Dare to Be Clutch

The cat is out of the bag! Get ready now, cuz Wilmington's Endless Mike Jambox has reformed, be it briefly to record a new and most likely final album! The Jambox started in 2002 as a conglomeration of the two Madison Bands of that era. Signal/Static was Billy Frolic (Science for Kids), mc Ben, Paddy Robinson, and Matty Volk (all three Decade of Error), and Mike Garcia (Excite Bike). And Power of IV was Dan Robinson and Brendan Huffman (Ninja Attak), Dan Lyons (Excite Bike) and Sean Rule (Plow United). Well, Garcia moved back to Strong Island to become a CPA (and form Hello Nurse) and Sean moved to the American Northwest to raise a family (and form Hands on Throat), and Endless Mike Jambox formed out of the wreckage, minus Paddy (who was playing with Chitty from Houston Calls) and Lyons (who may have been in Marlon Spike, I'm not posi.)

The Jambox began to garner minor attention in the Wilmington/Newark area when founding member Brendan "Huffer" Huffman followed his heart all the way down to Ecuador, South America. After a killer last show upstairs at Peace-A-Pizza and a crazy going away party that night (at which I scored big time, BTW), we were lucky enough to get Paddy to join on bass, thus solidifying what would be known as the greatest Jambox line-up. We got sick good and recorded our first LP "Another Hot Freshy-Freshy" (named by Huffer), but everyone's personal schedule kept us from touring or promoting it properly. Now, I was what they call a "hot mess" around this time due to drugs and alcohol abuse, and though I was well beloved by degenerates everywhere, my behavior wasn't conducive to keeping a band together, and after a less than classy appearence at a party at Matty's apartment, he decided to leave the band after one last show, the 2005 Punk Rock Prom at North Street, featuring Tit Patrol's first show! We killed it that night, but that was it for Matty.

We began the search for someone to fill Matt's huge shoes, and we were lucky enough to get Jean Paul Pfizer to join the band and we went on for awhile, but it just wasn't the same... while Matt had some right wing thoughts that didn't exactly jive with everything we did, he could play better than anybody, and we had a lot of history. J.P. was trying to become a cop and that rubbed everybody the wrong way, along with weirdly overprotective parents that somehow wouldn't let their 21 year old son play out of state. When Paddy decided to move to San Diego we briefly considered replacing him, but decided it would further water down what we were doing, so we hung it up and I formed the Headies with Billy Frolic and Toddy from Tit Patrol, eventually adding mc Ben and Wild Bill Kate (from Explosive Kate and the Saturday Night Kids).

When the Jambox broke up, Frolic and I had an entire album written that didn't exactly jive with the minimalist rock and roll we wanted to do in the Headies, so the songs went on the shelf, sadly. I always hate not recording. It is one of my only regrets with Ninja Attak that we only recorded 11 of our over fifty songs.

Anyway, a couple years passed and Paddy came home to the East Coast and any silly animosity between me and Matt completely dissipated. We all started talking and decided we need to record the last album, tentatively titled "Dare to Be Clutch." We rehearse Tuesday nights at the Spot on Market Street and hope to record this Winter or Spring. It is unbelievably awesome to be working with the Jambox rhythm section again, and I am very thankful that we're all friends! Look for "Dare to Be Clutch" next Spring on Madison Underground Records!!

"Dare to Be Clutch"

1. Kim Kelly is My Friend (Robinson)
2. Channeling Dead Punks (Frolic)
3. Jessica 420 (Robinson)
4. Spazzapality (Frolic)
5. Ready 2 Played (Frolic)
6. Secret History of Rhythm and Blues (Robinson)
7. Newark, Newark (the Dictators)
8. Jambox v. the Anti-Pirates (Frolic)
9. Starry-Eyed Virginian (Robinson)
10. Shugga Cookiez (Frolic)
11. Emily Elevatrix (Robinson)
12. Be the Hawk (Frolic)
13. Freedom or Security? (Plow United)

And maybe a couple Easter Eggs.