September 20th, 2002
Mug's Hideout
Ypsilanti, Michigan

Bands: Once a Hero, Gentle Ben has Soft Shoulders, The Grey Lights



I don't think we've done a show at Mug's since April, when Antifreeze came through on tour. It was supposed to be a five-band night, but Dot. had to cancel, and another one of the bands was a no-show, so it was just us and the two other bands, The Grey Lights, and Gentle Ben has soft Shoulders. We weren't able to get any pictures of the bands, (all the pictures on this page are of us) but we at least owe them a description. The Grey Lights had, in addition to the usual guitar and drums, a keyboard that was about the size of a foot-long sub, had only a 1 or 2 octave range, and was powered by blowing into a tube. It was just like playing the bagpipes, except it was the keyboardpipes. Actually, I've been informed by one of the members that it's really called a melodian. See? You learn something new every day. Not to be outdone, the second band, Gentle Ben has soft Shoulders, also had an interesting feature. Besides the regular members of the band playing guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, there was an extra member(?) who stood onstage, facing the back, with his shirt off. He didn't say or do anything. He didn't even move a muscle. It was almost kind of creepy.



About halfway through the show, he took his shorts off, to reveal a speedo, and continued standing facing the back. Finally, on the second to last song, he had a screeming part. He didn't turn around to face the front, mind you, he simply screemed into a hand-held mic, back to the audience. As far as we can tell, this guy's job in the band is to scream on one song, and show off his body on the others. Rock on, dude. So yeah, after all this madness, the more tame Once a Hero, clothes on, went up on stage. We're not going to take the time to describe our set to you in detail, because we want you to experience the real thing for yourself. To find out how, check our showdates. We will venture to say, however, that it was fun to rock out at Mug's, and we'll be back with the English System from New Jersey in November. Til' next time, everyone.

-Once a Hero