November 06, 2006
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
The greatest cover band in the world - or at least in the world of Punk
The best little band that never really intended to be one, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes was started by Spike Slawson of The Swingin' Utters and members of various punk and neo-punk bands, including Fat Mike from NOFX. They started doing classics covers for compilation albums, and then in 1997 released their first album Have a Ball. Since then they have released 6 albums of their unique take on everything from show tunes, R&B, 70's soft rock, R&B, and even country on their latest album, 2006's Love Their Country. Not content with just punking up the songs, they almost always inject a decent amount of humour as well. Their albums come dangerously close to being novelty records, except for one thing - they ROCK! Once you get past the initial "OMG, this is so funny" aspect, you realize their remakes are actually really good. You find yourself listening over and over, and when you eventually hear the originbal again - you want to hear these guys instead. Every album tends to have a theme of some sort, whether it's an era, a genre, or a little of both. One of my favorites is the live album, Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah, recorded live at . . . you guessed it, a Bar Mitzvah (why wasn't my Bar Mitzvah that cool? Why didn't I have a Bar Mitzvah?). Me First and the Gimme Gimmes record on the Fat Wreck label, a small indie label owned and run by Fat Mike and his wife Erin. Give them a listen, or two, or three. You'll dig it the most! Here's a link to a clip from their first album:
Leaving On A Jet Plane