Drive Texas profile picture

Drive Texas

About Me

We are 4 regular guys - like, Joe Six-Packs. Except 3 of us are Joe 12-packs, and one us is a Joe Diet Cola.
Inspired by a drive across the desert wasteland from Albuquerque to Austin, the brothers Jay and Phil decided to start a band in NYC, teaming up with Eamon "The Acoustic Madman" Cunningham in the fall of 2007. It was about this time that Jason "Jay" Mandel decided to switch full time to drums -- which he'd never really played before -- from guitar, which he'd been playing for the past ten years.
Greg "Booch" Bandolik caught a couple Drive Texas shows and thought, "Fuck, I'm better than these assholes, I should join them." So he did.
Turns out the "Booch" is also a "Tooter," and showed off his horn-blowing skills in one of his early practices. In his supreme wisdom, Phil "I Think I'm John Lennon" Mandel decided to arrange some trumpet into a few of the songs, and the new Drive Texas was born.
Thanks for stopping by and listening. If you can't get enough of us, our EP, "The Newkirk EP", is now available on iTunes, Napster, and eMusic.


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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/31/2005
Band Website: www.drivetexasband.com
Band Members: Phil: Lead Vocals, Bass, Keys, Harmonica
Jay: Drums, Vocals, Guitar
Eamon: Guitar, Vocals, Drums
Greg: Guitar, Trumpet, Back-Up Vocals, Bass

Live at Desmond's Tavern "White Like Piano Keys" 2.29.08

Influences: Rise Against, Lagwagon, Matt Pond PA, Spoon, Alkaline Trio, Dogwood, Small Brown Bike, Hot Water Music, Avenged Sevenfold, NOFX, Fenix TX, Against Me, Finch, The Killers, Belvedere, Thrice etc.
Sounds Like: 90s Skate Punk + Melancholia deep fried with Delta Blues served on a bed of Weezer.
Record Label: Dawn Lane Records
Type of Label: Unsigned

My Blog

Drive Texas: "25 or 6 to 4" (Chicago Cover) - Live 11.20.08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvB16gjUEc
Posted by on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:20:00 GMT

Feb 12 at R-Bar - Cancelled

Hello!Unfortunately our 2/12 show at R-Bar was rudely cancelled by the venue (not us).  As soon as we reschedule, we'll let you know.In the meantime, check out the new live tracks from our show at Arl...
Posted by on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:51:00 GMT

’09

Thanks to everyone who has made this a great 2008, and we can't wait to play some more great shows in 2009.  We also plan on recording an album in the spring, so you can be sure we'll be letting ...
Posted by on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:17:00 GMT

The cold the freaking cold

To everyone who braved the cold and snow and came out Friday night for our show:  thank you. To everyone else:  frankly, I understand.  The weather was, as Jay put it, "a real cocksucki...
Posted by on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:10:00 GMT

Reminder! Show coming up this Friday!

Eamon:  just got engaged and it's his birthday. Greg:  it's his big 30. Phil:  just finished his final class at NYU for his MA in English Literature.  One more semester you need to...
Posted by on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:37:00 GMT

Another Driving Texan off the Market (12/4)

Well the rumors are true - sorry ladies, but another Driving Texan is officially off the market:  please help me congratulate Eamon on his engagement to Claire. I feel bad for you girls. I r...
Posted by on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:19:00 GMT

It’s December, holy shit.

Well 2008 is coming to a close -- it's been a hell of a year for Drive Texas.  One year ago today was our first show, at Otto's Shrunken Head.  Though I had played a few shows on bass and ke...
Posted by on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:50:00 GMT

Arlene’s Grocery Reminder - 8pm, 11/20

Hey everyone - a reminder that we are playing this Thursday evening (11/20) at 8pm at Arlene's Grocery, our biggest show in our short history. Arlene's is 95 Stanton, down in the Lower East Side, and ...
Posted by on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:38:00 GMT

Happy Halloween

Drive Texas has an ambivalent take on Halloween:- Phil doesn't think it's appropriate for adults to dress up in costume. He also feels that it has been trivialized into a nothing more than a bad excu...
Posted by on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:07:00 GMT

Jay is Thirty, Eamon is Dirty, my Keyboard is Qwerty (10/27)

Thanks to everyone for coming out last week to M1-5 to witness Jay make the transition from boy to man (wait, no, that was at his Bar Mitzvah in 1991) -- I mean from young man to old man.  We hop...
Posted by on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:35:00 GMT