The Pillbugs
Encyclopedia
The Pillbugs was an American neo-psychedelia
power pop
/indie pop
group that emerged on the indie music scene in the late 1990s.
Based in Toledo, Ohio
, the band consisted of Mark Mikel (vocals/guitar/keyboards), David Murnen (vocals/percussion), Mark Kelley (vocals/bass), Scott Tabner (guitar), Dan Chalmers (drums/vocals). It has released 5 albums under the credo "the world's most psychedelic band." "I don't know if we are or not," said Mikel, "We thought so when we first formed. It was just something to draw attention. It probably isn't completely true."
The group broke up after the tragic death of band member Mark Kelley from lung cancer
.
June 1998: The first Pillbugs CD is released on their own label (Omniphonic). This was a 32 song double-disc set.
Song Titles:
1-4. (Combined) Thou Doth Warm Me (Like the Sun)/Could Never Be a Bird/Black Sombrero/Undecided
5. We Are the Orange Sky People
6. Comburda
7. Leaving to Be Friends
8. Pretend You're Not Home
9. Captain Nemo
10-11. (Combined) Now, I'm in the C.I.A./Might As Well Fly to the Moon
12. Paper Aeroplanes
13. Meddle With Me
14-16. (Combined) Pretty, Young and Free/Ball of String/Son of Shirley
17. Goodnight to Babylon
18-19. (Combined) I'll Get By/Vladimir's Sister
20. Plastic Surgical Holiday
21. Morning, Mr. Brain...to You
22. She Done Alotta Dope
23 .You'd Better Sit Down
24. The Kick-Around Boy
25. No, Imogene
26. Broken Ringing Bells
27. Hangin' Around at 5
28. The Plot Next to Garcia
29. Big Bad Momma
30. Reprise
31-32. (Combined) Illuminating Drink/Fear No Horizons
-Produced by Mark Mikel
July 1999: Bass player/vocalist Mark Kelley is diagnosed with a rare lung cancer.
March 2003: The Pillbugs release their second album "The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream." This CD contained a 3D Fisher-Price/Viewmaster reel of band pics and album art.
Song titles:
3D Montage / Neo Mega Quasi Ultra Super Groovy / One Simple Pleasure Trip / If You Can't Remain / Wait A Minute /Heather (Whatever) / Friend For The Day / Saturday Morning Cartoons / Girl On A Laser Beam / Feet First / Liberty Town Of Love / Liquid Bob / 3D Theme / The Kind Of Problem I Want / May / Bright Green Nature Machine /Charlie Blue Car / The Cat Who Dropped The Bomb / Red Light Summer / Up And Down On Your Merry-Go-Round / Will Love Ever Find Chastity Rose / Larry In The Sea With Daffodils / Popcycle Island.
-Produced by Mark Mikel
August 2003: Proverus releases a new version of the debut CD. All songs are the same but the artwork is changed/refined.
August 2004: The Pillbugs' third album "Happy Birthday" was released on the Proverus label.
Song titles:
Happy Birthday / Life As it Happens Pt. 1 / The World's Most Harmless Villain / Your Taste is Mellow / Life As it Happens Pt. 2 / Wild Bird/All in Good Time / Delicious/Feeding Seagulls / Climbing the Walls / Life As it Happens Pt. 3 / I Wake Up / Peasant Girls / Alluring Martha / And the Days Go By / Life As it Happens Pt. 4 / Daddy's Perfect Little Girl / Gus of the Fire Brigade / Here We Go Again (Like Two Leaves in the Wind) / Hold Me So Near.
-Produced by Mark Mikel and Scott Hunt
August 2004: The Pillbugs play their most recognizable gigs at Arlene's Grocery in New York City, NY.
October 2004: Bass player/vocalist Mark Kelley's cancer confines him to a wheelchair and permanent breathing machine. In this condition he manages to supply the bass guitar for the next Pillbug album.
April 2007: The Pillbugs catch the attention of power pop label Rainbow Quartz who signed the band a deal for a "best of" CD release. Later, this album was named Monclovia, after a township nearby Toledo.
June 2007: The Pillbugs release their fourth album (and second double CD) Buzz for Aldrin on the Proverus label. The songs' melodies, lyrics and themes are intertwined ultimately leading back to their first album. The artwork was created by renowned California artist Mark Roland specifically for this release.
