The Epoxies
Encyclopedia
The Epoxies were an American
New Wave
band
from Portland
, Oregon
formed in 2000. Heavily influenced by punk rock
and New Wave
the band jokingly described themselves as robot
garage rock
. Members included FM Static on synthesizer
s, guitar
ist Viz Spectrum, leading lady Roxy Epoxy, bassist
Shock Diode, and drummer
Ray Cathode. They grew in popularity due in large part to extensive touring in both the United States and Europe
where they showcased frantically paced, highly energetic on-stage productions. They were known for using special effects for their live act and sporting home-made costumes, sometimes made mostly of duct tape
.
The group's music is a novel synthesis of punk rock and New Wave but their lyrics are strictly focused on sci-fi
themes, Atomic Age
futurism, alienation
, and consumerism
. Robots, androids, clones
, and nuclear weapon
s all figure prominently in the Epoxies lyrics.
In September 2001, the Epoxies released their first recording on Dirtnap Records
, based in Seattle at the time. The self titled 7" vinyl
contained the tracks "Need More Time", "Molded Plastic" and a cover
of "Beat My Guest" by Adam and the Ants
. This would be the start of a longstanding association with the Pacific Northwest label and several other bands on it at the time such as The Briefs
and The Spits
.
2002 also saw the release of a 7" single
, "Synthesised", in October with a B-side cover of Alice Cooper
's "Clones (We're All)
". Before their first US tour at the end of the year, the Epoxies also began making a CD
EP
to sell at shows that collected their previous 7" releases. Soon after the tour Dr. Grip decided to leave the band and was replaced by Ray Cathode, who claims to be a clone much like Shock Diode.
The Epoxies continued to tour the United States throughout 2003 and 2004 often opening for the Groovie Ghoulies. The group also toured Europe
for the first time in 2004 with NOFX
. "Need More Time" was released again the following year on Fat Wreck Chords
' Rock Against Bush
compilation.
This inclusion led the Epoxies to sign with Fat Wreck Chords for their second album, Stop the Future, released in April 2005, featuring a cover of the Scorpions
' "Robot Man
". It showcased more of the short, fast songs that fans had come to expect while also showing a more down-tempo and melodic style with the ending track "Toys" (their first song to clock longer than 4:30).
They spent most of 2005 and 2006 touring with similarly pseudonymed bands The Aquabats
and The Phenomenauts; Fat Wreck Chords label-mates Smoke or Fire
, The Soviettes
, and Against Me!
; and fellow pop-punkers Teenage Bottlerocket
.
Amid this busy tour schedule the band re-recorded the single "Synthesised" in the fictional simlish
language for the release of The Sims 2: Open for Business
computer game in 2006.
in June 2007 and released an EP in August entitled My New World.
Posts to Metropolis' website indicate that they planned an album to follow later in the year.
However, in a MySpace
blog interview on March 17, 2008, Roxy confirmed rumors that the Epoxies were probably broken up, or at least on an extended hiatus.
Lead vocalist Roxy Epoxy began hosting a radio show broadcast on Portland State University
's campus radio station in April 2007, and currently fronts the New Wave/pop rock
band Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound. They released their first CD Band Aids on Bullet Holes in March 2009 on Metropolis Records
, and underwent a national tour supporting TheStart
the same month. As a solo artist Roxy Epoxy released in 2010 a 5 tracks EP called "1000" with the avant-garde french records label Rotorelief
. FM Static went on to briefly tour as a guitarist (under the name "Fritz M. Static") for the Oakland
-based "Rocket Roll" band The Phenomenauts.
Ryan (Shock Diode) has since moved to France and appeared on Cecilia and the Sauerkrauts' full length Sauerkraut, Wurst Und Other Delights. Meanwhile, Tim (Ray Cathode) has helped form a new band in Portland called The Bourbonettes who appeared on Shower Time! A Tribute to The Punk Group
.
