Well, it's official... We'll be having our "Big Break" this afternoon (August 20th)! Just in case you aren't familiar with the "music biz," I'll explain exactly what that means. You see, most bands put in lots of time and effort, struggling, paying their dues, and achieving a minor amount of success after many years.
That seems pretty good for most bands, but the members of The Possum Posse recently took a vote and decided we wanted to go ahead and be super-popular and/or famous. We also unanimously voted against all the tim
e and effort, struggling and paying of dues. We decided that, much like The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, or Antoine Dodson on WAFF-48/YouTube, we needed to schedule a singular event that would catapult us into super-stardom. A "Big Break," if you will.
That seems pretty good for most bands, but the members of The Possum Posse recently took a vote and decided we wanted to go ahead and be super-popular and/or famous. We also unanimously voted against all the tim
e and effort, struggling and paying of dues. We decided that, much like The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, or Antoine Dodson on WAFF-48/YouTube, we needed to schedule a singular event that would catapult us into super-stardom. A "Big Break," if you will.We weren't sure exactly who you schedule "Big Breaks" through, but we assumed it was either the County Tax Assessor or the Secretary of State. When we called to get the paperwork for filing, we found out that there is actually no official form or document to fill out for a "Big Break." Very strange, considering few bands have even a small "Break." I guess it's just ignorance/avoidance of bureaucracy and this obvious loophole in the system.
We decided to schedule a "Big Break" at the Saxon Pub in Austin. The Saxon Pub hosts such acts as Willie Nelson, Pat Green, Bonnie Raitt, and apparently, The Possum Posse. True, we'll be playing from 3:00-4:30 in the afternoon, but I suppose that's better than 2 a.m. on a Monday night. To top it off, we'll even be recording a live CD and DVD at the Pub to commemorate the event (probably to look back on later and longingly remember the days before the Paparazzi and the screaming fans and the multi-million-dollar private tour-buss/tour-hovercraft).
So, as a tribute to our upcoming "Big Break," we've compiled a few photos of The Possum Posse we've taken along the way. It's a way of saving time and energy later when Ken Burns wants to make a documentary about us and we have to try to do it while on a moving tour-bus/tour-hovercraft amidst screaming fans and the Paparazzi.
Enjoy:
The band was formed in 2002 as "Rascal Red and The Possum Posse" in Clyde, America, TX. We featured Jake on a homemade washtub bass, Lincoln on the banjo, and Jomo on the guitar/mandolin. Jake's outfit was the height of functionality - The gloves protected his hand from the 1/4-inch nylon string of the "bass," the boots protected his feet as we walked from house to house ringing doorbells and delivering hot, fresh bluegrass in 30 minutes or less, and the red union-suit kept him comfortable and let people know he was into fashion/slightly crazy.
By 2005, Jake had joined the army, so the band brought in Daniel Noworatzky on actual upright bass. One of our best shows took place on campus of Texas A&M at Rumors Coffee House. As students prepared for their final exams, we sang them loud songs about pretending to be dinosaurs and dealing with terrifying munchkins (what we believed, at the time, to be erudite topics). As it turns out, many of these students failed and we received quite a large amount of hate-mail from parents. But we did get some positive feedback on our performance from the students, which is what counts.
In 2007 we were hired asked by a friend to play a Texas Independence Party in New Jersey. We obviously had plenty of questions (what?, why?, where?), but simply agreed to play instead of asking. Because Lincoln and Jomo could not afford to hire a decent band, we called up friends and relatives who lived near the East Coast to join us. Please remember; This was a long time ago when "The Posse Sound" was still somewhat formative and malleable, and practice was unanimously decided to be negligible (These days, joining the Posse is an extremely difficult and bureaucratic process). We recruited Taylor to play washboard (rhythm section), Hayes to play acoustic bass (the first and still only Posse member to use/understand sheet music), Matt to riff on the dobro (and mandolin), and Ben to round out the sound and play the Jaw Harp (his primary instrument). As can be seen in the above photo, we "constructed" a stage out of pickup trucks and wooden palates.
In 2008, we got our first gig at an actual Austin venue - The Cypress Grill on William Cannon. Matt had moved to Austin and was available to continue his riffing on mandolin. Somehow, folks managed to keep their gumbo down despite our loudly singing songs about "Bird Poo" during their dinner. We took that as a sign of our musical improvement, even though the restaurant owner did ask we never perform that particular song (and a few select others) ever again.
In 2009, The Posse had a major personnel change. Daniel had a baby, and Lincoln moved to Boston, and Matt moved to Virginia. Jomo met Brian at a Dairy Queen drive-through and instantly a bond was made. Not in a creepy way, mind you. But the two began playing regularly and quickly honed the new "Posse Sound." They wrote some new and less-offensive songs, and got regular gigs, including a wedding - as seen in the photo above - where the band classed up their usual attire per the venue's request/demand. Soon afterward, Robert was added on Banjo as Lincoln's replacement.
Next, Jes joined The Posse on electric guitar. At 13 years old, he asked if the band had a problem with such a young player. The rest of the band listened to Jes's materials and decided they did not. Because Jes did not have a driver's license, his dad, Marty, drove him to practice. And because Marty is the one who taught Jes to play, The band realized he should be playing with us if he's going to be at practice anyway. Thus the band gained 2 superior players for the price of one (well, actually none, since we didn't really have many paying gigs back then). By 2010, the band had actually been paid a couple of times (for performances rather than odd jobs), and Jes had mastered the art of wearing a fake mustache in order to gain entrance into the bars and honky-tonks where The Posse was playing.
More recently, Lincoln has rejoined the band and The Posse's sound has been refined. We added in a foot-drum, made up some new songs, stopped wearing long underwear in public, and even got a PA system! The obvious next step is "Big Break."
So, as you can see, it's been a long journey. Some might say, it's been a surprisingly long journey, given the minor improvements. But in any case, we'll be ready to deliver the new and improved Possum Posse sound this afternoon (3pm) at Saxon Pub. We'll also be giving away FREE KOOZIES TO ALL!!! If you miss this gig, then perhaps you're not even a real fan of The Posse. And sadly, that's a way-too-common thing in today's society.
