MY SO-CALLED BAND

Our band began in April '95 when guitarist Luke Warm and myself (on bass and lead vocals) formed the band we had first attempted to form 13 years earlier. It was hard to have a functioning band with a guy who was moving around a lot like back then. Finally, Luke moved to California in 1984, but we kept in touch the entire time. He had moved back to Charlotte in 1993 and when the band at the time, Proletariat Madonna, broke up in '95 he and I finally joined forces. With our original drummer Patrick Korson we started playing around the Southeast.

At our first show in August '95 we met a brilliant guitarist, Ryan McGinnis, who would soon retire from music and begin to manage a local club. Our admiration for him was such that Luke and I often referred to him as the "fourth member of the band". As Ryan was usually at his club on weekends it would have made playing out of town shows with him a little tough, so neither of us ever seriously pursued it. We did seriously pursue recording our self-titled, first CD with Sugarsmack's Aaron Pitkin producing, and it was released on the Yesha label in September '97.

A few months after the album came out Patrick announced he was leaving the band to move to Atlanta. Luke and I were distressed over the lack of drummers in town who shared our musical tastes (Clash/Pistols/Stooges/New York Dolls). When we asked Chris Bean (Ublisch, Draggin' Flowers) to fill in for us he liked it so much he decided to stay. He arrived just in time to play on our second Yesha release, a 5-song CD EP called President Lust which came out in October '98. Rob Tavaglione's powerful production on it came closer to capturing our live intensity than our first one had.

In the fall of '98 Luke became very insistent that we add a second guitarist. "I know it's like I'm picking my replacement" he said to me. I immediately thought of our old friend Ryan McGinnis; he was no longer managing a club and still wasn't playing in a band. As it turns out he was interested. Luke and Ryan got together once without the rhythm section to go over some songs. Luke called to say that "Ryan's got what it takes", and a few weeks later Luke announced he retirement from the band and, possibly from the music scene forever.

Ryan and I were completely blown away by his departure, but we carried on because it was obviously what he wanted, and with our new-found chemistry we wanted it to. By early '99 we were doing lots of touring in the Southeast. After our first Charlotte show with Ryan everyone's spirits seemed to be sky high. Two months later Chris Bean would leave us, and his other band Ublisch would break up in the space of a week.

In July '99 we were still searching for the right drummer. We had to take Ryan's amp in for repair, and while we were at the music store Ryan ran into Chris Loebs, an old friend he had not seen in nearly four years. Ryan and Chris had briefly played together in the Psychotic Rednecks, and Ryan had produced a demo for Chris' prior band the Sludge Nymphs. Chris is primarily a guitar player and songwriter, but he also knows how to play drums. Since Chris did not have a functioning band at the time Ryan proceeded to convince him to play drums for us. Since most songwriting-guitar players are not exactly frustrated drummers at heart I found it hard to believe that Chris would really want to fill that role in our group. But, happily, I was wrong.

Months later he's still proving me wrong and couldn't be happier. His dedication to whatever instrument he's playing and to us means we have a new lease on life. We've been concentrating on gigging and preparing songs for our next full length CD for Yesha. And 1998 retiree Luke Warm is even planning a solo EP.

Chris Peigler

My So-Called Band