The Oh Yeahs!
Mixing irreverence with irrelevance is no easy task, and that's why the latest Oakland-based phenomena The Oh Yeahs! decided to be decidedly irreverently relevant! Yes, city-bound SUVs, late night whiskey binges, short men with big trucks, santa barbara vacations gone awry, dot-com living, vice presidential avarice. . .it's all there! When guitarist Mario DeSio was driving his band of musicians, Mario Speedwagon, down the coast of Maine after a fund lowering event for Dick Cheney, fate would secure a head on collision with guitarist Jared Karol, driving his band of musicians, The Kennebunkport Symphony Orchestra, back from a late night gig filled with debauchery at the Bush compound. After the wreckage, many of the members of both bands were severely injured, leaving only Jared and Mario and their guitars intact. So they started playing together right there on the side of the late night Maine road, Jared fingerpicking his ragtime blues and Mario laying down his exquisite jazz chords. They even sang a little. Suddenly, David Sobel climbed out of the wreckage with a washboard. Hey, there's David, said Mario. Oh Yeah! said Jared. . .and the band was born. That very same fateful evening the band members hitchhiked their way all the way back to the safe confines of Oakland where they have been performing ever since. If you know what's good for you, you'll come check 'em out, before they are involved in another crash.
