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Flagpole Magazine
October 16, 1991
Every ShingEe Time
They warned me they were coming. I had little time to
prepare. I steadied my nerves with a jolt of scotch, gath
ered my wits and waited for them to arrive. After all, it could
be worse. I knew I didn't have to deal with John their bassist.
They liked to call him"'Pit-Bull m Crain. He was a vicious little
bastard who had taken out many s good journalist far more
experienced than I. But, he was out of town. Nothing forme
to be concerned about... this time. No, I only had to worry
about their sociopathic guitarist, Daniel The Undertaker'
Pruitt and the band's evil mastermind/drummer Ballard
"Nosferatu" Lesemann. They would be enough trouble by
themselves. So, I waited Yeah, I was scared. Who wouldn't
be? With two-thirds of the infamous
Roosevelt descending on my location
at any moment, with malice in their
hearts, I knew my chances were slim. I
had to stay on my toes and strike the first
blow. — Keep them off balance until I
could escape. Suddenly, they were
there...two hulking silhouettes, sham
bling through the doorway. I went into
action.
Flagpole: So, why are you guys wear
ing the pirate costumes?[I immediately
saw / had confused the brutes and
therefore thwarted their initial plan of
attack ]
Ballard: Uh, the costume thing hasn't
come into play yet. For one thing, we’re
too broke to buy them. Another thing, it's
really hard designing Bud-man suits for
ourselves — it's been on the burner for
a year
FP: You're talking about the really big,
muscle man Bud-man suits?
BL: No, no, just real skin tight,wimp-
looking, Bud-man suits with a little extra pouch for the belly.
Daniel: You know, you gotta have something.
BL: I was thinking, either a Bud-man suit or one of those ice
skating, speed racer kinda things — like a Bud-man suit,
but it doesn’t have the Bud stuff on it.
DP: As long as we get to wear tights...
8L: It would either have to be costumes or play a gig where
we’re all wearing roller skates and playing hacky-sack. It’d
be really hard...
FP: It'd be hell on your drum kit.
BL: It’d be terrible...it’d would have to be more than a
gimmick, it'd have to be something really...incarnate.
Something really solid, [having] to do with our characters.
FP: No KISS make-up.
BL: No KISS make-up. It would have to be something that
the kids could identify with.
FP: That's who it's all for, the kids, right?
BL: Yeah, it is for the kids. — The show must go on...
FP: All right ...Well, I was talking to, I guess your publicist,
Michele Roche and she told me that you guys were sup
posed to get some upcoming press in the Alternative Press
and CMJ and some other magazines.
BL: Yeah, she’s helped get some out to the big wigs in the
press...she knows the people, so if the the package has her
logo on it I think they'll be more apt to listen to it than
something with just my handwriting on it. But, I was
surprised — I think a week after we sent some of those
things out we got some good response. But we haven't
read anything yet, so it remains to be seen.
FP: How do you know Michele?
BL: She and Fiona Bloom used to work together. Fiona saw
us here about a year ago and liked us, and started helping
us get some gigs in Atlanta. They didn’t pay much, but it
helped to get some exposure. They’re both some of the
nicer things about Atlanta. Atlanta is weird.
FP: Where have you guys played in Atlanta?
BL: The Point and the Masquerade in Purgatory. Our first
gig ever out-of-town was at the Wreck Room—that was
terrible.
DP: The only people who weren’t our friends were playing
pool, way off in the back.
BL: It was one of those things. It wasn’t even worth playing.
FP: What about your record, Shingle?
BL: It’s still around. There are plenty to be had.
FP: Sold many?
BL: We’ve sold a number of them. We've found out that
tapes sell about three times as fast as records.
FP: Have you sent the LP's out to any college radio
stations?
BL: Yeah, about fifty of ’em. Rockpoolis going to take about
seventy-five. It’s more of a national thing. And about sixty of
’em are going to Europe right now. Community Three is
sending those over.
FP: Do you guys play out of town
much, like in North Carolina or Flor
ida?
BL: We've taken a few out of town
trips, but we’ve never played out of
the south. They always tend to work
out kindazig-zaggy. Wedid one thing
where we played Roanoke, VA and
the next day we had to play
Gainesville, FL, but then we played
Orlando, Tallahassee, Pensacola And
then we had to go all the way back up
toAshville, NC, then back to Athens
FP: Tell me a road story.
BL: We played a gig with Hillbilly
Frankenstein in Pensacola and it was
so hot. — The drummer for Hillbilly
had to fly down from Atlanta in his
business suit, and when he got into
his stage clothes he had to wear his
business socks ’cause he didn't have
any others You know, these big long,
thick silk socks 9 Anyway, after the
gig he came back stage like, “God.
it’s so HOT!" And he took off his socks and folded them
over, and started ringing them out in front of me. It’s like all
this brown sock juice you know? And I’m about passed out
drunk anyway, [much grimacing at this point] Stuff like that
make road trips worth it, definitely...
While Ballard was wrapped up in the description of the
hideous details of his road trip parable, I quietly slipped out
the back way, safe to report again ...at least for a while
Those of you who feel eager to witness Roosevelt’s unpre
tentious rock n' roll first hand, be sure to stake your claim
early down at Hoyt St. Station, this Saturday, October 19
There is really no reason for you to be afraid
Stephen Crawford
Costumes
OtUer StuFF
ChEck It Out!
Cetxic (Duseum Krz pieces
0~)cuAc jVorn 1risV>
Limestone & Bronze
Uf\dER tHe Snow LtopARd
CoIlKjr So. / Downiown / 545-7 5 92
ass
GVRO
CORflP
Cafe
CUSTOM
MADE
PITA
BREAD
SANDWICHES
SINCE
1974
Sandwiches,
Platters, Salads,
Beer & Wine, etc.
On the downtown busline
Take Out Available
ACROSS FROM THE UGA ARCH
545-9071 ♦ E. Broad St.
iiii^ijiiQQSSISSSSSSISSSS&SSSSSSSZ^ 1 ^^^^
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