If You Wanted It Tight ...
You know the rest, or you shouldn’t be here. Looks like the Crotch may rise again. Lil history, the band started in July of 1998 on a whim. Alison was a party sitting between Liz and Hannah (SMRC’s first singer) and asked if they wanted to be in a band. Alison had been playing guitar for a whopping week or so and felt ready to take the next step … Crazy bitches agreed and the rest is history. Liz’s husband at the time, Tim, was a bass player so she took on that role (I know, she learned from a man, Kathleen Hannah would just die). Dave Banaka was then recruited as the drummer. He was really good which totally covered the rest of the bands complete ineptitude. Hannah had sung for her church choir some years back so she did come with some experience.
The band, knowing they weren’t going to immediately win over the crowd with their mad musical skills decided to go the route of “gimmick”, if you will. Everyone dressed in Catholic girls’ school skirts and the sets were filled with such ditties as “Smell My Finger” and “I Don’t Love ‘Em (I just fuck ‘em). The crowd took notice, and in time the musicianship improved.
Hannah ran off and got married around the same time Dave left the band. Jessie replaced Hannah and Amy replaced Dave on drums. This was short lived however, and eventually rather than replacing a singer the band opted to replace the bass player and put Liz up front. Holy shit. Who knew that a beast would be unleashed? There’s great video somewhere of Liz’s first time fronting the band and her attempts to hide behind the mic stand. The stand was literally wrenched from her hands leaving her vulnerable. You can almost see “fuck it” in her expression and she just let loose. She’s been called the female Henry Rollins and has left more than one man in near tears, standing in a puddle of his own piss. It’s a good thing.
So, with bass open, the band took on a young Brent. The band quickly renamed him Tammy and put him in a skirt. There are also unconfirmed rumors of hazing rituals that can’t be discussed … And so the band went merrily along. Until Tammy found other endeavors and moved on. Jon, quickly renamed “Fargo” after attempting to grow a beard, came in on bass. He had the tiniest hands that were fast as all fuck. Seriously, the cutest bass player ever.
After a while Amy left as well and was replaced by yet another Jon. The band played for years with this configuration finally giving up the ghost after close to 8 years. Not a bad run for a gimmick band. Oh shit, and Woodsy was in there too on second guitar sometime during the Fargo days. And Aaron was on bass for a bit too, can’t place when, and Mick too, for a show or two. Man, too many bass players! And Chas was on drums for a bit. Timmy even filled in on bass for a show or two.
Which brings us to now. The band has had a few “reunion” shows. Always with the lineup of Liz, Alison, Amy and Tammy. The last reunion was in 2008 and the next scheduled for October 2013. And after that reunion we just kept going …
Amy | Alison | Liz | Tammy – Is that an old picture? You bet your ass it is.
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