Barbed Wire Play Pen

Formed during the late 80's (THEY know don't even know the exact year anymore), Barbed Wire Play Pen was formed by bassist Rob Banks and his brother Pete. Along with vocalist Mike Perry and other assorted and unknown memebrs, they played their first show at Ann Arbor's annual Art Fair. Perry smashed computers as the band played a never-ending song with the lyrics "We Will Never Stop" until the power was finally cut. They would continue to play shows, constantly changing their line-up going through periods as a blues band until guitarist Tim D'Annunzio joined the group in 1991. D'Annunzio was an accomplished metal guitarist and after he joined, he began to influence the songwriting towards a more metal sound.BWPP auditioned vocalists for the next few months before Banks met Rastafari during the summer of 1992 at a show at Rastafari's house. He became the vocalist soon after, and in the process brought in Kate Ragsdale to give it a duo growl attack. There were now four vocalists in the band at this point, alternately changing between song and styles alike. Mc Hugh doing the blues songs and Rastafari and Ragsdale doing the heavier songs. They refined the sound after a couple line-up changes and began a long series of shows in basements and underground venues all over Michigan. There is even one story of how they played at a rally on the steps for then presidential candiadte Bill Clinton when he appeared in Ann Arbor the night of the elections in 1992. Rastafari was kept in the dark about the event after rally organizers feared that his political views and onstage antics would upset attendees. They went onstage without Rastafari, not being allowed to play their own material and resorting to covers like "Proud Mary". The concerts in Ann Arbor became tense as The Ann Arbor Police began to make it their business to shut down any basement shows that were occuring. BWPP had gotten a bad reputation with the police partialy due to the fact that they played ever single show that the cops were shutting down because of noise violation. After awhile they began visiting any show that they had booked, even going as far as entering the Heidelberg and checking out the crowd during a couple shows there. Banks also recalls a story of being confronted by the police while at a friend's party one night. Allegedly the officer knew who he was and what band he was in which only increased the internal paranoia and stress in the band. The main line-up went through a lot of changes over the next year which resulted in Ragsdale, McGuirk, and Fukai leaving the band at the end of 1993.This was the beginning of a rough period for the band, not having steady drummer for more than a few months at a time. Rastafari's temper and inability to compromise his artistic vision often made things difficult in the band. Drummers were often given the hardest time, many quitting after just a few shows due to the demand put on them by the high-energy set. Eventually things grew too tense between the core members of Banks, D'Annunzio, and Rastafari and they played their last show in November of 1995. D'Annunzio and Banks went on to form 'Ultra-Blight' while Rastafari and drummer Steve Chesney went on to form the short-lived 'Breathing Selenas'.