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How the hell did I get here?As is always, sadly, the case with history born in another century, the memories of this band--the whys, the whens, the hows--are a bit fuzzy. There was laughter, to be sure. Friends, a lot of them. Smelly vans and stinky shoes. Days that seemed to last forever and nights that lasted even longer. Beer. Fast food. Fender guitars and Marshall amps. Singers who were really not that great but tried pretty hard. Sunsets, sunrises and 24-hour breakfast. St. Louis. A drummer who hit his drums so damn hard and smiled nearly the entire time. Handshakes, hugs and a bar brawl or two. Guitarists and a bass player--again none of them really that great--who played like they tried to live: honest, determined, wistful, hopeful. Oh, and a Dodge Tradesman with 200K miles. Fuzzy memories? Mostly yes, but still there.
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Downers Grove, where it started (1983-1984)
Talk about inauspicious debuts. Sometime in 1983, for reasons that are unclear to this day, Steve invited Brian to come over to some guy's suburban basement to sing some classic rock cover songs (Deep Purple, BTO, Joe Walsh). Not too long thereafter, Steve and Jim--who along with Brian knew each other from their involvement with the school radio station, WDGC--decide to form a band. After considering a few names (including Castles in Spain), Steve and Jim settle on RF. A guy named Mike (who Jim knew from working at a mall record store) is the drummer. They invite Brian to sing and Eric to play alto saxophone.
In 1984, the band heads out to Naperville to a small recording studio, Old Plank Studios, helmed by a kind, patient, funny and supportive engineer/producer named Phil Bonnet. RF records its first 45 rpm, "Suburban Wasteland" b/w "Where Were You."
When the then-drummer's dad says he wants his son to get his cut of the band's paltry proceeds (probably around $150 at the time) from gigs at a local roller rink (seriously, we played in the middle of the rink), the band cuts the drummer loose. Steve tells his brother Jimmy to play drums. "OK," says Jimmy.
A few days after Steve, Jim, Eric and Brian's high school graduation, RF, Protagonists and Denied Remarks play a DIY show at Lincoln Center in Downers Grove. Protagonists and Denied Remarks were darn good bands.
The mod scene--Sunday nights that lasted forever (1984-1985)
In 1984-85, a nuevo-Mod scene popped up in Chicago, mostly populated by white suburban kids stoked by the likes of The Specials, The Jam, The Three O'Clock, English Beat, etc. The epicenter of the scene was a club named the West End, situated at the then-vaguely isolated corner of Armitage and Racine. With a tall stage in the corner, good sound, no booze, and a $5 cover for three bands, this was *the* place to be every Sunday night with your skinny tie, fedora, narrow-lapeled sportcoat with the sleeves rolled up, and--if you were super cool--your Vespa or Lambretta. Talented and ahead-of-their-time bands like I Spy, The Slugs, the Edseys and Green were the undisputed kings of the scene. The Chicago Reader's talented music writer J.R. Jones wrote a great remembrance about 10 years ago: read it here.
The Champaign Years (1984-1989)
With Steve and Jim ensconced at U of I (and with Brian and Eric 45 minutes away at ISU), Champaign became the band's new home base. These years were chock-full of great bands of infinitely more talent and charisma: Farm Boys, Last Gentlemen, Nix 86, the Outnumbered, Bowery Boys, Cowboy X, Rise and so many more. Somewhere along the way, the band decides to let Brian practice his rudimentary guitar skills full-time. Not long after, the guys playing guitars and drums realize that a saxophone just wasn't the right fit for jangle pop.
Around 1987 ('88?), Jim and Steve get into an argument over the merits of supply-side economics (or maybe it was who looked better in eyeliner, can't remember) and Jim decides to go his own way (and on to form a series of earnest, tuneful, and much more successful bands). Undaunted, RF recruits a friend-of-a-friend, Esteban Montalban Shaftalabamos, aka Esteban Shaftalabamos. He starts learning the guitar parts about a week before a show at the Cabaret Metro.
