Portsmouth, NH is a small seacoast city that is right in-between Boston, MA and Portland ME, and it is less than an hour away from each. It has always had a reputation as a hotbed for great folk music. In the mid 80's to the early 90's, Portsmouth also had an interesting alternative music scene. Leading the way was a band called Gandhi's Lunchbox which was founded by Bob Ford and Tom Colletta along with Chris Fortier, Scott Wilcox and Omicron 4. The band was an odd mix of personalities and music. Part garage-punk, part 60's pop with some Jazz and 70's metal thrown in, it was a very original mix of some disparate parts. Playing this original music in a town known for folk, blues and cover bands was difficult at first. They had a lot more early success in Boston, Portland and at various colleges around New England than in their home town. Then other original bands started cropping up and soon the "scene" was established. One of these other bands was the great funky/twangy Bob House.Gandhi's Lunchbox/Bob House shows are still things of legend. Both bands had more than a healthy love of the obscene. Watching one of these shows was probably a bit like watching The Fugs in the 60's except the music was louder, faster and more things were likely to be either set on fire or pissed on or both. Hopefully in that order.All good things must come to an end of course. By the early 90's as the whole Red Hot Chile Peppers/funk/rap bull shit finally hit New Hampshire, Gandhi's Lunchbox, although on the verge of a real record contract, self destructed. Bob House held on valiantly for a short while and then they died as well.1992-Something To Do
Bob Ford
Looking for something to do a few months after the band assumed room temperature, Gandhi's Lunchbox's guitarist/song writer Bob Ford decided to start a cover band to make some money. He enlisted Tom and Scott from the defunct Lunchbox and the crazy but talented drummer Rodger Shosa from the dead Bob House. He also asked Portsmouth rock veteran Jim Tierney to play guitar. Halfway thru the first practice, everyone seemed bored doing just covers (96 Tears, You're Gonna Miss Me, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, etc.) so Bob started introducing the latest songs he had written. Jupiter 2 was born (although at first Bob mistakenly called it "Jupiter 6" due to the memory transference between the 1960's SCIFI TV show and a Roland keyboard). With in a few months, an EP was recorded at the Fish Traks recording studios (know world wide for it's folk recordings). Jim Tierney engineered the sessions. The sound was of course "garagey" but also had a strong surf flavor due to Jim Tierney's crashing, slashing reverberated guitar sound. Every song was a single take save for the instrumental "Gorby Beach." The ending to that song was a bitch even for sober musicians.Dead Girlfriend
Rodger Shosa
At this point the Jupiter 2's line up was Tom Colletta on lead vocals and harmonica, Bob Ford on guitar and Voxx organ, Jim Tierney on guitar, Scott Wilcox on bass and Rodger Shosa on drums. It was the original "Deuce." They practiced at a farm house in North Hampton, NH that was being rented by Bob and legendary Queers front man Joe King. They played maybe twice a month and practiced twice a week. Occasionally Bob and Joe's third roommate Harlan Miller would fill in on drums during practice. Harlan was with Gandhi's Lunchbox for the band's last six months or so. He had replaced the fleeing Chris Fortier on guitar.During this period Bob wrote the song "Dead Girlfriend." These are the lyrics:
Tom Colletta"I live with this girl but she doesn't live with me
she can't walk or talk, hell she don't even breath
she used to eat or drink,I think she would if she could
I save a little money but it don't smell so good"She's my dead girlfriend
I love her just the same
she's my dead girlfriend
but I love her just the same"She used to like it when ever I would hold her
now all I get is the cold shoulder
she looks a little pale, she's got bugs in her hair
when ever I move her, she sticks to the chair"She's my dead girlfriend
and I love her just the same
she's my dead girlfriend
but I love her just the same"She used to be cute and she used to be perky
now all she does is sit around and look like beef jerky
when she starts to bloat, I stick her with a pin
then there's more room for my lovin'!"She's my dead girlfriend
and I love her just the same
she's my dead girlfriend
but I love her just the same"I live with this girl but she doesn't live with me
she can't walk or talk, she don't even breath
now don't get me wrong, I ain't nobody's fool
she may not be warm but my girlfriend - she's cool"Bob usually sang lead vocals on Dead Girlfriend while Tom concentrated on tambourine, harmonica and back-up vocals. Later, Tom would also terrorize the audience during the song with a Theremin. Here is the debut of Dead Girlfriend performed at a party with The Queers. Notice Bob screwing up the lyrics:
Dead Girl Friend
(4.3MB mp3)Another recording was eventually made at Downtown Recorders in Boston, Mass. that included Dead Girlfriend. It was a totally live recording that featured seacoast NH rock impresario, record store owner and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Guyer on the Voxx. The sessions where recorded by long time Boston engineer/producer Jeff Whitehead who had worked with Gandhi's Lunchbox. Part of the session was paid for by a poker bet Bob had won with Jeff up at Scott's lake cabin in Maine.The band's debut album "Dead Girlfriend And Other Love Songs" in 1993 featured both the Boston and Fish Traks recording sessions. Soon after, Bob went and got married and headed cross country for his honeymoon precipitating the first and least violent of the band's many break-ups.PAGE TWO COMING SOON!
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