| The Specs | |
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Clockwise from left: band members Sara Kovanda, Rick Morris, Matthew Sweet, Don Holmquist, David Snider |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Lincoln, Nebraska, USA |
| Genres | Pop New Wave Cover band |
| Years active | 1978–1980 |
| Associated acts | The Click Hymn to Joy The Dial Tones For Against |
The Specs was a New Wave cover band from Lincoln, Nebraska, featuring a teenage Matthew Sweet, that played together from 1978–1980.
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Sweet grew up in Lincoln in a musical family, and as a child he learned to play multiple instruments; by his early teens he was already a very proficient bass player, having practiced the complicated bass lines of Yes records for hours every day.[1][2] When he was in the eighth or ninth grade, he met some of the Specs' other band members, who were all college students, at a music store.[1][2] The band had previously been called Spectrum and had been covering Top 40 songs.[2] As the Specs, they started performing more New Wave and 1960s music, by bands such as the Jam, the Vibrators, the Yardbirds and the Who.
Another band sharing the name "The Specs" has been touring the southeast since 2003. Band members, Eric Galloway, Steve Tirozzi, Shawn Krauss, and Brett Nash, make up this original rock outfit. The Specs have played with such bands as, Spoon, The Walkmen, Band of Horses, and The Hold Steady.[2]
| "Look Out Girl (You Need a Direction)" | |||||||||
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"Look Out Girl (You Need a Direction)" cover |
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| Song by The Specs from the album The KFMQ Homegrown Album | |||||||||
| Released | 1980 | ||||||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||||||
| Length | 3:32 | ||||||||
| Writer | Matthew Sweet | ||||||||
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The band's members were as follows:[3]
The Specs broke up in 1980.[3] Rick Morris and Sara Kovanda went on to join the Click,[3] and which became a popular, influential New Wave band in the Lincoln music scene.[4][5] Kovanda now works as a painter in Lincoln.[6] Jeff Runnings became a member of Hymn to Joy;[7][8] since 1984 he has been in For Against.[8] In 1983, Sweet left Lincoln to be part of the Athens, Georgia music scene and became a member of Oh-OK, Community Trolls and the Buzz of Delight,[1][2] before going on to have a successful solo career.
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