Song titles:
Walking Along an Edge of Sky / Make Like Arthur Lee / Milkman's Wife / It Seems You are So Happening / King of Zorg / I Don't Really Mean to Freak Your Mind / No Joke / Spaced-Out / Al Gabone / Gazing at Clouds / Brilliant but Late Advice / Lost Lonely Sailor / 4 sec Nightmare in a 5 sec Dream / Closer / I'd Give it All Up for You / The Last Confederate Soldier / She's in Style / Still Haven't Learned to Behave / Long Goes the Human/Sidecar / My Heroine / Buzz for Aldrin / Good to Be Alive / In the End (You're Moving On).
-Produced by Mark Mikel
A video for the song Spaced-Out was also made: Spaced Out Video
July 2007: Proverus officially announces the third CD "Happy Birthday" is "out of print."
August 2007: USA Today music editor Ken Barnes chooses The Pillbugs "All in Good Time" in his "Pick of the Week" column.
September 2007: USA Today music editor Ken Barnes chooses The Pillbugs "4 sec Nightmare in a 5 sec Dream" in his "Pick of the Week" column.
October 2007: The Rainbow Quartz CD "Monclovia" released in USA and Canada. Two previously unreleased Pillbugs songs open the disc: "Here's to the End of Time" (a new recording) and "Faceless Wonder" (a Buzz for Aldrin outtake). Two previously released songs were treated to remixes: "All in Good Time" and "Charlie Blue Car."
-Produced by Mark Mikel and Scott Hunt
November 2007: The Rainbow Quartz CD "The Pillbugs-Monclovia" released in Europe and Asia.
December 2007: NYC publication The Big Takeover places The Pillbugs in their Top 40 (issue 61).
February 8, 2008: Pillbugs begin recording a brand new album for the Rainbow Quartz label.
May 3, 2008: Bass player/singer/songwriter Mark Kelley dies after a 9-year struggle against lung cancer.
May 2008: The Pillbugs claim go on hiatus after Mark Kelley dies, but unfortunately this turns into a breakup later in the year.
November 10, 2008: "Everybody Wants A Way Out" was released by the label Rainbow Quartz, after the band's breakup in May.
Song List:
Life As It Happens / Can't Get It Right (So I'm Loving It Wrong) / Greeting Committee / Emily Loves / Soundman / Sad Little Girl / Merely Stacking Chairs / Do You Really Want To Go To The Center Of The Sun? / Hard Line / Play The Hear Back / Trip Fast And Run / Get Away For The Summer / Tragedy Anne / North Of Reality.
2004 - The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream
2004 - Happy Birthday
2007 - Buzz For Aldrin
2008 - Monclovia
2008 - Everybody Wants a Way Out
http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/whatson/entertainments/tm_method=full%26objectid=14683126%26siteid=50003-name_page.html
http://www.fufkin.com/columns/bennett/bennett_rev_11_03.htm
http://progressive.homestead.com/progressive.html#anchor_50
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/reviews.cfm?bandid=57106
http://www.notlame.com/CDPILL5.html
http://www.notlame.com/The_Pillbugs/Page_16/CDPILLB3.html
http://www.notlame.com/The_Pillbugs/Page_1/CDPILLB2.html
Neo-psychedelia
Neo-psychedelia is music that emulates or is heavily influenced by the psychedelic music of the 1960s. It began to be revived among British post-punk bands of the later 1970s and early 1980s and was taken up by groups including bands of the Paisley Underground and Madchester scenes, as well as...
power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
/indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
group that emerged on the indie music scene in the late 1990s.
Based in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, the band consisted of Mark Mikel (vocals/guitar/keyboards), David Murnen (vocals/percussion), Mark Kelley (vocals/bass), Scott Tabner (guitar), Dan Chalmers (drums/vocals). It has released 5 albums under the credo "the world's most psychedelic band." "I don't know if we are or not," said Mikel, "We thought so when we first formed. It was just something to draw attention. It probably isn't completely true."
The group broke up after the tragic death of band member Mark Kelley from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
.
History
1991 - 1998: Mark Mikel formed a band with David Murnen, Mark Kelley, Dan Chalmers and Scott Tabner named "The Mark Mikel Hallucination". They preformed numerous times and released two original albums named "Sorghum Pudding" in 1991, "Idiot Smiles" in 1994, and one cover album named "Blatant Ripoffs" in 1996. After building fame in their area, they decided to change their name to make them more Beatles-esque, which because The Beatles were one of their greatest influences, makes "The Pillbugs" a fitting name. After they changed their name in early 1998, they began work on their first album under the name.June 1998: The first Pillbugs CD is released on their own label (Omniphonic). This was a 32 song double-disc set.
Song Titles:
1-4. (Combined) Thou Doth Warm Me (Like the Sun)/Could Never Be a Bird/Black Sombrero/Undecided
5. We Are the Orange Sky People
6. Comburda
7. Leaving to Be Friends
8. Pretend You're Not Home
9. Captain Nemo
10-11. (Combined) Now, I'm in the C.I.A./Might As Well Fly to the Moon
12. Paper Aeroplanes
13. Meddle With Me
14-16. (Combined) Pretty, Young and Free/Ball of String/Son of Shirley
17. Goodnight to Babylon
18-19. (Combined) I'll Get By/Vladimir's Sister
20. Plastic Surgical Holiday
21. Morning, Mr. Brain...to You
22. She Done Alotta Dope
23 .You'd Better Sit Down
24. The Kick-Around Boy
25. No, Imogene
26. Broken Ringing Bells
27. Hangin' Around at 5
28. The Plot Next to Garcia
29. Big Bad Momma
30. Reprise
31-32. (Combined) Illuminating Drink/Fear No Horizons
-Produced by Mark Mikel
July 1999: Bass player/vocalist Mark Kelley is diagnosed with a rare lung cancer.
March 2003: The Pillbugs release their second album "The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream." This CD contained a 3D Fisher-Price/Viewmaster reel of band pics and album art.
Song titles:
3D Montage / Neo Mega Quasi Ultra Super Groovy / One Simple Pleasure Trip / If You Can't Remain / Wait A Minute /Heather (Whatever) / Friend For The Day / Saturday Morning Cartoons / Girl On A Laser Beam / Feet First / Liberty Town Of Love / Liquid Bob / 3D Theme / The Kind Of Problem I Want / May / Bright Green Nature Machine /Charlie Blue Car / The Cat Who Dropped The Bomb / Red Light Summer / Up And Down On Your Merry-Go-Round / Will Love Ever Find Chastity Rose / Larry In The Sea With Daffodils / Popcycle Island.
-Produced by Mark Mikel
August 2003: Proverus releases a new version of the debut CD. All songs are the same but the artwork is changed/refined.
August 2004: The Pillbugs' third album "Happy Birthday" was released on the Proverus label.
Song titles:
Happy Birthday / Life As it Happens Pt. 1 / The World's Most Harmless Villain / Your Taste is Mellow / Life As it Happens Pt. 2 / Wild Bird/All in Good Time / Delicious/Feeding Seagulls / Climbing the Walls / Life As it Happens Pt. 3 / I Wake Up / Peasant Girls / Alluring Martha / And the Days Go By / Life As it Happens Pt. 4 / Daddy's Perfect Little Girl / Gus of the Fire Brigade / Here We Go Again (Like Two Leaves in the Wind) / Hold Me So Near.
-Produced by Mark Mikel and Scott Hunt
August 2004: The Pillbugs play their most recognizable gigs at Arlene's Grocery in New York City, NY.
October 2004: Bass player/vocalist Mark Kelley's cancer confines him to a wheelchair and permanent breathing machine. In this condition he manages to supply the bass guitar for the next Pillbug album.
April 2007: The Pillbugs catch the attention of power pop label Rainbow Quartz who signed the band a deal for a "best of" CD release. Later, this album was named Monclovia, after a township nearby Toledo.
June 2007: The Pillbugs release their fourth album (and second double CD) Buzz for Aldrin on the Proverus label. The songs' melodies, lyrics and themes are intertwined ultimately leading back to their first album. The artwork was created by renowned California artist Mark Roland specifically for this release.