Chicago, a sweet home (1989-1994)
In the late '80s, Steve--ever the pioneer--takes up residence in a vacant storefront in the then mega-sketchy 'hood near Ashland, Division and Milwaukee (stabbings! drugs! car burglaries!), which becomes the new RF HQ and epicenter of debauchery. Perhaps owing to post-college ennui--or maybe just because they finally started to learn how to play their instruments--the band's songwriting starts to get, well, actually OK. Or maybe it was because Brian finally decided to trade his half-ass guitar rig (a solid-state Marshall combo run through a blackface Fender Deluxe reverb. What?) for the sweet simplicity of a mid-'80s JCM 800 and a Marshall 4x10 cabinet (hey, it was easier to carry than a 4x12).
Or MAYBE it was because in 1990, after Esteban left to form his own band, RF recruited its most-accomplished musician: Mos, aka Mos is Bos, aka Mosfet, aka "You getting a burger?" Most bands' career arc has a moment when all the integral elements--songwriting, musicianship, drive, attitude, charisma, a decent van--fall into place. This was ours. Steve and Brian wrote the songs. Both wrote lyrics, though Steve's were infinitely better: "If I'm the sole survivor/and you're my only hope/we'll cliff dive with Mohicans/and share a final joke." Brian and Mos wrote the guitar parts--short on virtuosity and technical proficiency but long on heart, honesty and drone strings--and rang them out through dueling Marshall JCM 800s. Steve sounded his round and crisp G&L bass through a '70s Fender Bassman with a 1x15 cabinet that rumbled the floor. Jimmy hit the drums hard, and found the perfect places to downshift to half-time. Oh, and Steve sang backup...
Shows at Cabaret Metro (later just Metro, the pre-eminent venue in Chicago, the midwest and maybe the northern hemisphere), Avalon, Cubby Bear, Batteries Not Included and so many other fine stages (St. Louis, Detroit, Madison, Indianapolis. Kansas City, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Davenport, Muncie, Charleston, Bloomington-Normal, Carbondale, etc.) were a mix of beer, friends, crunchy guitars, optimism and earnestness. If there were ever salad days, these were them.
In late 1990/early 1991, RF went into an up-and-coming recording studio, in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Wicker Park, with an up-and-coming producer. His name was Brad Wood, and he was the nicest, most patient, most discerning, most even-keeled guy we ever knew. Really a good guy. The live room (big room where most of the instruments wee recorded) at his Idful Studios was close to perfect, with a natural echo that made the drums and guitars so big and warm and alive. With Brad's talented ear and with those Marshall amps turned up, wow. The resulting recording was the band's only CD, Pornstar.
Hey, now we're a power trio (1992-1994)
In 1992. Mos announced that he had reached his fun quota and departed the band, bringing with him his early-80s Telecaster, Rat pedal, combat boots, irrepressible joie d'vivre, and propensity for purchasing the Biggie Size combo (at our urging: "It's really the best value, you know")--only to have us eat most of his fries...every time. (Aside: To announce Mos' departure, we faked a press release claiming he was moving to Alaska to become a cargo pilot. Many of his friends called to congratulate him after reading the news in the Chicago Tribune.)
So the three of us remaining thought: Why don't we try being a three-piece? After a few practices, we realize it just might work. The trio took the stage for the first time on a Saturday night at Metro, debuting a bunch of new songs and smiling the whole time.
Au Revoir
In early 1994, Steve breaks the news: "I'm moving to San Francisco." The moment wasn't as sad as one might think. Perhaps that's because the band was in the middle of recording what was intended to be its second CD, featuring some of the strongest material to date from songwriters and musicians who were getting pretty close to being halfway good. Appropriately and obviously, the resulting cassette (yep, cassette) was titled Uncle.
The last RF shows over Memorial Day weekend in 1994 were pretty darn fun and drunken. Saturday night was at Metro, The finale on Sunday was--naturally--at Phyllis' Musical Inn.
The end of an error.
Some random dates
1984 First 45 rpm, "Suburban Wasteland" b/w "Where Were You" released
1986 "Galesburg Bound" b/w "Today" 45 rpm released
1988 Esteban Montalban Shaftalabamos joins band
1990 "Mark David Chapman" LP released
1990 Mos ("Mos is Boss," "You gettin' a burger?") Pisto joins band
1990 Van breaks down in Mexico, MO. We pretend to be REM and the local kids believe us for a few hours.
1991 "Pornstar" CD released. Release party held upstairs at Danny's Tavern. Fun was had.
