The Birth of Autoverse Nation
At some point in 1994, two fancy college boys were traveling the back roads to Ithaca with the assistance of inanimate friends and listening to Pavement, when the one, Dave, began a diatribal deconstruction of Scooby-Doo. He concluded with his strongest point, “Shaggy was a burnout.†“That’s a perfect band name,†replied Patric. At that very moment, a little 9-year old drummer boy, Josh, had a small hole in his heart, but the universe fixed it so he could serve a greater purpose.
Shaggy Was a Burnout became part of the miniscule bedroom movement of the mid-90s, entertaining confused bedrooms across the Binghamton area. Mostly instrumental, one memorable recording (now lost) featured Patrick on percussion; he took a wad of paper and beat the internal mic on their boombox in a brutally slow 4/4 time while Dave delved into 32 minutes of mind-twitching feedback. Their audience quadrupled within months because 4 people showed to their last bedroom gig, although their motives were dubious. Sex, lies, and audiotape split the band in ’97; the bedroom movement has never recovered.
Dave went into hiding, only emerging as his alternate personality, DJ Diamond Disco Dave, although some mysterious sightings of Shaggy Was a Burnout were reported following Y2K in the Mid-Atlantic States. The accused will not confirm or deny this report, and only smirks when asked who replaced Patrick, before whistling “Ace in the Hole†or humming "Friends of P".
Patrick went on to help form Teenage Girls with Bob and Mike (now a full-fledged member when not touring with MC Lars), and became Paddy Mac, a Robin figure to Evil B’s Batman. He divorced from the band 3 times, meeting Erik during his second stint. As Patrick graduated, moved, married, and worked, it became difficult to continue with a project that had many adoring fans (one who went as far as being Paddy Mac for Halloween), but was considered by industry standards too pop for indie and too indie for pop.
Band mateless, lonely Mr. P went into the laundry room to create a new imaginary genre for several years. Then he was hit by a car, which made him think performing wasn’t so difficult, moved closer to Dave (the Shaggy fallout long forgotten), and wrote dozens of new songs. Like a perfectly timed Disney movie, the little drummer boy, Josh, had become Lank, a percussion barbarian, who was seasoning himself in Modus Tollens, a college band that fused Tenacious D and Third Eye Blind. Graduated, Josh found within himself a desperate need to play music less people would like, and like that gang who feeds off low self-esteem, we pounced.
All hatchets buried, all hearts full, and all coffers empty, Autoverse (the band) officially formed in August 2008. A mix of post no-age indie sounds, their movement will enter like a sloth and leave like a hyena.
For Booking, Interviews, Autographs, Pics, Good Advice, or Furry Boots: [email protected]