On May 29, 2010, the Epoxies reunited for a one-off performance at a local benefit show in Portland. Perhaps confirming the group's permanent dissolution, FM Static announced to the audience before the show began to "go nuts now cause [a reunion] ain’t gonna fucking happen again!".
Epoxies shirts are worn a lot by Jeremy Roloff in the TLC show "Little People Big World"
As part of rebelling against established musical conventions the band chose to include a synthesizer; they "had the intent of offending people with it because it's such an uncool instrument." However with the rise of synthesizers in popular music since the Epoxies are often compared to acts such as The Bravery
and The Killers, leading the band to wonder if they aren't accomplishing their objectives by being "overly cool" instead. One of the synthsizers FM often used was a monophonic Roland SH-101
keytar
.
Viz used a futuristic looking Epiphone
Explorer
that had been repainted and modified to contain a laser
and a bank of LEDs
.
Roxy Epoxy
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
formed in 2000. Heavily influenced by punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
the band jokingly described themselves as robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
. Members included FM Static on synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist Viz Spectrum, leading lady Roxy Epoxy, bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Shock Diode, and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Ray Cathode. They grew in popularity due in large part to extensive touring in both the United States and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
where they showcased frantically paced, highly energetic on-stage productions. They were known for using special effects for their live act and sporting home-made costumes, sometimes made mostly of duct tape
Duct tape
Duct tape, or duck tape, is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure sensitive tape often sealed with polyethylene. It is very similar to gaffer tape but differs in that gaffer tape was designed to be cleanly removed, while duct tape was not. It has a standard width of and is generally silver or black...
.
The group's music is a novel synthesis of punk rock and New Wave but their lyrics are strictly focused on sci-fi
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
themes, Atomic Age
Atomic Age
The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb Trinity on July 16, 1945...
futurism, alienation
Social alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
, and consumerism
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
. Robots, androids, clones
Human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
, and nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s all figure prominently in the Epoxies lyrics.
Inception (2000-2002)
Members of the Epoxies have been involved with punk bands in the Portland area since the mid-1990s. Most notably, FM played with and Roxy photographed many album covers for The Automatics. FM and Viz conceived of a band wearing spray-painted refrigerator boxes and dryer hose as home-made robot costumes. This soon gave way to less restrictive (but generally just as low budget) costumes as the impracticality of wearing a box and playing a guitar became apparent. Kid Polymer soon took up the bass when FM and Viz finally decided to go ahead with the idea. Dr. Grip and Roxy were the last to join the band in 2000, completing their first lineup. Surprisingly, this would be the first time Roxy had considered being in a band. They were first known as the Adhesives before discovering that another group with that name existed nearby.In September 2001, the Epoxies released their first recording on Dirtnap Records
Dirtnap Records
-External links:*...
, based in Seattle at the time. The self titled 7" vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
contained the tracks "Need More Time", "Molded Plastic" and a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Beat My Guest" by Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
. This would be the start of a longstanding association with the Pacific Northwest label and several other bands on it at the time such as The Briefs
The Briefs
The Briefs are a punk rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2000 and originally consisting of Daniel J. Travanti , Steve E. Nix , Lance Romance and Chris Brief . They play punk rock music, influenced by acts such as Buzzcocks, The Undertones and The Adverts...
and The Spits
The Spits
The Spits are a American Seattle-based punk musical group. Currently, the band has released four albums, all officially self-titled but unofficially titled 1, 2, 3, and 4, released by Nickel and Dime Records, Slovenly Recordings, Dirtnap Records, and Thriftstore Records respectively...
.
Increasing popularity (2002-2006)
The first recording would form the basis for a full length album that followed in March 2002 with extensive West Coast tours to support it. Between the release of their debut album and August that year Kid Polymer left the band and was replaced on bass by Shock Diode, who has the fictional persona of a clone.2002 also saw the release of a 7" single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Synthesised", in October with a B-side cover of Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
's "Clones (We're All)
Flush the Fashion
Flush the Fashion is the 12th studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1980, and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. Musically, the album was a drastic change of style for Cooper, leaning towards a new wave influence...
