Stick Martin and his cohorts are not too cool to play that place down the street that usually does cover bands. As a result, their mash-up of hip-hop, country twang and catchy bar rock - usually served with large side of ironic humor - has reached more general-public ears than most "scene bands" ever will.
REAX: What was it like growing up in rural Frogballs, Mississippi?
Stick Martin: No, no. You're mistaken. I grew up in Bumfuck, Pennsyltucky. There wasn't much to do aside from smoke pot and play guitar. It really wasn't too bad, except we always had to drive like two or three hours to NYC or Philly to see a concert.
REAX: What made you decide to relocate to the Bay area from NYC?
SM: I came down here twice when I was a kid on vacation with my family, and we went to a zoo in Tarpon Springs where they only had monkeys and apes. So I wanted to see the monkey zoo again. Also, I heard there was a lot of work for a musician down here. And now I'm with an awesome girl, so I can never leave.
REAX: What are the Show's top five non-musical influences?
SM: Simpsons for humor, Goodwill for fashion, Carnies for their business sense, Playboy for the articles, and Satan.
REAX: Describe the Show's sound using a food analogy.
SM: Our music is like spicy brown mustard; tasty, but it can also make your eyes water.
REAX: Given all the different elements that make up the Show's style, I imagine your crowd is pretty diverse. Is there such a thing as a typical Stick Martin Show fan?
SM: We seem to go over pretty well with the hippie-type crowd, but we also get a lot of blue-collar guys in their 40s and 50s. Also, because of the hip-hop stuff we've been doing lately, we get a lot of w*gg*rs. So, I guess, no, there isn't like a typical fan. It's pretty mixed.
REAX: A lot of folks who do original music assume that the people who go to the usual non-scene bars aren't interested in their stuff. Do you pick up new fans of your originals and sell CDs and all that good shit when you do shows at places like The Green Iguana or Two Buks?
SM: Sure, we pick up fans and sell discs at those bars. (Some more than others, of course). We still play places like The Garage in St. Pete and The Pegasus Lounge in Tampa once in a while, but at those places we usually only get an hour set, and we like to play for at least three or four hours. Plus, the the non-scene bars usually pay us a lot more.
REAX: Has a club owner ever bitched you guys out for doing your own tunes during a cover gig?
SM: Not really. Club owners usually only give a shit about selling drinks and making money. As long as we bring in some heads that are drinking, they don't usually give a shit what we play. We play Frenchy's on Clearwater Beach, like, six times a month, and they kind of have a "no originals" policy there, but we go in and do like 90 originals and they keep on having us back. Thank God for that place, Frenchy's basically pays my rent.
REAX: What's the weirdest gig the Show has ever played?
SM: We played a biker bar in New Port Richey once. No one gave a shit about us no matter what we played. Just one of those gigs where you couldn't get anyone's attention even if you set yourself on fire. Anyway, this old biker chick comes up and starts dancing in front of the band. She was missing a lot of teeth and looked pretty wore out. She's giving the guys in the band, like, this come-get-with-me look, and out of nowhere just starts pissing her pants. But she never stopped dancing. That weird old lady didn't miss a beat. The worst part was we were hired back for the next night, so we knew it was gonna be another rough evening. After that, though, we never played there again.
The Stick Martin Show's latest disc is the largely hip-hop flavored Thrilla. You can check 'em out somewhere just about every weekend.
myspace.com/thestickmartinshow
