The Groovey Tubes have been honing their craftsmanship since before they were born. Practicing 2 sometimes 3 hours a day, saying, “Could we have more drums there?”
Having realized at a tender age, that the electric tambourine hadn’t been invented yet, they spent their time producing. And learning what it means to BE a producer. It means saying things like, “Could we have more drums there?” repeatedly until someone quits or a fistfight starts.
There are bands of musicians, so why can’t there be bands of producers? They would go ‘round to bands, offering to produce them for meager fees, but this got them nowhere, except thrown out the back several times.
Then, one day in late 1989, they found a band. A band called Del Amitri. The band had just recovered from a momentary lapse of reason which ended in a self financed tour of the states, and they needed something. Anything. They needed, The Groovey Tubes.
Armed with a 4 channel mixer, tube amps of questionable origin, and a half bottle of fine dark beer, they began a career that at first glance would seem ludicrous. A career that would make Phil Spector look like a genius. A career that would take them down the road to riches, but being the bus driver, they’d have to have the bus back by eight o’clock.
The first track they worked on was called “Fred Partington’s Daughter”. An upbeat country-esqe song that tells the story of prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide. A perfect country song! Unfortunately, the band also met up with another producer, and liked his production so well, that The Groovey Tubes' first effort was relinquished to the b-side of a 10” disc. Not the auspicious beginning they had hoped, but, it WAS a beginning, and it was their first beginning too! They worked with the band on and off for the next several years. Never earning an A-Side, but continually building that B-Side resume!
In July of 1996, they decided to try their hands at performing. They set up a performance away from everybody in the world, but still some die-hard fans managed to crash their little party, as news of the gig spread. It was standing room only, as the truck with the chairs failed to materialize. The line to get in was sometimes 3 and 4 deep. It was mayhem, it was mania, it was McDonalds at lunchtime.
The evolution of the Internet has kept most fans of The Groovey Tubes in touch with one another. Sometimes trading rare singles, sometimes trading recipes, sometimes trading undergarments.
What the Groovey Tubes will do next is a mystery. Not only to the fans, but to themselves. They have a b-side on a new single out in the UK, but it’s an older track from 1995. They’ve been conspicuously quiet the last few years. Which is what happens when you don’t speak for a couple of years.
So, keep searching the used bins for b-sides, because that’s where you’ll find The Groovey Tubes. Not in the bins themselves, of course, but you’ll find their work on the B-sides, in the bins, where you find the B-sides...
And to The Groovey Tubes themselves, never give up that dream! Climb ev’ry mountain. Forge ev’ry stream... Or, open a luncheon counter. They do very well, so I’m told!
The Songs:
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I do know, there's only one kind of person who has found this page, and it's YOU. So, I hope you smiled a little. That's all it was intended to do.
delmania@spiritone.com |