". Before their first US tour at the end of the year, the Epoxies also began making a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
to sell at shows that collected their previous 7" releases. Soon after the tour Dr. Grip decided to leave the band and was replaced by Ray Cathode, who claims to be a clone much like Shock Diode.
The Epoxies continued to tour the United States throughout 2003 and 2004 often opening for the Groovie Ghoulies. The group also toured Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
for the first time in 2004 with NOFX
NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
. "Need More Time" was released again the following year on Fat Wreck Chords
Fat Wreck Chords
Fat Wreck Chords is a San Francisco, California based independent record label, focused on punk rock. It was started by Fat Mike and his ex-wife, Erin, in 1990....
' Rock Against Bush
Rock Against Bush
Rock Against Bush was a project mobilizing punk and alternative musicians against the 2004 U.S. Presidential re-election campaign of George W. Bush...
compilation.
This inclusion led the Epoxies to sign with Fat Wreck Chords for their second album, Stop the Future, released in April 2005, featuring a cover of the Scorpions
Scorpions (band)
Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...
' "Robot Man
In Trance
-Personnel:* Klaus Meine – lead vocals* Ulrich Roth – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Dark Lady" and "Sun In My Hand"* Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitar, backing vocals* Francis Buchholz – bass guitar, backing vocals* Rudy Lenners – drums, percussion...
". It showcased more of the short, fast songs that fans had come to expect while also showing a more down-tempo and melodic style with the ending track "Toys" (their first song to clock longer than 4:30).
They spent most of 2005 and 2006 touring with similarly pseudonymed bands The Aquabats
The Aquabats
The Aquabats are an American rock band formed in 1994 in Orange County, California. They have released five full-length studio albums and have toured internationally. They are best known for their mythology, in which they claim to be superheroes on a quest to save the world from evil through music...
and The Phenomenauts; Fat Wreck Chords label-mates Smoke or Fire
Smoke or Fire
Smoke or Fire is an American punk rock band from Boston, Massachusetts.The band originally formed in 1998, when western Massachusetts native Joe McMahon got together with Chris Brand , Bill Ironfield , and Nick Maggiore , hailing from New Hampshire...
, The Soviettes
The Soviettes
The Soviettes are a punk rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded in 2001. The group was composed of Annie , Sturgeon , Susy , and Danny , all of whom switched off singing duties.-History:...
, and Against Me!
Against Me!
Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida and relocated to Gainesville, Florida in 1999. Their first full-length album, released on No Idea Records in 2002, was Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose. They have released music on Misanthrope Records, Crasshole Records,...
; and fellow pop-punkers Teenage Bottlerocket
Teenage Bottlerocket
Teenage Bottlerocket is a punk rock band formed in Laramie, Wyoming in 2001.The band was formed by twin brothers Ray and Brandon Carlisle, following the dissolution of their previous band, Homeless Wonders, in 2000...
.
Amid this busy tour schedule the band re-recorded the single "Synthesised" in the fictional simlish
Simlish
Simlish is a fictional language featured in EA Games' Sim series of games. It debuted in SimCopter, and has been especially prominent in The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. The Sims development team created the unique Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian, French, Latin,...
language for the release of The Sims 2: Open for Business
The Sims 2: Open for Business
The Sims 2: Open for Business is the third expansion pack for The Sims 2, released on March 3, 2006, which allows Sims to run a home or community lot based business. Aspyr released a port of the game for Mac OS X on September 4, 2006...
computer game in 2006.
Break up and later work
The Epoxies signed with Metropolis RecordsMetropolis Records
Metropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the post-industrial field such as electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres....
in June 2007 and released an EP in August entitled My New World.
Posts to Metropolis' website indicate that they planned an album to follow later in the year.
