MUMPSEANDGER - OR THREE BANDS IN A VAN
Well, it had to happen sooner or later.
Picture if you will: almost every music act in Orlando has members from other groups, or people that stand out in said groups end up forming solo acts and taking 2, 3, even 4 years to write, release and eventually perform their Grande Opus - the one solo album that will carry them out of the liner notes and into the local stratosphere. This is not to say anything against those who are in several bands, those who have solo projects, or even those who spent hour after painstaking hour perfecting each composition and recording. **(insert tangent here, see footnote)**
One such event has hit the Twilight Zone this year - I have just named it MUMPSEANDGER - like the Frankenstein monster, it doesn’t have a “The” or a last name, it is just known by its spooky moniker. I made a video about this three-headed monster for Orlando Scene TV a few weeks ago before I got so busy I couldn’t see. Really, the video exists to help Relay for Life, but if you learn about some cool local bands while you are clicking ads for cancer, I think we all win.
Here’s the short version: Jeff has Mumpsy, which has Matt; Matt has Dodger, which has Sean, Jeff, and Conrad; Sean has a solo project, which has Matt, Conrad and Jeff. If you also include various and sundry other people, apparently they can all fit in a 15-passenger van and tour the countryside like a big happy family. I think I might end up needing a chart when we’re through.
In the middle of May through early June, Dodger, Mumpsy and Sean Moore will be gracing stages with a special 75-minute set - I guess they will leave the keyboards, drums and equipment set up and do a little dance between pieces. I am honestly wondering if a new Swomee Swans or something like it will end up coming out of this, or if they’ll own up to it and admit that Post*Records is pretty much one big band with different frontmen. It’s also a boys club - where is the local fem-power record label? Step up to the gender-neutral plate, Orlando!
**(begin tangent, footnoted for clarity)**I myself am a perfectionist - but unlike the recording industry, my performance space is also my publishing space and my rehearsal space - so you get to watch all three take place at once - this blog started out like that - a couple of weak releases, followed by some misdirected musings. Now I have a good idea of what I can do here, but I don’t have the time or the resources. Really, I am hoping to find some people willing to write about local music - the stuff that starts here and the stuff that blows through town. if you end up taking recordings or video, all the better and much encouraged - I’ll even do some of the editing if you need me to.
At the request of a friend, here are the as-of-yet unmentioned tour dates:
- May 17 2007 9:00P
Raglands Jacksonville, Florida - May 18 2007 9:00P
TBA Charleston, South Carolina - May 19 2007 9:00P
Soapbox Laundrolounge Wilmington, North Carolina - May 20 2007 8:00P
A Private Island TBA Orlando, Delaware - May 21 2007 9:00P
DC 9 w/ A Papier Mache Monster & Bees and The Birds District O Columbia, Washington - May 22 2007 9:00P
The M Room w/ The Codes Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - May 24 2007 9:00P
The Knitting Factory w/ Unicornicopia and The Codes NYC, New York - May 27 2007 9:00P
The Wonderland Ballroom w/ Micheal Jantz District O Columbia, Washington DC - May 28 2007 8:00P
Tasty World Athens, Georgia - May 29 2007 8:00P
TBA Jacksonville, Florida - May 30 2007 8:00P
TBA Tallahassee, Florida - May 31 2007 8:00P
TBA Gainesville, Florida - Jun 1 2007 8:00P
TBA Tampa, Florida - Jun 2 2007 9:00P
Tour Return Show @ Orlando Science Center Orlando, Florida