Troop 47
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Troop 47 is an American contemporary rock band, predominantly known for its wild stage antics, catchy pop rock, lengthy jams, and a penchant for substance abuse, which led to popularity with the college-rock scene from 1999-2005.
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[edit] Band history
The band was initially formed in 1998 on Long Island, New York by vocalist Frank Gabriel and guitarist/singer/songwriter Erik McCormack, who had developed a friendship as working actors in New York City. While McCormack was busy with a production of 1776 on Broadway, Gabriel rounded up the members that would make up the initial incarnation of Troop 47. These were: Bob-E Tis, an accomplished drummer and audio engineer and Steven R. Lucas, the former baritone saxophone player in the short-lived punk/ska band, Skandanavia. For the new project, Lucas put down his saxophone and picked up the bass guitar. Once McCormack came back from his run on Broadway, the four started writing songs that would go on to be fan favorites for the life of the band, namely, "Jesus Stole My Weed", "Wash Your Feet", "Warm-Up" (which would later morph into "Adam's Lament,") and "Alright."
In September 1998, the band recorded their first demos at Look Studios in New York City in one night, under the watchful eye of producer Dave Patillo. Joining the band that night was Jeffrey Tascarella, an old friend of Tis', who was going to be playing keyboards for the band, initially only on this one session. The relationship eventually grew into a lasting one. While the band was still in the process of looking for a "lead" guitarist, Steve Lucas played both guitar and bass on these demos.
Eventually, the band found guitarist Mark Wise, a music theorist who had scored near-perfect on his SAT's and was in the process of throwing away scholarships and a promising future to play with Troop. Happy with their demo, the band began playing in New York City and Long Island and quickly developed a large following amongst the college crowd. The shows became known as hedonistic free-for-alls, with the band openly advocating illicit drugs and sex. Lead singer Gabriel was being compared in the media to other great rock and roll frontmen such as Mike Patton, Perry Farrell, and Jim Morrison. Aside from Gabriel's bizarre vocals and convulsions, the band was also becoming known for its extended and intricate jams, and in addition to the college party scene (and legions of young girls known as troopies), they also began to attract a Phish or Grateful Dead-like audience who were taping and trading the live shows.
In August 1999, Troop 47 recorded their first album Rivington at New York Hed Studios in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Behind the boards was Matt Verta-Ray of Madder Rose and Speedball Baby. Recorded and mixed in only 7 days, the album was somewhat dashed together, and the lack of a budget and experience resulted in a mediocre effort that did not capture the band's early energy. The album was saved, in a way, through the mixing talents of Joe Blaney, who had worked with Blues Traveler and The Clash.
Disappointed and disillusioned with the direction of the band, McCormack he announced he would be leaving for a career in acting. After a brief stint with replacement Mark DiCarlo from the group Fuzzbubble, the band settled on former fan and friend Dan Raimondi. Tensions were also running a bit high with Wise, with the rest of the band questioning his level of commitment. He was asked to leave the band and replaced by another former fan, Chad Goodstein.
With a new lineup in place and with quite a different sound, in August 2001 the band traveled to Argyle, New York to record their second album, Monsters and Marbles with producer Ted Marotta of the Ominous Seapods and The Lo Faber Band. Spending the summer living in the middle of the woods seemed to have influenced the band greatly; the resultant album was organic and mellow, reminiscent of Tom Petty or early Wilco, with much more of an emphasis on shorter compositions and less on experimentation. However, with the state of the declining music industry, record executives questioned the release, wondering what the potential "hit" was. When industry persona questioned Bob-E who the intended "audience" would be for the record, he smugly replied: "Human beings." In addition, the band returned home just in time for the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
The band continued to play and build their following, when in April 2002, they were approached by Vh1 to be the subject of a new reality show, "Undiscovered Genius." The show was to follow the band for a year through their performances and private lives, and at the show's conclusion, present the band with a record deal. Troop 47 put all other projects on hold and filmed "Undiscovered Genius", only to see the show cancelled before it even aired.
During this downtime, Gabriel and Tascarella formed the comedy side-project "The Children's Skeleton Workshop", along with singer/songwriter Paul Wenzel. Their live shows met with great acclaim but they never recorded an album, choosing to instead focus solely on Troop.
