had the same basic M.O. They all started off as cover bands that got uppity and started writing their own songs.
They approached the craft of songwriting like “musicians”. Drummers would kick the overly complicated groove while the bass line snapped and popped in the style of the time. Together they laid down a rhythm that was as bleached white as Pillsbury dough but not nearly as funky. The guitarist played complex chords that took his fingers to all the different corners of the fretboard. The singer would sing what he hoped were meaningful lyrics like, “We’re gonna change the World and that’s the truth.” and “can’t breath the air, can’t drink the water, gotta save the world, for all our Sons and Daughters”. He also would have acoustic guitar that he’d bust out occasionally, but not too much because it would cut into their valuable emoting time with the ladies in the front row.
My least favorite of all these band was Y-Not. Perhaps not coincidentally, they were by far the most popular.
Anyway, enough setting the scene. Y-Not was playing in front of OCs most inebriated and the singer had a question for the crowd that he delivers with a sincerity that verges on Bono-esqe.
“Ocean Cit-ay, lemme ask you something,” crowd goes nuts. “If you spill something at home,are you going to use a paper towel?”crowd goes nuts again. The singer shakes his head disapprovingly,”No people, you gotta use a rag, it’s better for our Mother Earth. This is a song about her, this is ‘Rescue Me’!” Crowd goes B-fucking-nannas.
I should have moved to DC right then. I would have been poor, but I could have seen Nation of Ulysses and Chisel before they broke up. But as I often say, Fate plays a funny game with us all.
2 comments:
Holy christ, those E. shore cover bands were bad.
What was the name of that Red Hot Chili Peppers wannabe band? Was that Y-Not?
Lonnie, that was Mighty BIG Richard.
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