About Me
NEW PAGEANTRY BADIMATION In 1980, as kids, Jim Kovacik and George Kovacik began their musical careers singing to instrumentals. Their biggest hit was on the backside of the "S.W.A.T." theme. It was a song titled "You Treated Me Like A Dog." Shortly after George got a drum kit. The duo wrote punk-ish drum-only classics as "Fart," "Brown Crap Balls," and the 14-minute epic "World Gone Bad." Their first performance as the Elastic Plastic Incongnastic Rutt Zutt Brown Utt Band, was a six-minute opus which opened with a frantic drum-only track titled "What?" Three minutes later, they closed the show with their hit "Fart." Being the kings of Humble's fart-rock scene was not enough, Jim decided to play piano/organ. The only problem was he had no idea how to play. This didn't stop them though, they cranked out the 12-minute opus "Hey Boy." The song was inspired by a Jackie Gleason line in "Smokey and the Bandit." But..that still was not enough...Jim decided to trade his red aluminum Easton baseball bat for a friend's ratty old guitar. This guitar helped intoduced the next phase of the now "Elastic Plastic Band." That Christmas, Jim received a Memphis electric guitar and a Marlboro amplifier. The songs continued to roll from EPB: "Wet Underwear," "Johnny's Got To Go," "Where's Little Tommy," "Acupunture of a Sock" and, of course, "Run In Toliet Paper Can Be Fun." A triumpant gig at the Humble Inn followed, as the duo was ready to enter their next phase. Jim's friend, Billy Johnson aquired a bass. At a historic Sunday session, the trio kicked out the punk/Police inspired "You Can Say." Another one of Jim's friends, guitarist Jason Meeker joined the group and more classic were shaped: "Toast," "Uncle Joe," "Rock This Place Tonight" and a revamped/grunge-like "Fart." A classic 1984 concert at St. Mary's Hall followed. But still...George and Jim craved even more. As playing and songwriting improved, the brothers formed a side band with keyboardist George Padget and bassist Matt Stephens called "The Shapes." Well, the side project became a monster...the four found a unique sound and unique songs such as "Boom," "You're My Dream," "Hold on Now" and the quasi hit "The Theme from the Happy Spy." But ...there was some issues with the name...another band had it. So, for a short time they became "The Amorphic Shapes," meaning "shapeless shapes." This was the name used when "Theme From the Happy Spy" received airplay on the now defunct 93Q with QZoo in the Morning. After this, a name change was needed, after several suggestions: "The Ladies" "Cooking In the Nude," and ""Think," Matt came up with "The Surrealtors." His definition was "one who sells a different or surreal reality." The name stuck and at the end of 1985, the band performed classic concert at St. Mary's Hall featuring new guitarist Pete Seckler. With their intricate light show and premiere of their 16mm film for "Theme from the Happy Spy," the VHS copy is now a hot commodity on Ebay. We can only hope for an official DVD release. In 1986, the band and Seckler parted and they entered in Rusty Bamgartner's Woodlands studio to record the only tracks with the original four Surrealtors. The song list inlcuded: "Theme From the Happy Spy," "Hold On Now," "Lovin' You Takes All My Time," and a cover of the Doors' "Break on Thru." It was a successful recording session, but one song proved truly unique. The punk influenced "Lovin' You Takes All My Time" featured only Matt, Jim and George.
After in-fighting towards the end of 86, Matt left the group. Jim, George and George continued on, but something was lost. The four returned for a short-time before Matt, Jim and George took what "Lovin U" had given them. They became the guitar-based trio that propelled the band into fans' and critics' hearts. In 1987, the band worked on new songs for a fall recording including: "Map Inside Your Head," "The Girl Knows What She Wants," "The River," "The Ledger," "Natural Order of Things" and the studio improv "Christmas Foxtrot." Big things followed in 1987, their first gig at Blythe Spirits (they would play there over 47 times in their career) and a headline gig at "Backstage." In 1988, the group continued to prosper playing gigs at such classic Houston venues as Cafe L.A. (featured in U2's "Rattle and Hum") , Zelda's, Fitzgerald's, Pik and Pak, Last Concert Cafe, Power Tools, Rudyards, and more. They also acquired a manager, Dale Marks. Marks was a veteran of Houston music scene having played with the Triphonics and various other bands. The band opened for many acts that would move onto greater things such as the Reivers and the Reverend Horton Heat. A recording session set up by Marks at Houston Community College would provide recordings of new songs such as: "Last Laugh," "Southern Dresses," "Spiff and Larry (a holdover from the 'Shapes' days)," "This Town" and a cover of a local artist's song titled "Threatening My Securities." Marks loved the song and wanted the band to record more covers of local acts. The band decided this was not the direction they wanted to take and parted ways with Marks. Marks would return to work with Jim in 2006 as director of his short film produced with writing partner Joseph (formerly Billy earlier in the bio) Johnson. The film "Soul Searching" is slated for a February 2007 release. As 1988 closed out the Surrealtors were powerhouses of the Houston Music scene. They played along with groups that many considered the best in recent Houston music history: The Killjoys, The Basics and Mulberry Jane. Things were looking up as the band headed into the productive year in their history...1989.
THIS ENDS PART ONE OF THE SURREALTORS STORY...PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR THE THRILLING CONCLUSION SOON.
