Asylum Street Spankers

The Asylum Street Spankers, from Austin, TX, are a unique band led by vocalist/washboard player/poet Wammo and vocalist Christina Marrs. They're finding a growing cult following for their unique brand of acoustic blues and early jazz. While much of their material is blues from the 1920s and '30s, the Asylum Street Spankers also perform original songs in their live shows and on their debut album for Watermelon Records, Spanks for the Memories. The band's live shows are performed without amplifiers or microphones, usually including tunes from Bessie Smith and Robert Johnson along with other standard and traditional blues tunes.

In addition to Wammo and Marrs, bandmembers have included guitarist Colonel Josh Arnson, guitarist Jeff Ross, banjo and mandolin player Pops Bayless, drummer Jimmie Dean, guitarist and saw player Olivier Giraud, kazoo player Mysterious John, guitarist and singer/songwriter Guy Forsyth, and bassist Kevin Smith. The genesis of the band occurred in the early '90s at a hotel outside of Austin. After an all-night acoustic tune swap, the musicians realized they were onto something, getting back to basics and playing acoustic music. After several phone calls and circulated tapes, the band met again for a rehearsal, and the chemistry took over from there.

The Asylum Street Spankers began attracting growing crowds after playing steady Wednesdays at the Electric Lounge, a bar in Austin, and from that following, they took the next step and recorded their debut album for the local Watermelon label. While many of the melodies and progressions on Spanks for the Memories are old, some of the band's lyrics are straight out of contemporary America. Songs like "Funny Cigarette," "Trade Winds," "Lee Harvey," and "Hometown Boy" are funny and entertaining to most audiences. This was proven by the following live album, which chronicled a 1996 show and showcased their charm and charisma in a live setting. The Nasty Novelties EP provided fans with one great song title, "Rotten Cocksucker's Ball," but it was the following year's full-length Hot Lunch that brought the real goods. Another fine set of old-fashioned pop, the record won rave reviews and set them apart from other, more gimmick-oriented revivalists.

The next year, Spanker Madness took fans by surprise with its hootenanny-style structure and heavy cast of guest musicians. Every song revolved around the merits of marijuana, and the humorous approach and loose vibe drafted a new set of fans who were enticed by the band's liberal politics. A clever Christmas album and an EP of more dirty songs (highlighted by the hilarious "Everybody's Fucking But Me") held over fans until 2002, when My Favorite Record was released on their own Spanks-a-Lot Records. Mercurial, a typically eclectic outing that included a cover of the Beastie Boys' "Paul Revere" and a hoedown version of Black Flag's "TV Party," was released in 2004, and Re-Assembly arrived in 2006. The Spankers came out with a bouncy, family-oriented album called Mommy Says No! the following year.

from Wikipedia:

The Asylum Street Spankers, formed in Austin, Texas in 1994, was a band whose music was rooted in early 20th century American musical forms. In fall 2006, the band's anti-war satire video "Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV", directed by Morgan Higby Night garnered 1,054,743 views on YouTube within the first two months of its release. The band dissolved after a final tour in spring 2011.

History

Founded by Christina Marrs, Wammo and Guy Forsyth after a legendary party at the famous Dabbs Hotel along the Llano River in Texas, the band began by busking on the streets of Austin and playing for tips in bars. In their earliest days, the Spankers' repertoire consisted almost entirely of country, blues, jazz, swing and Tin Pan Alley songs dating from the 1890s to the 1950s with a particular emphasis on the 1920s and 1930s. While their tone was raucous and irreverent, the band was also known for its musicianship, theatricality and militant acousticism. Until 2004, they played the vast majority of their concerts without any amplification at all. Not only did this heighten the theatricality of their shows, it caused the musicians to develop inventive vocal and instrumental arrangements in order to constantly engage an audience in such a quiet performance. Several early members were actors and nearly all members have been multi-instrumentalists.