Song titles:
Walking Along an Edge of Sky / Make Like Arthur Lee / Milkman's Wife / It Seems You are So Happening / King of Zorg / I Don't Really Mean to Freak Your Mind / No Joke / Spaced-Out / Al Gabone / Gazing at Clouds / Brilliant but Late Advice / Lost Lonely Sailor / 4 sec Nightmare in a 5 sec Dream / Closer / I'd Give it All Up for You / The Last Confederate Soldier / She's in Style / Still Haven't Learned to Behave / Long Goes the Human/Sidecar / My Heroine / Buzz for Aldrin / Good to Be Alive / In the End (You're Moving On).
-Produced by Mark Mikel
A video for the song Spaced-Out was also made: Spaced Out Video
July 2007: Proverus officially announces the third CD "Happy Birthday" is "out of print."
August 2007: USA Today music editor Ken Barnes chooses The Pillbugs "All in Good Time" in his "Pick of the Week" column.
September 2007: USA Today music editor Ken Barnes chooses The Pillbugs "4 sec Nightmare in a 5 sec Dream" in his "Pick of the Week" column.
October 2007: The Rainbow Quartz CD "Monclovia" released in USA and Canada. Two previously unreleased Pillbugs songs open the disc: "Here's to the End of Time" (a new recording) and "Faceless Wonder" (a Buzz for Aldrin outtake). Two previously released songs were treated to remixes: "All in Good Time" and "Charlie Blue Car."
-Produced by Mark Mikel and Scott Hunt
November 2007: The Rainbow Quartz CD "The Pillbugs-Monclovia" released in Europe and Asia.
December 2007: NYC publication The Big Takeover places The Pillbugs in their Top 40 (issue 61).
February 8, 2008: Pillbugs begin recording a brand new album for the Rainbow Quartz label.
May 3, 2008: Bass player/singer/songwriter Mark Kelley dies after a 9-year struggle against lung cancer.
May 2008: The Pillbugs claim go on hiatus after Mark Kelley dies, but unfortunately this turns into a breakup later in the year.
November 10, 2008: "Everybody Wants A Way Out" was released by the label Rainbow Quartz, after the band's breakup in May.
Song List:
Life As It Happens / Can't Get It Right (So I'm Loving It Wrong) / Greeting Committee / Emily Loves / Soundman / Sad Little Girl / Merely Stacking Chairs / Do You Really Want To Go To The Center Of The Sun? / Hard Line / Play The Hear Back / Trip Fast And Run / Get Away For The Summer / Tragedy Anne / North Of Reality.
Discography
1998 - The Pillbugs2004 - The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream
2004 - Happy Birthday
2007 - Buzz For Aldrin
2008 - Monclovia
2008 - Everybody Wants a Way Out
Endnotes
http://www.rainbowquartz.com/artists.asp?BC=PBhttp://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/whatson/entertainments/tm_method=full%26objectid=14683126%26siteid=50003-name_page.html
http://www.fufkin.com/columns/bennett/bennett_rev_11_03.htm
http://progressive.homestead.com/progressive.html#anchor_50
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/reviews.cfm?bandid=57106
http://www.notlame.com/CDPILL5.html
http://www.notlame.com/The_Pillbugs/Page_16/CDPILLB3.html
http://www.notlame.com/The_Pillbugs/Page_1/CDPILLB2.html
External links
- Pillbugs website
- Rainbowquartz
- Proverus Records website
- http://illuminatingdrink.blogspot.com/ lluminating Drink an oneline scrapbook
- A video from the Pillbugs' "Buzz for Aldrin" album
- "Glorious singalong psychedelia", Coventry Telegraph, May 18, 2007
- Review from Mike Bennett of Fufkin.com
- Review from Gerald Van Waes of Belgian radio show Psyche Van Het Folk
- Four reviews, including one from BeatleVisionBill of ScrubRadio and one from David Bash, head and founder of the world-famous International Pop Overthrow Festival
- Not Lame review of "Happy Birthday"
- Not Lame review of "The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream"
- Not Lame review of "The Pillbugs"
- http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2007/09/this-weeks-pl-3.html USA Today review of "4 Sec Nightmare in a 5 Sec Dream"
- http://www.last.fm/music/The+Pillbugs Last.fm page