1 post tagged “the coke dares”

 07/07/2008 09:26:50  ♥ written by vu ()

The Coke Dares-Ronald McDonald The Coke Dares 1 comment Tour Dates 07/18/08 Uncle Fester’s Bloomington, IN 07/24/08 Ronny’s Bar Chicago, IL 07/25/08 Isabella’s Dubuque, IA 07/26/08 Record Bar Kansas City, MO 07/27/08 Monolith Tulsa, OK 07/28/08 Rubber Gloves Denton, TX 07/29/08 The Mink Houston, TX 07/30/08 Mohawk Austin, TX 07/31/08 Conservatory Oklahoma City 08/01/08 The Replay Lawrence, KS 08/02/08 The Bluebird St. Louis, MO 08/12/08 The Bluebird Bloomington, IN 08/14/08 NYC, New York 08/15/08 Middle East Boston, MA 08/16/08 Portland, ME 08/17/08 Providence, RI 08/18/08 Philadelphia, PA 08/19/08 Ottobar Baltimore City, MD 08/20/08 Charlottesville, VA 08/21/08 Black Cat Washington, DC 08/22/08 31st St. Pub Pittsburgh, PA 08/23/08 Casa Nueva Athens, OH

The Coke Dares is a three-piece band from Bloomington, Indiana, consisting of Roger (bass), Kenny (singer), and Roger (guitars). Reading their self-written "biography" on their website, I get the impression that these guys have a great time goofing around and being clever (or not so clever) about it.

My first reaction to their new album, Feelin' Up, was "WTF, how can an LP have 32 tracks and be UNDER 30 minutes?!?" You know what? None, and I mean NONE of their songs reaches over 1 minute and 20 seconds.

This was all by design, not it's a one time joke! (their last album, Here We Go With... The Coke Dares from 2004, contains 32 tracks and presumably under 30 minutes too). In trying to figure out how this evolved, apparently they started off as a "classic rock" band, covering Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc. At one of their gigs, they suddenly stop at the bridge and said "thank you" and started another song. They continued to do this until they exaggeratedly described the night as playing "at least 230 songs".

Man, I just re-read that last paragraph, it sounds like a secret origin to a super villain.

Some of the songs I noted that I wanted to mention are the three "The Coke Dares Theme" that are played throughout their concert. Each song is very different, but are grouped under that title.

As for the four second song called "Fuck You I Quit"... I wouldn't call that a song! I think you'll find that many of the titles actually tells you all you need to know about the song. Can you guess what "I'm Just Trying to Drink to Get Some Sleep", "I Wish I Could Get As High as Neil Young Does", "Everybody's Got Some Time To Die Unless You're a Zombie", and "Mask Map" (it's big, it's huge, it's a big big big big map) are about?

I think the song that I was going to use was "Emergency Room Blues" by default because it was the longest song on the album. I've decided to use "Ronald McDonald" as it sounds like a monologue at the beginning. Plus Ronald McDonald gives me the creeps.

The truth is, it really doesn't matter how I dress this up, I suspect the band is amazing live, based on the songs on the recording. It's definitely not for everybody, but if you like a mix of improv, DIY, garage, punk rock, with less commitment and a sense of humor... definitely check out Feelin' Up.   The album comes out this Tuesday, July 8^th on Essay ("SA") and Reibenbach Records.

Links: cokedares.com myspace.com/thecokedares