But why is he up so late?
Artist:
The Captains of Industry
Label:
Industrial Might
Albums:
Supporting The Man
Tools = Cools
Solidly In The Black
Sponsored Revolution
Recycle Your CDs
Unpopular Music
Pillars of the Community
Fired (w/ Parachute)
The seeds of The Captains of Industry were sewn when friends Patrick Mahey and Errol Finneran decided to form a rock band in senior year of high school in Stratford, New Hampshire. With Mahey on vocals, Finneran on guitar, and a drummer whose identity is currently unknown (although many men in Stratford now claim to be the missing person), they began to play a form of music they satirically referred to as “power folk”. Upon graduation, Mahey and Finneran both attended Columbia University, where they attempted to form a new band. They met Allan Spalder, a bassist, who was picked up after presenting them with a dramatic reinterpretation of Mozart’s Minuet in G for the bass guitar. (This arrangement has since become a staple of the classical bass guitar world.)
After placing several ads for a drummer, and having several unsuccessful interviews, Mahey was one day awoken by a knocking on his door at three in the morning. He opened it to find Charlie Parnassus, with drumsticks in hand, who told him that he was joining a rock band, as God had commanded him to. Unable to argue at the time, Mahey agreed to take him in. The Captains of Industry were born.
The spirit behind the band remained fairly satirical, and after much debate the band set itself out to mock the “pop punk” genre. After buying an enormous quantity of clothing from Hot Topic and decking themselves out in it, the bands first shows were rowdy punk covers of advertisements for the store, restaurants, and other businesses, which they blasted outside of various locations on Columbia’s campus. Needless to say, they quickly became something of an underground sensation and were being hired to have proper shows, where they would play songs such as “Slave Labor Gets Me Shoes”, and subsequently make out with audience members.
Soon discovered by Reprise records, they were passed around the Industry to finally be signed by RCA. Their first release, Supporting The Man, contained most of their classic material and was an instant hit. “McDonalds is Delicious” hit number one, simultaneously prompting employees to surround the band members’ dorm rooms and protest against the mockery of their institution and inspiring the management of the company to send the band a letter of thanks for its support. (At the same time, millions of teenagers went out to by clothing from Hot Topic and food at McDonald’s, entirely missing the songs point, just as many college kids vowed to never eat at McDonald’s again.) “Punks = Posers” hit number seven on the charts, inspiring members of punk bands to descend upon Columbia, mingle with McDonald’s employees, and claim to be cool and have serious problems. The record sold in incredible numbers, and the world eagerly awaited the band’s next release.
The Captains were notably pleased by their success, and mounted one tour over the subsequent summer and took the next more easily, playing the occasional show in the city. At this point they were all seniors (except for Parnassus, who was twenty-seven and lived illegally in Spalder’s dorm room), and they were ready to ignore school for enough time to work on a second album. Mahey had further mockery already prepared, Fineran wanted the band to establish itself, Spalder dropped a monosyllabic vote of approval, and Parnassus just said that God was ready. The frenzy over the band had cooled, and all wanted to make a splash to get back to fame.
In a way, they did. The second album, Tools = Cools, released in time for the summer season, placed extremely solidly in the pop charts and broadened the band’s palette to include sweeter material than their original biting commentary. Mahey and Fineran demonstrated to the world an excellent sense of how to mix language and chord structure, while Spalder and Parnassus showcased their skills in the drum-and-bass piece “Featherblender”. The Captains had fully penetrated the mainstream, and had firmly lodged themselves in a niche of American music culturally. Critically, however, the band received some harsher commentary. While it was agreed that the CD was a respectable achievement, some critics wistfully claimed that the band had progressed from a satirical machine to “just another punk band”, albeit an innovative one.
The Captains, upon graduation, purchased and moved into a large townhouse in New York City, outfitting it in an incredibly lavish style, such that it was featured on two different episodes of MTV Cribs, and once an episode of TRL was shot there. Planning and hype for the next album began almost immediately after the tour for the current album concluded.
The reasons for RCA’s choice are not too hard to understand. At the time, the Captains were one of the most popular rock groups in America, and arguably the most popular in the 16 - 34 year old bracket. As such, several of the biggest producers (Di Frazone, Hensch, Florenstein, and others) were hired to help on the next album. Flyers announcing that “The Captains of Industry are solidly in the black!” covered the walls of buildings in all major cities across the country, and the line of guest artists, sound engineers, and hangers-on stretched for three blocks out the door of Half-Baked House, the studio where the record was being made.
