Song Of the Day: March 2, 2005
It was the Bandables' misfortune to present their strongest material at a juncture in US rock history where their most obvious strengths cut no mustard with hipsters. They had two talented songwriters. They had nifty boy-girl harmonies. They had smartly strummed and jangled guitars. They were cute. In 1990 the latter alone immediately wiped them off the cool radar, as the influence of the early 70s was about to re-emerge via grunge, and bands like Pussy Galore were spazzily raved on by every Forced Exposure-wannabe fanzine. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be a pop band in New York at that time? 10 years earlier they might have been hanging with the Bongos and dB's and perhaps received a bit more attention (although they did release a swell 45 as early as 1984), but such are the cruelties of the calendar.
Jerry Kitzrow and his mates are planning a Bandables retrospective for release later this year. We'll try to keep you posted. Should be very cool.
posted by Jon Harrison at 6:55 PM
7 Comments:
Holy shit, you are one of the on ly person I've ever come across who's heard of this band. I have a four-song demo from them circa 1985 that I really oughta dig out of my basement; it's amazing.
Actually got to see them once in July 1985 at the Peppermint Lounge. They had, literally, a couple hundred people in the audience singing along with even unreleased songs. It seems surreal.
It's great to see some interest expressed in one of the best bands and singer songwriters out of new york in the 80's and 90's...Jerry Kitzrow and the Bandables can hold their ground with the best of the new pop rockers and had they been around in the 60's I think they would have had much more
success...imagine The Hollies or The Byrds or The Mamas and the Pappas covering "Levitation" or one of their other great songs...hopefully a release of their material will find a new audience today...I saw a "where are they now " episode on VH1 recently and thought,"The Bandables had far greater depth and lasting power than 90% of the one hit wonders....if only They could release an archive CD and let people have a chance to hear for themselves all the great music very few outside of New York ever got to experience"...so I told my brother Jerry to do just that...I'm looking forward as all you old fans of the 80's pop scene are
Tim Kitzrow
To contact Jerry Kitzrow: jpkitzrow@aol.com
My favorite band from high school! I remember when they used to play in the gym and the library. It was so cool when they actually played cbgb's and other Manhattan venues later. I could never understand why they didn't find more success. Perhaps there's still a chance...
I have loved this band since the beginning and wish they were still making music. The harmonies - the lyrics unbelievably good. It WAS the wrong time but the talent is right. Sometimes it's all about the music and this band is one of those times. Try any of their songs - they rock!
I would pay x dollars (fill in any astronomic value for x) for a BANDABLES compilation. They were so great live - just an explosion of tight harmonies and jangling guitar powered by an amazing rhythm section. 50% Pretenders, 50% Beatles, 30% Kinks, 25% R.E.M. And the other half was Rockpile. Singer Amy and Bassist Scott poked their heads out briefly as THE FATTY ACIDS: http://cdbaby.com/cd/fattyacids
Wow...I can't believe someone else posting here was at that Peppermint Lounge show. I was at that show too. Are you sure it was July? Or did they play the Lounge more than once in the summer of 1985?
I had just joined a band called The Motive in August of '85, and one of our members was good friends with the Bandables. We went to see them after a rehearsal one summer night. I was VERY impressed.
In college, I met someone who seemed to be connected with the band. He gave me a copy of the "Cynicism/Love Lies Down" 45. For years those 2 tunes appeared on many mix tapes. Great little band, but frankly I had no idea that they gigged into the 90s.
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