Ribbon Fix profile picture

Ribbon Fix

Fuck me in my sickbed anytime!

About Me

Ribbon Fix played it debut show on August 10th, 1996 at the Epicenter Zone record store in San Francisco, opening for Full Boney and Uranium 9-Volt with it's original four piece line-up consisting of Andi Camp (former Stella and Underside) on vocals/bass, Mark Rodgers (former Driftwood, Shroomunion and Perilisium Cantos) on vocals/guitar, Brian Gathy (former Savalas, Junkdrawer and Amber Inn) on guitar/bass and Mike Roberts (former Pawn) on drums. At the time, and with three contributing songwriters, the band didn't have all too much material to draw from but, following its first show, Ribbon Fix started writing at a seemingly furious rate. Before long, the band was lashing out regionally, up and down the West Coast, sharing bills with Cult of Eugene, the Icarus Line, Still Life and Jimmy Eat World. In early November of 1996, Ribbon Fix entered Enharmonik Studio in Sacramento with Eric Stenman to record 6 songs that would be released as "The Gathy Years". Almost immediately after recording the songs, Brian Gathy left the band to persue a paying gig with local indie rockers, Crumb, thus reducing Ribbon Fix to a three piece. Undetered by the loss, the band began fleshing out new material that would eventually start to define the band and its sound. The band debuted the downsized line-up in January of 1997 at the Gilman Street Project in Berkeley to favorable results. They then entered Enharmonik again, and again with Eric Stenman, in late February and recorded half of what would be released as "Some Saturday This Has Been". The band would spend the months of March, April and June in the studio and on the road and then released "Some Saturday..." in late July of 1997. Along with the 10 songs released as the band's first full length release, they had also cut a number of unreleased tracks (Jaded, Filament, Crush ..626 and the pay-off daring Tickle Me, Elmo). Immediately upon release, the band lit out on a more expansive regional tour with mafioso-compatriots, Uranium 9-Volt, a tour that would cement the bonds of the two bands to the point where neither band would play a show if the other band wasn't on the bill. Around this time, Ribbon Fix had become staples at the Capp Street Warehouse venue, as well as the Cocodrie and various other holes in and around San Francisco, sharing bills with the likes of Braid, Jejune, Rainer Maria, Knapsack, Mineral, etc... In December of 1997, Ribbon Fix, once again went to Enharmonik, Eric in tow and recorded the epic "Camp Fire Dares the Sun" in a miraculous 21 hours. The album would house the band at its shiniest and best, ten sonically charged originals as well as Easter Egging a cover of the Psychedelic Furs' "Ghost In You". Two other tracks were recorded in the process: the still unreleased "Hummingbird" and "Road Map" (released on the No Karma compilation "Atmosphere Only Gets You So Far"). "Camp Fire..." saw release on Valentine's Day, 1998 and the band hit the road again in March with Uranium 9-Volt, expanding their regions again, this time taking the two bands out as far as Michigan to play the annual Michigan Fest, along with BlueTip and Los Crudos. The Spring of 1998 had the band nailing down even more new songs, playing locally and relentlessly and in July of 1998, the band entered the studio for the last time to record a 5 song CDEP (originally concieved as a double 7") called "Straight, No Chaser". This particular chapter captured the band on it's lighter side and indicating a sharper leaning towards an Alternative Country edge. After booking a national tour with Uranium 9-Volt again, tensions in the band lead to a short notice cancellation and a rescheduling that would become the band's very last tour. In December of 1998, Ribbon Fix called it quits, leaving a prolific legacy of songs, 57 in total, gone to the wayside. A few months later, however, and moreso as a favor, the band temporarily reformed and introduced a small batch of new songs like "Tootsie Pop" and the near-neverending "Basement". Overall, the life of Ribbon Fix was short but fullfilling, having shared the stage with an enormous amount of extremely talented bands like Antarctica and the Blue Ontario (both former Christie Front Drive), Uphollow, Karate, At the Drive-In, Kill Holiday, etc... After the band split for good, Andi relocated to Portland, Oregon where she still plays music, often as a solo artist and currently with The Brightest Comet, Mike went down South to San Diego where he actually got his throat slit (non-fatal) and recently began playing drums after an extensive hiatus with San Diego's Behind the Wagon and Mark still resides in San Francisco and plays Punked Up Country of sorts in his band, The Devil's Own and the occasional solo show under the moniker of Piss Pissedoffherson. Yeah, that pretty much tells the story.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 11/22/2005
Band Website: none
Band Members: Andi Camp (vocal/bass/piano), Mark Rodgers (vocal/guitar), Mike Roberts (drums), Brian Gathy (guitar/bass for The Gathy Years)
Influences: Bandwise, Ribbon Fix took their collective queue from the following (though this is a partial list): Jawbreaker, Shudder To Think..., Jawbox, Seam, Lungfish,Van Halen, Ida, Sugar,Tank, BlueTip, Fugazi, Scud Mountain Boys, Son Volt, the Psychedelic Furs, Soulside, Slayer, Chrstie Front Drive, etc. Also, of quality influence: Uranium 9-Volt who seriously just ruled the fuckin' show!
Sounds Like:

