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Trying to remember how Shirtless
Biddles began is a little like trying to recall the first time
you dressed yourself without any helpÉyou know it definitely happened,
but it was so long ago that the details are a little unclear.
The best I can recollect, the sparks that turned into the fire
that gave life to the Biddles began flying about three quarters
of the way through 1992 when Randall and I (by the way, my name
is Brad) met in our freshman year home-room class at Beech Grove
High School.
There was really no point
to the class. The fine administrators at BGHS decided to call
their version of "home-room" T.A.G", I don't really
remember what it stood for, but we just called it Tag. In Tag,
we were supposed to be talking to our teacher about problems and
issues that we may or may not have concerning the school or our
lives or whatever. Now, our home-room teacher was a nice enough
guy, but he was not really interested in hearing about everyone's
teen drama. Instead, he allowed the class to be a haven, a place
to "let loose". The students in the class (and our teacher)
mostly talked and laughed and a couple of the young ladies even
danced to the songs of a radio station that the school approved.
This is where it all began. Randall and I sat in the back, away
from everyone else. I don't know if I was the first to go back
and sit next to him, or if he was the first to come back and sit
next to me. Whatever the circumstances, we had decided that quietly
making fun of the other kids in Tag was the easiest way to make
ourselves feel better for not fitting in with them. We particularly
enjoyed giggling at the dancers. The humor in them was that they
did the same choreographed dance to every song. Fast song, slow
song, you name it, they did it. We even took a popular song of
the day (Tag Team's "Whoomp! There It Is") and replaced
the lyrics to make it fit the situation. It would become the first
song that we crafted together. We thought we were brilliant.
That, of course was not the
case and here to prove it are the lyrics we came up with: Tag
room, back again Same old dance with a brand new trend, Movin'
to the left and right, Gonna keep this party goin' all night and
then repeat over and over again to the point of stupidity. There
you have it. Not an epic beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.
Randall and I became fast friends and eventually more like brothers.
After a series of odd vocations
and vacations we started playing guitar and writing songs together.
By the time we were both 16, we were a full-fledge acoustic duo
with ambitions of bringing back folk music in a big way. Needless
to say, we didn't succeed at that. After a couple of unsuccessful
open stages, we bought distortion pedals and made most of our
songs into social and political punk tunes. Over the next year
or so, many musicians came and went but Randall and I stayed together
and kept on writing songs. We finally managed to put together
a solid line-up and somehow evolved into a metal band. That's
where we met Brandon, bass player extraordinaire! Brandon was
a bit different than any other bass player we ever had. Most of
the guys that played with us before were actually guitar players
that only played bass because they wanted to play in a bandÉand
there is nothing wrong with that but as I said before, Brandon
wasn't like them. Brandon is a true bass player and I donÕt think
he even knows how to play guitar, he might, but I don't think
so.
Anyway, that band had a pretty
good run, but that is another story altogether. Eventually it
ended as everything eventually must. Randall and I decided to
get back to our folk duo roots. Once again, we started writing
acoustic songs. Our first appearance under the name "Shirtless
Biddles" was the farewell show for our metal band. We played
first and we only played one song, but it was fitting. Randall
explained to the fans that this is how our metal band had begun,
two guys playing acoustic guitars. We played to a pool of dancing
lighter flames and walked off. After that night, we kept practicing
and writing songs. We had a crazy notion to turn Shirtless Biddles
into an indie rock band, but it never sounded quite right and
soon led to frustration. Though we never spoke about it out loud,
Randall and I mutually decided to put the Biddles on hold again.
He had a short stint in a band called "Painting Jaime"
and I co-founded an aggressive rock outfit named "Hero".
For a little while, we were content, but it wasn't long before
the idea of the Shirtless Biddles came calling and we were powerless
to withstand it any longer.
After Painting Jaime disbanded
in 2005, Randall decided that he was going to start a solo acoustic
project. I told him that if he ever needed a back up musician
or background vocals to let me know. Well, he let me know. It
wasn't long before we were writing all new songs and talking about
playing coffee shops and festivals and such. Shirtless Biddles
was our name before we even said it out loud. Brandon was the
obvious choice for our bass player. We were just happy that he
said yes! I couldn't imagine playing in this group with anyone
else.
After about 12 months of preparation
that involved writing, practicing, and playing a couple of open
stages, the three of us played our first official show on August
18th, 2006. Now the Biddles are here to stay and weÕre having
the best time with it! WeÕre just looking forward to playing as
many places as we can and meeting all the people that care to
meet us. I think I can speak on behalf of all of us here at the
Biddle camp when I say that whether you've seen us 10 times, 20
times, or never, we're always excited to have people hand-clap
and toe-tap to our style of unfettered Midwestern folk music!
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