1993 Stewart Warner factory starts to come down
1993 Mos leaves band to pursue spoken-word career
1994 Last RF show at Phyllis' Musical Inn
2016 Shriveled, middle-aged dudes play reunion show at Phyllis' July 4 celebration in feeble attempt to relive the limited glory of their past. Wives shake heads. Kids smile. Friends shake heads.
Talk about inauspicious debuts. Sometime in 1983, for reasons that are unclear to this day, Steve invited Brian to come over to some guy's suburban basement to sing some classic rock cover songs (Deep Purple, BTO, Joe Walsh). Not too long thereafter, Steve and Jim--who along with Brian knew each other from their involvement with the school radio station, WDGC--decide to form a band. After considering a few names (including Castles in Spain), Steve and Jim settle on RF. A guy named Mike (who Jim knew from working at a mall record store) is the drummer. They invite Brian to sing and Eric to play alto saxophone.
In 1984, the band heads out to Naperville to a small recording studio, Old Plank Studios, helmed by a kind, patient, funny and supportive engineer/producer named Phil Bonnet. RF records its first 45 rpm, "Suburban Wasteland" b/w "Where Were You."
When the then-drummer's dad says he wants his son to get his cut of the band's paltry proceeds (probably around $150 at the time) from gigs at a local roller rink (seriously, we played in the middle of the rink), the band cuts the drummer loose. Steve tells his brother Jimmy to play drums. "OK," says Jimmy.
A few days after Steve, Jim, Eric and Brian's high school graduation, RF, Protagonists and Denied Remarks play a DIY show at Lincoln Center in Downers Grove. Protagonists and Denied Remarks were darn good bands.
The mod scene--Sunday nights that lasted forever (1984-1985)
In 1984-85, a nuevo-Mod scene popped up in Chicago, mostly populated by white suburban kids stoked by the likes of The Specials, The Jam, The Three O'Clock, English Beat, etc. The epicenter of the scene was a club named the West End, situated at the then-vaguely isolated corner of Armitage and Racine. With a tall stage in the corner, good sound, no booze, and a $5 cover for three bands, this was *the* place to be every Sunday night with your skinny tie, fedora, narrow-lapeled sportcoat with the sleeves rolled up, and--if you were super cool--your Vespa or Lambretta. Talented and ahead-of-their-time bands like I Spy, The Slugs, the Edseys and Green were the undisputed kings of the scene. The Chicago Reader's talented music writer J.R. Jones wrote a great remembrance about 10 years ago: read it here.
The Champaign Years (1984-1989)
With Steve and Jim ensconced at U of I (and with Brian and Eric 45 minutes away at ISU), Champaign became the band's new home base. These years were chock-full of great bands of infinitely more talent and charisma: Farm Boys, Last Gentlemen, Nix 86, the Outnumbered, Bowery Boys, Cowboy X, Rise and so many more. Somewhere along the way, the band decides to let Brian practice his rudimentary guitar skills full-time. Not long after, the guys playing guitars and drums realize that a saxophone just wasn't the right fit for jangle pop.
Around 1987 ('88?), Jim and Steve get into an argument over the merits of supply-side economics (or maybe it was who looked better in eyeliner, can't remember) and Jim decides to go his own way (and on to form a series of earnest, tuneful, and much more successful bands). Undaunted, RF recruits a friend-of-a-friend, Esteban Montalban Shaftalabamos, aka Esteban Shaftalabamos. He starts learning the guitar parts about a week before a show at the Cabaret Metro.
Chicago, a sweet home (1989-1994)
In the late '80s, Steve--ever the pioneer--takes up residence in a vacant storefront in the then mega-sketchy 'hood near Ashland, Division and Milwaukee (stabbings! drugs! car burglaries!), which becomes the new RF HQ and epicenter of debauchery. Perhaps owing to post-college ennui--or maybe just because they finally started to learn how to play their instruments--the band's songwriting starts to get, well, actually OK. Or maybe it was because Brian finally decided to trade his half-ass guitar rig (a solid-state Marshall combo run through a blackface Fender Deluxe reverb. What?) for the sweet simplicity of a mid-'80s JCM 800 and a Marshall 4x10 cabinet (hey, it was easier to carry than a 4x12).
