DIRTY MARQUEE - Tape - 2011

 
   DIRTY MARQUEE was a band that I played drums for from 2009-2011 in San Francisco. You can read about how we started here, but this is more about how we ended. We recorded the basic tracks for this tape in our practice space just before I moved to Chattanooga for three months. I feel like I might have recorded the drums for this just a day or two before I left town and did most of it in a couple of takes. When I returned, Tony and Gaybob were still toying around with layers of guitars and vocal harmonies at their house in the Mission. By this point, we had put out a 7" EP and were beginning to plan a US tour, even though Gaybob was soon moving to NYC and Jeanette couldn't afford to go on the tour. I decided to fly in my best friend, Cinque to play bass for the tour and he learned all the songs like a champ within a week.

   The tour ended up being kind of a shit show, but it had its fine moments...like camping in the Organ Mountains outside of Las Cruces, playing in Chattanooga, getting to see THIS IS MY FIST and meeting my good friend Legs for the first time even though I was terribly, terribly hung over. For the most part though, tensions were high and we all were not in the best places in our lives. The band broke up by the time we got back to the Bay Area. We actually played our last show in Portland.
   Still, I like how these songs turned out. I like how the tape seems like a tug of war between Tony's desire to write slicker pop oriented songs and Gaybob's desire to...uh, not do that. The tape culminates in my favorite song that we ever did, "Death To America", which I feel like is close to what we would have been doing if our band continued any longer. Enjoy or don't.

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Live in San Diego. Cinque on bass and our old bass player Jeanette on back up vocals.

Gaybob now plays in EXTRA FEELER. Tony plays in 17 REASONS (I don't think they're on the internet). Jeanette plays in NASTY CHRISTMAS. Cinque is in RATS REST. I don't play music.