Local bands come and go. In a world that isn't based on contracts and high-priced record deals, local musicians are free to unite, play for a while and move on. But from this changeable world, some great bands emerge.
Most don't find major success and many don't even last all that long, but they have something special that endears them to local music fans. Since OnMilwaukee.com's staff is full of music lovers, we thought about which Milwaukee bands have meant the most to us over the years.
Although nearly everyone had too many favorites to make the choice easy, each settled on one all-time favorite:
Decibully -- So much of what makes a local band special to me is the chance to not only see them live over and over again, but also to watch them grow and evolve through the years. Being on the younger end of the OnMilwaukee.com editorial staff spectrum, I haven't been legally allowed in the music venue scene as long as my co-workers, so picking my favorite local band of "all time" means wadding through memories less than a decade old.
That being said, my choice is Decibully. I remember the first time I saw them play at The Globe -- it must have been '01 or '02 -- and have tracked their progress over the last seven years. Their first Polyvinyl release, "City of Festivals," won me over in 2003, but 2005's "Sing Out America!" solidified their place as one of the city's most promising bands. Can't wait for the new album, which will (hopefully) surface this year. -- Julie Lawrence
Spanic Boys -- After seeing bands in bars and clubs in and around Milwaukee for more than two decades, I've come to realize that there is one constant in the local music scene:
People bitching about the local music scene.
Amid the incessant grousing about talent, opportunity, money, radio support, venues -- and the glaring lack of all those elements -- the folks on local stages have managed to provide some magical moments.
I've spent many memorable (and in some cases, forgettable) nights with groups like the R&B Cadets, Leroy Airmaster, Greg Koch and the Tone Controls, Da Bodeans, Squares, X-Cleavers, Colour Radio, Semi-Twang, Sad But True, Snopek and the Washed Up Has-Beens, Capitol Drive, Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans, the legendary Bad Boy (there were always great looking rock girls at those mid-80s shows), Willy Porter and, of course, the Violent Femmes.
If I had to pick a favorite, though, I'd go with the Spanic Boys. I think I was at a union party at Century Hall the first time I saw Tom and Ian strap on the Telecasters and start the fret fireworks. I was hooked immediately. The songs -- which drew from Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, the Everlys and others -- were catchy. The look was unique. The playing was so intricate and immaculate that it made me want to go home and flail away at my own cheap Mexican Tele. Seeing those early Spanic Boys shows made you feel like you were in on a great secret that you had to share with all your friends. When the boys made it to "Saturday Night Live," I felt like my "discovery" had been validated. -- Drew Olson
Comet 9 -- This is a tough one. The Violent Femmes will always have a special place in my heart. I was "coming of age" around the time the first record came out, and "Add It Up" was just about the coolest - and raunchiest - song I had ever heard. There are so many great Milwaukee musicians and groups that I have loved seeing over the years - including Willy Porter, Wild Kingdom, Codebreaker, etc. -- but the locally-made record that's completely passed the test of time for me is by a lesser-known band called Comet 9. Their only full-length record, "In Mercury," is now 10 years old, but hasn't really left my A-list rotation. The upbeat, Portishead-sounding group features Susan Zielke singing vocals, Tom Nelson on guitar, Peter Buffet playing keyboards, DJ Brooks drumming and Malcolm Michiles scratching records. -- Molly Snyder Edler
Violent Femmes -- It almost seems a little too easy, or at least a little too cliché, to name the Violent Femmes as my favorite Milwaukee band. It's been several years now since I've seen them perform, and indeed longer since I bought a Femmes album (not that they've given me much to work with). But in a 10-year period, between 1992 and 2002, I probably saw the Milwaukee trio 15 times, playing venues from the Waukesha County Fair to the Marcus Amphitheater, and everywhere in between. Obviously, their most beloved album was their debut, and while it's in the lowest of rotations in my iTunes at this point, I'll always crank the volume when "Gone Daddy Gone" or "Blister in the Sun" comes on the radio. But what struck me most about the Femmes was their lesser-known work.
Tracks from albums like "Hallowed Ground" and "Why Do Birds Sing?" and "Blind Leading The Naked," that never got any air play, define the group's brilliance. They've had a halo effect on the Milwaukee music community, and if you listen to John Kruth or Sigmund Snopek, you'll hear influences in both directions. In fighting, egos, breakups and an unwillingness to record new material took the luster off my appreciation of the band. As I've interviewed each member and gotten to know the back stories, I've found myself wishing I didn't, and wanting to just go back to that show at Great Woods in Boston in 1992. But take a listen someday to their greatest hits album, "Add It Up," released the next year. Every one of those songs is a work of art, and proof positive that the Femmes are the all-time best band to come from Brew City. -- Andy Tarnoff