Drinking, cheat'n, and Drink'n!!!
Record Label: Grafton
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Andi sucks at blogging (or the Gathy years as remembered by Andi)

I have fallen woefully behind in the blogging department. I like to think it's the awfulness of the word 'blogging'.The idea was that we would each throw out our memories/thoughts/whatever about each ...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Sat, 09 Sep 2006 03:46:00 PST

Damage Assessment pt. 4 - Straight, No Chaser

Straight, No Chaser was Ribbon Fix's swan song release. What separates this from the prior releases is that it tended to lean on the softer side of the band. At the time of recording Ribbon Fix had en...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Sun, 20 Aug 2006 04:07:00 PST

Damage Assessment - Camp Fire Dares the Sun

One of the things I remember most vividly about playing with Ribbon Fix is that by the time one of our records were released we were already playing songs from the next record. So, any attachment some...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Sat, 05 Aug 2006 01:50:00 PST

Damage Assessment - Some Saturday This Has Been

Some Saturday This Has Been sure was a confident endeavor given the circumstances it was recorded under. Having been downsized to a three piece just a couple of months before entering the studio with ...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Mon, 03 Jul 2006 01:22:00 PST

whoa, hold on there.

ok, I know the plan was to talk about the songs and all that, but after reading Mark's first installment, I was flooded with memories of the time from the inception of ribbon fix up until the first re...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Wed, 24 May 2006 09:53:00 PST

Damage Assessment - The Gathy Years pt. I

Okay, here's where the former members of Ribbon Fix open up the can of worms and talk candidly about our experiences with the recordings. I'll start it off and try to detail as much as I can remember ...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Tue, 23 May 2006 12:20:00 PST

Andi too!

I hadn't even ventured onto the myspace website until I was informed that ribbon fix had a site, and what's more, that it was set up by Mike and Mark. I'm capable of ignoring a good many things, but I...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Wed, 22 Feb 2006 05:55:00 PST

Who's manning this fucking ship?

This Ribbon Fix profile was concocted by former Ribbon Fixers, Mike Roberts and Mark Rodgers as a means to get some Ribbon Fix likers some songs that are out-of-print or difficult to find as well as i...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Wed, 23 Nov 2005 11:44:00 PST

Straight, No Chaser

Straight, No Chaser was recorded on July 9th and 10th, 1998 @ Enharmonik by Eric Stenmann. Your Gracious Hosts and Hostess: Andi Camp (vocals/bass), Mark Rodgers (vocals/acoustic and electric guitars...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Wed, 23 Nov 2005 11:34:00 PST

Camp Fire Dares the Sun

Camp Fire Dares the Sun was recorded on December 1st, 3rd and 8th, 1997 @ Enharmonik Studio by Eric Stenman. The Suspects: Andi Camp (vocals/bass/piano), Mark Rodgers (vocals/guitar) and Mike Roberts...
Posted by Ribbon Fix on Wed, 23 Nov 2005 11:28:00 PST