The Captains were not themselves involved at this point. Mahey had penned several dozen lyrics and left them with RCA, as had Fineran with several hooks and chord structures. Spalder messed with his bass. All of the band members sat in their fame, enjoying it. Only Parnassus was concerned, and he calmed down once the other members bought him a giant aquarium as a gift; Parnassus immediately bought eighty-three different kinds of fish and spent much of the day watching them swim. That summer the band went on tour again, talking glibly to the sold-out audiences of each show about the new album, occasionally dropping a song or two. It was a fantastic tour, and as soon as it ended the band members were picked up by a mysterious black limousine, whisked away to the studio and recorded ten songs in four hours, and were then whisked back to their home to wait for three months.
Exactly two weeks later, Mahey received a mysterious package in the mail. It contained a cassette tape and a letter, which explained that the tape held a copy of the finished versions of three of the songs, and that they needed to listen to it. The package was unsigned.
After the band had assembled, Mahey put the tape into the band’s state-of-the-art sound system and pressed play. There was instantaneous confusion after the first track began, however, as the song on the tape was clearly not one by the band. Spalder vouched for it, however, as he could hear his bass line playing in the background. The band listened to the rest of the tape with rapt attention, then called RCA.
It is uncertain which songs were on the tape, or what exactly they sounded like. However, many trips to and from the studio were made by both representatives of the company and the band members. RCA eventually agreed to allow the band to do as it pleased regarding the album’s sound. Each morning, the band would drive to the studio and work on producing a track. Each night, a van full of guest artists, sound engineers, and hangers-on would pull up to the studio, out of which would emerge technicians who would undue all of the band’s work. It appeared as if the process would last forever, until Parnassus decided to spend the night at the studio. That evening, he cornered the van of guest artists, sound engineers, and hangers-on, and sent them away. When they came back later in the night to see if he had left, he greeted them brandishing his drumsticks, and whispered incoherent threats of what he would do if they returned. The van turned, sped off, and was never seen again. The album was finally finished, three weeks later, as the band had wished.
It was an unconditional failure, and one which more recent listeners have suggested was possibly unjustified. Solidly In The Black was criticized by mainstream listeners as being too raw for anyone’s consumption. While the critics and indie-rock kings (who until this point had ignored the Captains and treated them as unworthy of distain) all paid homage to the Captians’ campaign to maintain the integrity of their album, they also criticized the content as being shallow. The album’s tour became unofficially known as “the sullen tour”, and was characterized by fans asking for songs not on the album. After its conclusion, the Captains headed to RCA, unconditionally broke from their contract, and retreated to the house in New York. Two days later, RCA released an album of remixes from Solidly In The Black, entitled Sponsored Revolution. During the tour, the entire cavalcade of outsiders had returned to the studio with the album and reworked it as originally intended. The new album met with wild success, but the band refused to comment on it, besides a comment by Spalder that “at least they’d kept bass the same.” Critics claimed that the band members were out of touch with the mainstream, and seven of the album’s songs (all of which were released as singles) remained in the top forty for seven months.
The Captains themselves kept quiet during this period, even after one of the remixes (“Wrench In The Works [Vibrator Mix featuring Chianti]”) won a grammy - the band did not attend the awards, and sent the trophy back when it arrived in the mail. All was quiet for three years, and rumor spread that the Captains had broken up. This, however, was not correct.
To be continued…
There's a fellow I met at Quad this evening, who I've actually met several times before, who doesn't believe in the merits of history precepts because he thinks all the trends are lies, and who assumed that because I was a COS major I thought that philosophy classes & their ilk were a waste of time (maybe because he hates precepts?) People like that make me sad. Probably I shouldn't feel so condescending, but people who instantly wipe out any one side of human knowledge & study just bring me down.
The Captains of Industry
Label:
Industrial Might
Albums:
Supporting The Man
Tools = Cools
Solidly In The Black
Sponsored Revolution
Recycle Your CDs
Unpopular Music
Pillars of the Community
Fired (w/ Parachute)
The seeds of The Captains of Industry were sewn when friends Patrick Mahey and Errol Finneran decided to form a rock band in senior year of high school in Stratford, New Hampshire. With Mahey on vocals, Finneran on guitar, and a drummer whose identity is currently unknown (although many men in Stratford now claim to be the missing person), they began to play a form of music they satirically referred to as “power folk”. Upon graduation, Mahey and Finneran both attended Columbia University, where they attempted to form a new band. They met Allan Spalder, a bassist, who was picked up after presenting them with a dramatic reinterpretation of Mozart’s Minuet in G for the bass guitar. (This arrangement has since become a staple of the classical bass guitar world.)
After placing several ads for a drummer, and having several unsuccessful interviews, Mahey was one day awoken by a knocking on his door at three in the morning. He opened it to find Charlie Parnassus, with drumsticks in hand, who told him that he was joining a rock band, as God had commanded him to. Unable to argue at the time, Mahey agreed to take him in. The Captains of Industry were born.