However, in a MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
blog interview on March 17, 2008, Roxy confirmed rumors that the Epoxies were probably broken up, or at least on an extended hiatus.
Lead vocalist Roxy Epoxy began hosting a radio show broadcast on Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
's campus radio station in April 2007, and currently fronts the New Wave/pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
band Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound. They released their first CD Band Aids on Bullet Holes in March 2009 on Metropolis Records
Metropolis Records
Metropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the post-industrial field such as electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres....
, and underwent a national tour supporting TheStart
TheSTART
TheStart is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. Their current lineup includes Aimee Echo, Jamie Miller, Lance Webber and Chelsea Davis.- Early history and Shakedown! :...
the same month. As a solo artist Roxy Epoxy released in 2010 a 5 tracks EP called "1000" with the avant-garde french records label Rotorelief
Rotorelief
Rotorelief is a record label for artists with record pressings, fine art and graphic arts editions in any format. The label seeks to propose unexpected artists and concepts, often hard to classify in the industrial and experimental fields....
. FM Static went on to briefly tour as a guitarist (under the name "Fritz M. Static") for the Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
-based "Rocket Roll" band The Phenomenauts.
Ryan (Shock Diode) has since moved to France and appeared on Cecilia and the Sauerkrauts' full length Sauerkraut, Wurst Und Other Delights. Meanwhile, Tim (Ray Cathode) has helped form a new band in Portland called The Bourbonettes who appeared on Shower Time! A Tribute to The Punk Group
The Punk Group
The Punk Group is an electro/synth-rock band based in Portland, Oregon. The group began in 2002 "as a joke" and consists of two male members who dub themselves "Sex Object" and "The Model" after song titles by the German electronic band Kraftwerk. They record and release all their albums themselves...
.
On May 29, 2010, the Epoxies reunited for a one-off performance at a local benefit show in Portland. Perhaps confirming the group's permanent dissolution, FM Static announced to the audience before the show began to "go nuts now cause [a reunion] ain’t gonna fucking happen again!".
Epoxies shirts are worn a lot by Jeremy Roloff in the TLC show "Little People Big World"
Musical style
The Epoxies started as a reaction to popular rock music at the time. The original members felt that the entertainment and stage performance aspects of popular music were being ignored and it is this sentiment that results in their characteristic energetic shows and flamboyant home made costumes.As part of rebelling against established musical conventions the band chose to include a synthesizer; they "had the intent of offending people with it because it's such an uncool instrument." However with the rise of synthesizers in popular music since the Epoxies are often compared to acts such as The Bravery
The Bravery
The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...
and The Killers, leading the band to wonder if they aren't accomplishing their objectives by being "overly cool" instead. One of the synthsizers FM often used was a monophonic Roland SH-101
Roland SH-101
Roland SH-101 is a synthesizer from the early 1980s, manufactured by Roland. It is a small, 32 key, monophonic analog synthesizer. It features one oscillator with 3 simultaneous waveforms, an 'octave-divided' square sub-oscillator, triangle and square/pwm waveform. It has a low-pass filter/VCF...
keytar
Keytar
A keytar is a relatively lightweight keyboard that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stands...
.
Viz used a futuristic looking Epiphone
Epiphone
The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...
Explorer
Gibson Explorer
The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar that made its debut in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its sibling, the Flying V. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design which years later Gibson marketed under the name Futura.The...
that had been repainted and modified to contain a laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
and a bank of LEDs
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
.
Singles
| Year | Title | Album/EP |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 2002 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2002.-Events:*February 3 – U2 perform during the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVI... |
"Synthesized" | Stop the Future |
EP
- 1000 (EP) (2010) - RotoreliefRotoreliefRotorelief is a record label for artists with record pressings, fine art and graphic arts editions in any format. The label seeks to propose unexpected artists and concepts, often hard to classify in the industrial and experimental fields....
- 1000
- Dark Dance
- Move Your Lips
- What's There Left
- Bad Stars
External links
The EpoxiesRoxy Epoxy