Section B - Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, September 26, 1997
"NO COUPON SPECIALS" EVERYDAY
Bubble Boys play better bitter music
A man is hanging out of a tall building and giving people below the bird.
By Tom Winter Kansan staff writer
This is the cover of the Bubble Boys' album, "Bitter is Better," which was released in December.
Dan Cook, bassist for the band,
calls the music "spunk rock."
"The songs are all a bunch of silly love songs with a cynical, spiteful edge." Cook said.
Brian Gee, vocalist and guitarist, said the songs had an emotional perspective.
"They are all very bitter songs because love hurts," he said sarcastically.
The band has been playing for about five years in, around and away from Lawrence.
Cook and Gee, high school friends from Lawrence, started the band in 1992 with their old drummer whom they nicknamed "Bread Crumb."
The breakup occurred two years after they began playing. Luckily, Chris Bulgren, former Danger Bob drummer, recently had returned from an eight month excursion to New York and Spain. Bulgren also knew Cook and Gee from time spent together when they all lived in Hashinger Hall.
"We didn't get along with him too well," Gee said. "He quit on Valentine's Day."
Because Bulgen played with Danger Bob at venues with the Bubble Boys, he was an easy fit into the Lawrence punk band.
"We tried out like four people," Gee said. "We humored them because we knew Chris was going to be our drummer."
"Our songs got better because Chris could keep time," Cook said, still making stinging comments about the old drummer.
Bulgren fit into their scheme of dastardly destruction and immediately began playing with the group.
Their favorite place to play their spunky music is the Replay Lounge, although they play more often at the Bottleneck.
Their first show was at The Crossing when it featured local music.
"It was a great venue," Gee said. "There were ten people, capacity was fourteen."
However, The Crossing wasn't the most spacious location for a band to play.
The Bubble Boys./ contributed photo
The problem with getting crowds is not just something the Bubble Boys had to deal with in their first gig. It's a recurring situation.
"Getting people out to any show has been a problem lately." Cook said.
Oftentimes, this situation leads the Bubble Boys to push their limits.
"We get kicked out of bars a lot," Gee said. "Or, I should say, forcibly escorted out of bars."
"We let the bitterness swell up," Gee said. "So by the time we get on stage, we lash out at the crowd—all fifteen of them."
Sometimes their mouths can get them into trouble.
Once they were thrown out of a bar after they got done playing.
The bar was the Safari Club in Des Moines, Iowa.
Cook put the blame on Gee.
"We were booted out again because of Brian's sham tonnage," he said.
One of the problems was that the bar owners had not promoted the show.
"There were no fliers, no ads or anything." Bulgern said.
Playing to small crowds, they usually get just enough money to pay for their expenses.
Still, they play their songs, songs like "Lightning Boy," the story of Cook getting hit by lightning (true) and becoming a superhero (slightly exaggerated).
They are playing an all-ages show on October 4 at Gee Coffee, 7141 Quiv.
As for the future of The Bubble Boys, they have several upcoming shows.
era Road, Olathe, with fellow Lawrence punk bands Deraliller and Free Verse and Manhattan's Jiffy Boy.
After that, they will play the Grand Emporium, 3832 Main St., in Westport on October 6. Students with KUIDs will get in free.
"We plan to play together, at least until the end of the month," Cook said. "We'll play in October; after that, we'll call it quits," he said laughing.
This weekend, the Bubble Boys will be playing in St. Louis at a festival which is very similar to "South by Southwest," the Texas music festival.
The bar where they will be playing is another one from which they've been forcibly escorted to the door.
T-Shirt band coming to Lawrence to perform in October
Continued from page 5B
T-Shirt cut an album a year ago members hope will be released before Christmas.
"We've been dubbed the smart pop/rock band," Seiler said. "We just like to rock. It's not like we're trying to do anything hypercerebral."
The band's next Lawrence show is Oct. 10 at the Bottleneck. They will be playing with The Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control.
T-Shirt opened for an REM cover band.
"We tend to have our best shows and crowds on the East Coast," Seiler said. "But we're not disdainful of the crowds in Lawrence."
Although its best shows happen on the East Coast, one of the band's worst experiences was in Wilmington, Del.
1-Shirt opened for an REM cover band. "All of the guys in the band's frat came out," Seiler said.
The headliners that night were a Hootie and the Blowfish replica band, even down to the golfshirt wearing African-American lead singer.
"The whole affair had the aspect of a talent show," he said.
"We played fine, but it wasn't our crowd," Elliott said.
What is their type of crowd?
"People who like the same records we do," Burke said.
Some of the musicians they enjoy listening: Eric Dolphy, The Beatles, and The Minute Men. But the band's unanimous favorite is Yo La Tengo.
Seiler believed differently about their crowds. "I think it's people who all wear the same kind of pants," he said.
Burkerecanted.
"Yeah, we're definitely a pants band," he said. At the shows, the band tries to concentrate on its music.
"We focus on playing the songs, but there's always banter," Seiler said.