Bicycle Face

Band: Bicycle Face Brian Huskey- Vocals, Bass, Organ Chris Longworth- Drums, Percussive Instruments Mitchell McGirt- Guitar, Vocals Biography:Bicycle Face was a band from Greensboro, North Carolina that existed from February 28, 1988 to August 30, 1994.The group originally consisted of Brian Huskey, Mike Barker (later of Rüebarb & Mind Sirens), and Jimmy Triplett (former member of The Naked Ramblers). This line-up only practiced twice and nothing really came of it.The core group consisted of Brian Huskey on bass and vocals, Chris Longworth on drums, and Mitchell McGirt on guitar and vocals. This line-up was joined for a time by Paul Dresel (later of Rüebarb & Norwegian Forehead) on second bass and Carrie Shull (later played with Eugene Chadbourne) on oboe.Bicycle Face played its first show in February 1988 at Mary Foust dormitory on the campus of U.N.C.-Greensboro. The band played mainly in Greensboro basically anywhere they could: house parties, nightclubs, Piney Lake, in the middle of Tate Street. Later they made occasional jaunts to Asheville, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and finally Chapel Hill and Raleigh, the hotbeds of college rock in North Carolina.In the spring of 1990 the band put out a self-produced tape recorded by Ben Thomlison and Roy Nilsen entitled "Joy" which caught the attention of a man named Glenn Boothe. Glenn told the fledgling Chapel Hill record label Moist Records about the band and later that year Bicycle Face became the first group to record for Moist. The group's first 7" single; which contained the songs “Irrelevant, “Speck O’Dust”, “Citizen Kane”, and “Walter & Cassandra”; came out in early 1991. In the summer of 1991, Bicycle Face went into Lloyd Street studios in Chapel Hill to record a full-length album under the direction of Caleb Southern. The album was finished in a week, but Moist delayed the release until the spring of 1992. The album, “Trust & Obey”, although played and reviewed nationwide, did not sell very well and received a lukewarm reaction by the record-buying public, including admitted Bicycle Face fans.Moist Records held a party to showcase its roster at the CMJ Music Convention in New York City in the fall of 1991. Bicycle Face, Finger, Metal Flake Mother, and The Monks of Doom played on a boat docked in the Hudson River. It was a fun time had by all even though the boat’s electrical system wasn’t very well grounded and the guitarists got a shock each time they touched the microphones.The summer of 1992 saw Bicycle Face embark on its first out-of-state tour to support the long-delayed release of their album: a three show jaunt to New York City; Danbury, Connecticut; and Boston. The band had a lot of fun, but had to face the disappointment of people who came expecting to see a band that “sounded like Superchunk” (a common problem for many North Carolina bands of the time).The owners of Moist, J. Kelley Cox and Andrew Peterson, as well as Chapel Hill club owners organized "The Big Record Stardom Convention" later in the summer of 1992 to showcase the many varied and talented groups that were based around North Carolina. Bicycle Face's “stardom” hit its high-water mark at the event. In 1993, Moist Records had stretched itself too thin financially, collapsed and folded. Bicycle Face, playing shows to dwindling audiences and hearing that they were "just too darn clever" to be offered a contract by a major label, became discouraged.In 1993, the group was given a little help from its friends. Butch Lazorchick at Squealer Records put out a single, "Christafari" produced by Caleb Southern which contained the songs “Oatmeal Truck”, “Shave the Pickup”, and “Little House”. Eric Shepherd at D-Tox records gave them a spot on the compilation "Pyloric Waves" for their song “Brand New Attitude” and later released their four-song single, "The Red Hat Man", also produced by Southern, which contained the songs “The Hall of Unappealing Food”, a cover of the Move song “I Can Hear the Grass Grow”, “Big Fat Kitty Cat”, and a collaboration with Charles “Big GMC” Smith called “The Red Hat Man”. Todd Goss at Jettison Records put their song “Pogo Stick” (which was actually recorded back in 1989 by Ted Raison) on his compilation, "Falling Off the Planet".Bicycle Face kicked off 1993 with an extended tour through the Southeast with legendary Chapel Hill bands The Archers of Loaf and Zen Frisbee. The tour included stops in Athens, Georgia; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Tallahassee, Gainesville, Tampa, and Orlando, Florida; and finished up in Columbia, South Carolina.Throughout 1993, Bicycle Face toured and played shows almost every weekend in North Carolina and Virginia to nearly empty clubs and bars. Despite their decreasing popularity, the band actually became better friends and were enjoying themselves more onstage.In early 1994, Brian Huskey, the group's founder, announced to the group that he was leaving for New York to pursue his first love, photography. The band went out to play at all of its favorite haunts one last time and on August 30, 1994 they played their "farewell" show at Local 506 in Chapel Hill. Soon after the group's demise, Ross Grady's cred factory Records put out their last recording of “Liars Beware” on "Who the Hell?"- a tribute album to Richard Hell.Other posthumous releases by the band included 1999’s cassette-only “Face It”, an odds and ends collection, released by Willard Simmon’s Bees Make Honey label. The band also released the song “French Girl” (recorded by Jon McLean & Greg Adams in 1993) to be added to a charity compilation CD entitled "Rare & Well Done" assembled by Karen Mann.Between 1988 and 1994, Bicycle Face had the good fortune to play shows with some great bands at almost every gig. Some notable acts were Robyn Hitchcock, Redd Kross, Mojo Nixon, Ween, King Kong, Southern Culture on the Skids, Metal Flake Mother, What Peggy Wants, Ben Folds Five, Zen Frisbee, The Archers of Loaf, Snatches of Pink, Finger, Geezer Lake, Rebar, The Raymond Brake, Chew Toy, Boil, The Godbullies, Cosmic Psychos, Rural Swine, Crowsdell, Blue Green Gods, Milk Badger, Norwegian Forehead, Polvo, Rüebarb, Snüzz, Well Nigh Forgotten, Blast Off Country Style, Unrest, Shiny Beast, Willard, Kickin’ the Bucket, Sex Police, Notes from a Strange Mailbag, Jeff Carroll, The Monks of Doom, Helium, Mecca Normal, The Beatless, Grover, Howtown, Slow Change Madagascar, Picasso Trigger, Erectus Monotone, The Subsonics, Hop Flop Fly, True & True, 81 Mulberry, Spatula, Evil Wiener, Vanilla Trainwreck… the list goes on and on. The band felt truly lucky to have had a free ticket to see all of these acts.As of 2006, Brian Huskey has been busy with his new career as a comedic actor. He honed his talents in the New York comedy group Naked Babies, made several appearances on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” as well as “The Upright Citizen’s Brigade” and VH1’s “Best Week Ever”. Brian and his new wife Maureen have recently relocated to Los Angeles.Christopher Longworth lives in New York City with his wife Christina and their daughter. Chris works in a metal sculpture studio and has made brass shower curtain rings for Lou Reed as well as a bar for Harrison Ford. He now runs marathons and is in the best shape of his life.Mitchell McGirt lives in Atlanta with his wife Frédérique and is a father of two. He now speaks French and lives a very quiet life. He is still battling his addiction to saturated fat. He hasn’t written a song since Bicycle Face broke up.Bicycle Face now plays weddings on occasion.