Legend has it that Buck (Naked) and Dave (Shameless) met in a karaoke bar in Indonesia where they were nightly regulars, making up dirty lyrics to popular songs and trying to crack each other up while the other mostly non-english speaking patrons scratched their confused non-english speaking heads. Enter Hong Kong music impresario and general schemer, Skidd Wong, who immediately tried to take advantage of them. Whatever the case, the pair ended up in Chicago a few years ago and have been making mischief ever since. Buck grew up in a trailer park in southwest Ohio, exhibiting signs of his huge talent from a very early age. Dave originally hails from Vancouver, Canada, but there is Kentucky in his genetic memory. It is through this filter (and a good deal of drinkin') that Buck and Dave have absorbed the music of their surroundings, from honky-tonks, to skid row bars, to little punk clubs. They personify the search for good times and strange salvation. Naked & Shameless are a fairly unique entertainment experience -- when grasping for a comparison, writers have suggested a lounge-punk version of Tenacious D, as both acts are two guys who lace their music with social parody and bawdy humor, but that's a pretty incomplete comparison. Think of Mojo Nixon, or Lux Interior doing show tunes, or duets by Elvis and Shane MacGowan, or countrified Ween. As the Godfathers of NoFi, Naked & Shameless are also known for interactivity in their live show -- they encourage high-spirited participation. Fans are rabid. Detractors seethe.
HOT LINKS: |
N&S Flickr Picture Archive | BUCK'S GIRLFRIENDS! | Official Website | AMR Label Profile | Buck vs. Devil's Plaything Wrestling Video | Four Food Groups Video |
