whole grain interstate
Members:
andrew small ~ lead vocals
ben adleman ~ guitars
jhimm ~ vocals, guitars
jeffery pierce ~ bass, vocals
adam lahti ~ keyboards, vocals
todd richard ~ drums, percussion
Whole Grain Interstate was an exercise in the unabashed embracing of excess in almost every sense during the 93/94 academic year.
a classic, six piece rock band during the height of "grunge" minimalism and power trios, WGI was an homage (as well as an unconscious deconstruction) of rock and roll, glam rock, hair metal, party rock, and everything else that we grew up listening to and loving.
we knew, on one level, that there was something to be ashamed of in all this, but at the same time, we couldn't deny our roots.
Welcome to 1973, We're Whole Grain Interstate!
The Bill Forbes Memorial Tour ~ recorded live on dec 10, 1993 in the Gordon College Dining Hall
throughout this live set you will hear Elvis, The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Sweet, T Rex, David Bowie, The Cure, disco, funk, The Allman Brothers, Guns 'n' Roses and even Pearl Jam (brand new at this time, and completely unintentional on our part).
in any given song, we were never really certain if we were making fun of something, or paying tribute.
listening to this material nearly 20 years later, it sounds to me like both at the same time.
young men who are embracing their roots while also trying to come out from under them and into their own right.
this live set was plagued by technical problems and nerves (which prompted some spur of the moment arrangement changes which were questionable at best), but also featured on stage go-go dancers, near full group backing vocals, and men in eyeliner.
you can hear the audience slowly warming to the idiom over the course of the set, as they begin to understand that the point is to be laughing while you're dancing.
copyrights vary from song to song and were retained by their authors. ben wrote both music and lyrics for the opening track, the title of which escapes me. andy wrote both music and lyrics for "world falls down". jhimm wrote both music and lyrics for "dorothy", "sense" and "whole" (dorothy has since been published by (lisp)). the rest were a collaborative effort usually between andy and jhimm and sometimes ben.