The band decided that as a last hurrah, they would work with Jim Sabella, who saw success with Public Enemy and Marcy Playground, to record what would be their final album, Remains of the Radio. With Bob-E and Jeff taking over production duties on the record, the band put out a slick, rocking album of 12 pop-rock tunes. It would be the fans' favorite of the releases, but still was unable to solidify a recording contract for the group.
The band began to peel away one member at a time. Dan Raimondi left for personal reasons and was briefly replaced by the original member, McCormack. Jeff Tascarella left the band citing creative differences and exhaustion. After personal issues within the remaining members reached a boiling point, they called it quits in August 2005.
[edit] Aftermath
In October 2005, Goodstein, Lucas, and Gabriel joined up with drummer Steve Greco to form a new group called The Restaurant
In Late 2005, Bob-E Tis hit the road as a sound engineer with the Derek Trucks Band.
In early 2006, Erik McCormack formed the novelty band, "The Craptasticks" which is basically just himself and sometimes Steve Lucas.
Dan Raimondi and Jeff Tascarella have since quit creating music, however Jeff has become an accomplished accordianist in his spare time.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
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- Rivington - (January, 2000)
Tracks: E.W.A.K - Stick - Daybreak - Little Jones - Beth - A Song - Cover - China White - Anne-Marie - Smoke
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- Monsters and Marbles - (February, 2002)
Tracks: Sandals - Beautiful - Song For Kathy - Good - Remember? - Brighton St. (Celebrate) - Monsters & Marbles - Sincerely Yours - Broken - Adam's Lament - Root Round - Better This Way - I.L.O.V.E.U. (Unlisted)
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- Remains of the Radio - (March, 2004)
Tracks: Wish You Were Me - From Under You - Remains Of The Radio - Fuzzy - Wonderful Insane - Bandstand - Girl From NYC - Long, Long Saturday - Flight Of Ideas - Driver - White Label
[edit] Demos
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- "Look Studios Sessions" - (September, 1998)
Tracks: Missing You (Original Version), Beth (Original Version), Alright, Warm Up
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- "Five Towns Sessions" - August, 2000
Tracks: Missing You (Version 2), Last Battle, Constellations
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- "Sabella Demo Sessions" - September, 2002
Track: Believe
[edit] Short Film
- "Frank Gabriel And The Strange Relationship With Christopher Walken" dir. by Lawrence Baglio, 2004
[edit] Trivia
- The band name's "47" has a different meaning depending on who you ask in the band. It has been said to be a reference to a pager code used to buy marijuana and also as simply "the most random number in the world." It has also been noted that the 47th chromosome causes Down's Syndrome.
- At their live shows, the band would usually play hour-long encores made of cover songs that had never been rehearsed and other gimmicks such as switching instruments (the Chinese Fire Drill) and having the audience join them on stage.
- On the CD for "Monsters and Marbles", there are 34 blank tracks between track 13 and track 47, where the novelty song "I L-O-V-E-U" sits.
- Frank and Jeff wrote the crowd favorite "Penisbutter and Vajelly" in under five minutes, and only to get a rise out of Jeff's mother, whom they were having a dinner with. They were seeing if they could write a song in which they could (somewhat) intelligently tie together the themes of sex, drugs, and the film "Back To The Future".
- In the song "Remember?" from Monsters and Marbles, a loud "Shush!" is heard after the lyric "Boyfriend punched me in the face". This is an imitation of Michael DeLuise's catch-phrase as the bad guy in the film "Encino Man."
- One year, the band was mistakenly booked for the Annual National Scout jamboree Jamboree due to confusion with their name.[citation needed]
- At one of their earliest gigs they were threatened with being beaten and withheld pay because Steve-O was shoeless.
- In the final moments of "Smoke" on the Rivington album, the band stood around a microphone babbling nonsense waiting for the tape to run out. As luck or synchronicity would have it, Jeff muttered "That's it" right as the tape slipped off the reel, closing the album.
- The "playing until the tape runs out" motif continued on Remains of the Radio, in the outro of "Bandstand".
- Long time band manager Chris Celauro was himself in band called Track One A.B. that had an album out through BMG.