Or MAYBE it was because in 1990, after Esteban left to form his own band, RF recruited its most-accomplished musician: Mos, aka Mos is Bos, aka Mosfet, aka "You getting a burger?" Most bands' career arc has a moment when all the integral elements--songwriting, musicianship, drive, attitude, charisma, a decent van--fall into place. This was ours. Steve and Brian wrote the songs. Both wrote lyrics, though Steve's were infinitely better: "If I'm the sole survivor/and you're my only hope/we'll cliff dive with Mohicans/and share a final joke." Brian and Mos wrote the guitar parts--short on virtuosity and technical proficiency but long on heart, honesty and drone strings--and rang them out through dueling Marshall JCM 800s. Steve sounded his round and crisp G&L bass through a '70s Fender Bassman with a 1x15 cabinet that rumbled the floor. Jimmy hit the drums hard, and found the perfect places to downshift to half-time. Oh, and Steve sang backup...
Shows at Cabaret Metro (later just Metro, the pre-eminent venue in Chicago, the midwest and maybe the northern hemisphere), Avalon, Cubby Bear, Batteries Not Included and so many other fine stages (St. Louis, Detroit, Madison, Indianapolis. Kansas City, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Davenport, Muncie, Charleston, Bloomington-Normal, Carbondale, etc.) were a mix of beer, friends, crunchy guitars, optimism and earnestness. If there were ever salad days, these were them.
In late 1990/early 1991, RF went into an up-and-coming recording studio, in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Wicker Park, with an up-and-coming producer. His name was Brad Wood, and he was the nicest, most patient, most discerning, most even-keeled guy we ever knew. Really a good guy. The live room (big room where most of the instruments wee recorded) at his Idful Studios was close to perfect, with a natural echo that made the drums and guitars so big and warm and alive. With Brad's talented ear and with those Marshall amps turned up, wow. The resulting recording was the band's only CD, Pornstar.
Hey, now we're a power trio (1992-1994)
In 1992. Mos announced that he had reached his fun quota and departed the band, bringing with him his early-80s Telecaster, Rat pedal, combat boots, irrepressible joie d'vivre, and propensity for purchasing the Biggie Size combo (at our urging: "It's really the best value, you know")--only to have us eat most of his fries...every time. (Aside: To announce Mos' departure, we faked a press release claiming he was moving to Alaska to become a cargo pilot. Many of his friends called to congratulate him after reading the news in the Chicago Tribune.)
So the three of us remaining thought: Why don't we try being a three-piece? After a few practices, we realize it just might work. The trio took the stage for the first time on a Saturday night at Metro, debuting a bunch of new songs and smiling the whole time.
Au Revoir
In early 1994, Steve breaks the news: "I'm moving to San Francisco." The moment wasn't as sad as one might think. Perhaps that's because the band was in the middle of recording what was intended to be its second CD, featuring some of the strongest material to date from songwriters and musicians who were getting pretty close to being halfway good. Appropriately and obviously, the resulting cassette (yep, cassette) was titled Uncle.
The last RF shows over Memorial Day weekend in 1994 were pretty darn fun and drunken. Saturday night was at Metro, The finale on Sunday was--naturally--at Phyllis' Musical Inn.
The end of an error.
Some random dates
1984 First 45 rpm, "Suburban Wasteland" b/w "Where Were You" released
1986 "Galesburg Bound" b/w "Today" 45 rpm released
1988 Esteban Montalban Shaftalabamos joins band
1990 "Mark David Chapman" LP released
1990 Mos ("Mos is Boss," "You gettin' a burger?") Pisto joins band
1990 Van breaks down in Mexico, MO. We pretend to be REM and the local kids believe us for a few hours.
1991 "Pornstar" CD released. Release party held upstairs at Danny's Tavern. Fun was had.
1993 Stewart Warner factory starts to come down
1993 Mos leaves band to pursue spoken-word career
1994 Last RF show at Phyllis' Musical Inn
2016 Shriveled, middle-aged dudes play reunion show at Phyllis' July 4 celebration in feeble attempt to relive the limited glory of their past. Wives shake heads. Kids smile. Friends shake heads.