With the departure of Guy Forsyth in 1997, the Spankers began playing more original songs, most written in the roots styles the band had already mastered. By 1999, only Marrs and Wammo remained of the line up that gained popularity in Austin and around Texas. Reconstructing the band under their leadership, Marrs and Wammo began to expand the act's boundaries to include more cross-genre experimentation, more intricate arrangements and vocal harmonies, and, most successfully, more humorous songs, sometimes with pointed social and cultural commentary. Many of their albums from 1999 on have been musically or lyrically thematic. Spanker Madness, primarily country blues music about drug use, is generally pro-marijuana, but several songs examine the negative side of drug use and incisively criticize the War on Drugs. They have also released A Christmas Spanking; Mercurial, an album recorded live using technology and techniques of 1940s vintage; My Favorite Record, an album about their love of music; X-rated EPs; and Mommy Says No!, an album of songs about children and childhood heavily inspired by Shel Silverstein and Maurice Sendak. The Spankers have covered songs by a wide range of artists including Prince, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Beastie Boys, The B-52's, Black Flag, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Harry Nilsson, The Jazz Butcher, The Violent Femmes, George Jones, Nirvana, Nina Simone, Nine Inch Nails, Otis Redding, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Johnny Cash. They are also known for throwing snatches of familiar songs into cut and paste sections of their own construction to form musical montages.

In 1999, Marrs and Wammo founded Spanks-a-Lot Records to release their music. Besides giving the group complete creative control, starting their own record label allowed the Spankers to increase the frequency of their releases, avoid the problems they had experienced with their three prior labels and keep a larger share of the profits derived from their recordings. This move was part of a trend amongst musicians allowed by the proliferation of digital recording technology and distribution. Spanks-a-Lot has released two DVDs documenting the group's live show, highlighting its musicianship and continually evolving theatricality.

Their theatricality reached its apex in January 2008 when the group premiered its stage show "What? And Give Up Show Biz?" off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre.

In January 2011, Asylum Street Spankers won The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Gospel category for God's Favorite Band.

Band name

The band derived its name from Austin's Guadalupe Street, where they would often busk and where they played a number of their early shows. At one time Guadalupe Street was nicknamed "Asylum Street" because it led to a state psychiatric hospital. The term "spanker" is an old musician's term for "one who plays his instrument vigorously and proficiently".

Breakup and Farewell Tour

After the band broke up in 2010, the remaining members announced one last tour, 9 months in 50 cities: "Spanks for the Memories! The Farewell Tour." Down to one founding member, the band built a new show around Marrs, Newman, and returning member Charlie King. The "Spanks for Everything" Farewell Tour concluded with a series of final shows in Austin on April 20–23, 2011.

In March 2011, the band raised over $20,000 from fans in order to create a DVD retrospective and documentary centered around their final performances in Austin.

Personnel

Christina MarrsCharlie KingNevada NewmanMark HenneMorgan Patrick ThompsonShawn Dean (The Unknown Wrestler)Trevor SmithThrad Lee

Former members

Albums

Live (1995, out of print)Spanks for the Memories (1996)Nasty Novelties (EP, 1997)Hot Lunch (1999)Spanker Madness (2000)A Christmas Spanking (2001)Dirty Ditties (EP, 2002)"Stinkin'" b/w "Goodbye Cousin Early" (single, 2002)My Favorite Record (2002)Strawberry (Live)(2003, recorded 1998)Mercurial (2004)Pussycat (2005)Mommy Says No! (2006)What? And Give Up Show Biz? (2 disk live set, 2008)God's Favorite Band (2009)

solo albums by members:

Why Do it Right? (Nevada Newman)Lowriders On the Storm (Wammo)In the Land of Dreams (Stanley Smith)Fat Headed Stranger (Wammo)Faster Than the Speed of Suck (Wammo)

Videos

Sideshow Fez (DVD)Re-Assembly (2005) (DVD)Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV