Sunday, September 5, 2010

reunion show 10-10-10

At the Bottom of the Hill.
Matt Sullivan, guitar, Matt Royston,fiddle, Wally Sound, Guitar, Steven Strauss, bass, Melanie DiGiovanni, drums, Mary O'Neil, vocals

The SF Weekly says:

Don't mess with the Wannabe Texans: It seems safe to assume that San Francisco is one of the only places in the world that could produce a musical outfit that considered itself a "bike-messenger band." That's how vocalist Mary O'Neil describes the Wannabe Texans, her late-'80s twang-friendly rock band that has re-formed for a show at Bottom of the Hill on Sunday, Oct. 10, around Bike Messenger Appreciation Day.

"The folks putting on the bike-messenger reunion convinced us to play for old time's sake," says O'Neil, who notes that the band had such disparate influences as the Carter Family and Gang Of Four. "It's not likely to happen again." During its short existence, the Wannabes put out one full-length in the UK on the Mekons' Sin label as well as lots of unofficial cassettes. ("That's right, cassettes," she confirms.)

O'Neil and bassist Brad Johnson went on to form alt-country outfit Virginia Dare, and the other members have also developed impressive résumés, including guitarist Wally McClellan, who runs his Wally Sound studio out in Oakland, and guitarist Matt Sullivan, who did time in Tarnation. Expect to see all original members onstage on Sunday, and make sure to head down to Bottom early: The all-ages show begins at 3 p.m.