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| Bob of Tribes |
1994-1997 |
Brett Treese - Guitar, vocals
Chris Pearce - Guitar, vocals
Doug Johnston - Bass, vocals, some drums
Jon Kroblin - Drums, some vocals
Other musical contributors included Paul Cosman, Josh Massad, and Dustin (bassist for Dead Clown)
Bob of Tribes started around the Spring of 1994 with Brett, Doug, and Jon and occasionally Paul Cosman on vocals, all 15 years old at the time. Jon and Brett had been playing music together for at least a year before Doug joined in. Songs were written quickly and freely. A tiny underground punk music scene was developing in Tulsa and allowed us to play some shows in friends' basements, such as at Chris Fitzpatrick's house. The early songs were simple and care-free, influenced heavily by the Dead Milkmen, The Ventures, and Sonic Youth. A recoding of many of these songs was made on 4-track by Dustin, the bassist for an incredible Tulsa band called Dead Clown. Some of these recordings were of jams with Dustin on bass, Doug on Drums, and Jon on vocals. Songs missing from these recordings include Where's Tommy and Trampoline Dreams.
Bob of Tribes and the Tulsa punk scene gained momentum and continued writing many songs and playing many shows. Chris Pearce soon joined the band after playing a in another band arrangement with Brett, Doug, and Grant Lohrey. Chris also played in two other bands while Bob of Tribes was together: "E and Me" and "The Crumbs." With the second guitar songs developed much more quickly and fully, still heavily influenced by the Dead Milkmen but this time also by Screeching Weasel, the Queers, and Fifteen. Many songs from this mid-period of the band are either un-recorded of the recordings are missing. Two songs from the time, "Jenny Needs a Brain" and "Surf Song 2" appeared on a local Punk Compilation called "Straight From the Crotch of the Bible Belt"
Bob of Tribes developed more fully, tightened our sound and began playing shows out of town. In January 1996 we recorded 4 songs at Martin Halstead's N.O.T.A. World Headquarters (click) in Tulsa. They were released as "Does Anyone Have a Gun", EP07 on Sensual Underground Ministries - a Tulsa, Ok label run by Ryan and Chad of Brother Inferior (click here).
During summer break from high school, at ages 17 and 16 we went on a tour of the western US, accompanied by our friend Ross Vandeveer. During the 3-week tour took we only played a total of 5 shows in El Paso, Tx, San Francisco, CA, Eugene, OR, Logan, UT, and Pueblo, CO. Schedule changes, due to 3 members getting arrested in Hereford, TX, resulted in missed shows in Pheonix and LA. In San francisco we stayed at the Hickey Hotel for 5 days and joined up with Brother Inferior for a few shows. We then met an extremely nice guy named Rahmin, who led us to a small community of eco-punks living in tree platforms on some land between Tiller and Drew, Oregon, where we stayed for a night. Then we played the Resist and Exist (click for more info) gathering in Eugene, OR. After almost a week in Oregon, we left Rahmin and decided to skip a show in Cheyene, WY. On July 4th we arrived in Denver, CO to play a show but the venue was closed and no flyers were up for a show later that night. We called the Fanatics (click), a band who we met in El Paso and coincidentally played with again in San Francisco and Eugene, who had a punk house in Pueblo. We drove to Pueblo to play in the Fanatics' basement for a bunch of their friends who bought the rest of our merch and gave us fireworks and some gas money. The next day the van broke down in 104-degree heat outside of Wichita, KS. We stayed the night in Wichita and bummed around the downtown area until Jon's parents rescued us in their mini-van.
The next six months brought only a few shows and a few new songs. Due to changing personalities and disagreements intensified by tour, Bob of Tribes dissolved in early 1997. Unfortunately, relatively little documentation of the band remains in my possession. If anyone has any photos, video, or recordings of Bob of Tribes, please contact me here.
TO DOWNLOAD ALL CURRENTLY AVAILABLE RECORDINGS CLICK HERE (78 MB FILE!!!)
Full Song List (to the best of my recollection and documentation available)
Early Recording (approx 1994):
-Happy Love Song
-Aunt Frantics Auntics
-Surf Song
-Cat in the Hat
-Man on an Aeroplane
-Oldsmobile
-Picket the Schoolz
-Crashing Elevators
-Song for Sandy
-Hair Song
-(recorded jam)
Straight From The Crotch of the Bible Belt (1995):
-Jenny Needs a Brain
-Surf Song 2
Does Anyone Have a Gun 7" (1996, Sensual Underground Ministries Records):
-Death of Bambi's Mother
-Does Anyone Have a Gun
-Horse
-Spain is Cool
Practice Recording (early 1997):
-how 2 fuk up yer kids
-Cannibal Song
-Naked Ladies
-Day Break
-Dread
-A Bit Too Much
-Heaven Hates Catfish
-Still a punk Rocker
Other songs (recordings of these songs are missing - please email me if you have any!):
-Poets
-Eighties
-She Washed upon the Shore
-Brain Freeze
-Trampoline Dreams
-Sick
-Where's Tommy
-Dinner
-They Got Soul
-Marriage
-Mr. Popularity
-I, Serf
-Teenager in Trouble
-Blow-up Doll
-new song (possibly titled Spies in my Briefs)
Brett Treese currently lives in Brookyln, NY and plays in the band Honky Horn and Bad Mouth (click here to vist the HHBM myspace page)
Jon Kroblin currently lives in Tulsa, OK.
Chris Pearce currently lives in Virginia
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