Song: "Science Fiction/Double Feature"
Artist: Me First & The Gimme Gimmes
Album: "Are A Drag"
Year: 1999
"Science Fiction/Double Feature" was written and performed by Richard O'Brien back in 1973. The song was featured in the musical "The Rocky Horror Show" and is the opening song in that play and subsequent movie. The song itself is a tribute to and sendup of various B movies and serials parodied in the show itself. Me First & The Gimme Gimmes covered this song on their 1999 "Are A Drag" album. Me First formed as a band back in 1995, all of the band members are from California. Me First is an all star punk rock cover band as they feature no original music. The band consists of Spike Slawson (Swingin' Utters) on vocals, Joey Cape (Lagwagon) on guitars, Fat Mike (NOFX) on bass, Chris Shiflett (No Use For A Name/Foo Fighters) on guitars and Dave Raun (Lagwagon) on drums. The band began by releasing a number of singles such as "Billy" (all Billy Joel covers), "Diamond" (all Neil Diamond covers), "Paul" (all Paul Simon covers), "Barry" (all Barry Manilow covers), "Shannon" (all Del Shannon covers), "Stevens" (all Cat Stevens covers) and "Elton" (all Elton John covers). In 1997, they released their debut full length album, "Have A Ball". This album's theme was singer/songwriters of the 60's, 70's and 80's featuring covers such as "Rocket Man" (Elton John) and "Sweet Caroline" (Neil Diamond). In 1999, Me First released "Are A Drag". This album's theme focused solely on show tunes and featured the songs "Over The Rainbow" from The Wizard Of Oz and "Tomorrow" from Annie. 2001 saw Me First release "Blow In The Wind", an album the focused on 60's classics such as "Blowin' In The Wind (Bob Dylan) and "Runaway" (Del Shannon). 2003's "Take A Break" featured covers of R&B classics such as R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" and the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There". In 2004, Me First recorded and released a live album called "Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah". This album was recorded live at an actual bar mitzvah and featured songs like "Come Sail Away" (Styx) and "Take It On The Run" (REO Speedwagon). 2006 saw Me First get their country and western thing going with the release of "Love Their Country". This album would feature covers of Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again" and the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl". In 2008, a compilation of b-sides and old out of print 7" singles were packaged together in the form of a full album called "Have Another Ball". This album featured covers of John Denver's "Country Roads" and Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". In 2011, Me First put out two albums. First was an EP called "Go Down Under", which featured covers of Australian artists such as INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart" and Air Supply's "All Out Of Love". Secondly, the band released the album "Sing In Japanese". This album featured covers of Japanese artists with vocalist Slawson singing in the Japanese language. Currently, Me First is planning to release their new album "Are We Not Men? We Are Diva" in 2014. This album's theme focuses on various women "diva" vocalists and includes covers of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" and Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". Even though Me First & The Gimme Gimmes is a side project for all the band members, it hasn't stopped them from pumping out new material every couple of years. They are a fun band who obviously does not take themselves too seriously. They take songs from artists that are so distanced from punk rock, such as Barry Manilow, and turn those songs into skate punk anthems! They are, quite literally, the greatest cover band of all time!!
No comments:
Post a Comment