Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft ". . . we are your friends."
Merv Spiegel and the Penguins began at Stanford University as a party band with a bizarre sense of humor. We thrived in the realm of the ridiculous, out of fashion, and sometimes inane. A favorite cover for a while was our "Psychedelic Carpenters Medley". We started by visiting the 70's bittersweet nostalgia of "Rainy days and Mondays" and then moved on to the insipidly cheerful "On top of the World" before launching skyward into Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" ala Syd Barrett style madness. Eventually we returned to the biosphere and settled cozily into the euphoria of The Carpenters' "Sing, Sing a Song". Epic.
Everybody Grab Your . . .
For our more "touching" side we used to perform an acoustic two part harmony version of "Shook me all night long" by AC/DC at slow dance tempo. (Mark would say "Everyone grab your honey" before the slow songs.) We pulled these kind of antics wherever we played, even proms. The people who were responsible for paying us at one prom (a specifically for-profit prom organizing company hired us-- yeah right, who does that for a living?) decided they would return the favor by only giving us half our fee.
Actually, we didn't live up to their expectations in other areas as well. Our bass player, Pete was very sick that night, running to the bathroom constantly during the entire gig. We had been in Chico the night before , playing a gig at "The Blue Max." Coming back from Chico tired and hungover, we had arrived over an hour late to set up. We were supposed to get $1600 and only got $800-- still pretty good money for college students.
Although we were listening to bands like Husker Du, the Flaming Lips and the local favorite, Camper Van Beethoven, we were covering bands like "The Association" and Barry Manilow and enjoying the bizarre results. Yeah, we were doing Manilow when it wasn't cool.
Merv would always say "There's no accounting for taste." . . . actually, maybe that was Mark.
Merv gets serious?
After playing an appallingly wide variety of covers we could not resist the temptation and began to write our own "originals". We worked up a punk "mock " Flamenco quitar original called "Don Quixote took an axe", (a reference to the Pink Floyd song, "Careful with that axe Eugene") and a slower than cough syrup (w/Codeine) influenced surf tune titled "Hepcouch." And of course our formidible 7 minute "Rock Opus" cover of an old commercial jingle for Goobers and Raisinets. Yes, we were the first to attempt an epic "Rock Opus Jingle". . . You're welcome.
We still aren't sure what to make of "Goobers". Some of of wish it had never happened. I must say though, if we were going to sell out, at least we could have gotten paid for it.
No really, We mean it.
The band eventually turned it's efforts to more serious original songs. Intitially songs were brought in by band members although later the songs would be more of an amalgam of ideas. After writing a handful of songs we decided to make a demo. We recorded a five song demo (including an early version of "Goobers and Raisenettes") on a rented four track at the notorious "Band Shack" where the band practiced. (An old Army ROTC building on the Stanford campus that was headquarters at the time to the zany Stanford University Marching Band or LSJUMB. This building has since been demolished and the LSJUMB has been relocated.) The building was big and broad and built with a lot of metal including an area where the ROTC actually had target practice at one time. It provided a fantastic sound for rehearsing and recording.
The demo tape got a lot of play on the Stanford station KZSU, mostly because of the novelty of "Goobers and Raisinettes" It also sold surprisingly well at the local Tower record store which would allow local bands to sell tapes through the store. We continued to write new songs. "The Battle of Quisp and Quake" was one of the first songs written by the band and starts off the "Spitting Tree" album. The song is based on an American Indian folk story about a man who sets fires in order to find a safe haven that won't burn down. (Engage irony hammer.) Within a couple of months we were approached by Beckett "Ducky" Dillard about recording an album for Americana Records. That summer we recorded "Spitting Tree" which was released on the "Americana" label.
One year later we recorded "Le Beau" although the album was never officially released.
"Merv couldn't make it tonight."
Band members included Pete Adamy on bass, Martin Arnest on vocals, Mark Crimmins on guitar and Michael Heller on drums. Mark Crimmins is a philosophy professor at Stanford University. Martin Arnest is a "Certified Arborist" in San Francisco. He was also in the SF band Buttermilk-- http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=40354575 . Michael Heller is playing in the band "Action Figure" in SF-- www.actionfiguremusic.com. Pete Adamy is doing educational research in Rhode Island. Check out his last band "Subseven"-- http://cdbaby.com/cd/subseven
Music
Music can be heard at on the "Music" page of this website, (go figure) or www.GarageBand.com/artist/MervSpiegel or downloaded at www.mperia.com.
Also check out the links page for current bands associated with Merv.