The spirit behind the band remained fairly satirical, and after much debate the band set itself out to mock the “pop punk” genre. After buying an enormous quantity of clothing from Hot Topic and decking themselves out in it, the bands first shows were rowdy punk covers of advertisements for the store, restaurants, and other businesses, which they blasted outside of various locations on Columbia’s campus. Needless to say, they quickly became something of an underground sensation and were being hired to have proper shows, where they would play songs such as “Slave Labor Gets Me Shoes”, and subsequently make out with audience members.
Soon discovered by Reprise records, they were passed around the Industry to finally be signed by RCA. Their first release, Supporting The Man, contained most of their classic material and was an instant hit. “McDonalds is Delicious” hit number one, simultaneously prompting employees to surround the band members’ dorm rooms and protest against the mockery of their institution and inspiring the management of the company to send the band a letter of thanks for its support. (At the same time, millions of teenagers went out to by clothing from Hot Topic and food at McDonald’s, entirely missing the songs point, just as many college kids vowed to never eat at McDonald’s again.) “Punks = Posers” hit number seven on the charts, inspiring members of punk bands to descend upon Columbia, mingle with McDonald’s employees, and claim to be cool and have serious problems. The record sold in incredible numbers, and the world eagerly awaited the band’s next release.
The Captains were notably pleased by their success, and mounted one tour over the subsequent summer and took the next more easily, playing the occasional show in the city. At this point they were all seniors (except for Parnassus, who was twenty-seven and lived illegally in Spalder’s dorm room), and they were ready to ignore school for enough time to work on a second album. Mahey had further mockery already prepared, Fineran wanted the band to establish itself, Spalder dropped a monosyllabic vote of approval, and Parnassus just said that God was ready. The frenzy over the band had cooled, and all wanted to make a splash to get back to fame.
In a way, they did. The second album, Tools = Cools, released in time for the summer season, placed extremely solidly in the pop charts and broadened the band’s palette to include sweeter material than their original biting commentary. Mahey and Fineran demonstrated to the world an excellent sense of how to mix language and chord structure, while Spalder and Parnassus showcased their skills in the drum-and-bass piece “Featherblender”. The Captains had fully penetrated the mainstream, and had firmly lodged themselves in a niche of American music culturally. Critically, however, the band received some harsher commentary. While it was agreed that the CD was a respectable achievement, some critics wistfully claimed that the band had progressed from a satirical machine to “just another punk band”, albeit an innovative one.
The Captains, upon graduation, purchased and moved into a large townhouse in New York City, outfitting it in an incredibly lavish style, such that it was featured on two different episodes of MTV Cribs, and once an episode of TRL was shot there. Planning and hype for the next album began almost immediately after the tour for the current album concluded.
The reasons for RCA’s choice are not too hard to understand. At the time, the Captains were one of the most popular rock groups in America, and arguably the most popular in the 16 - 34 year old bracket. As such, several of the biggest producers (Di Frazone, Hensch, Florenstein, and others) were hired to help on the next album. Flyers announcing that “The Captains of Industry are solidly in the black!” covered the walls of buildings in all major cities across the country, and the line of guest artists, sound engineers, and hangers-on stretched for three blocks out the door of Half-Baked House, the studio where the record was being made.
The Captains were not themselves involved at this point. Mahey had penned several dozen lyrics and left them with RCA, as had Fineran with several hooks and chord structures. Spalder messed with his bass. All of the band members sat in their fame, enjoying it. Only Parnassus was concerned, and he calmed down once the other members bought him a giant aquarium as a gift; Parnassus immediately bought eighty-three different kinds of fish and spent much of the day watching them swim. That summer the band went on tour again, talking glibly to the sold-out audiences of each show about the new album, occasionally dropping a song or two. It was a fantastic tour, and as soon as it ended the band members were picked up by a mysterious black limousine, whisked away to the studio and recorded ten songs in four hours, and were then whisked back to their home to wait for three months.
Exactly two weeks later, Mahey received a mysterious package in the mail. It contained a cassette tape and a letter, which explained that the tape held a copy of the finished versions of three of the songs, and that they needed to listen to it. The package was unsigned.
After the band had assembled, Mahey put the tape into the band’s state-of-the-art sound system and pressed play. There was instantaneous confusion after the first track began, however, as the song on the tape was clearly not one by the band. Spalder vouched for it, however, as he could hear his bass line playing in the background. The band listened to the rest of the tape with rapt attention, then called RCA.
It is uncertain which songs were on the tape, or what exactly they sounded like. However, many trips to and from the studio were made by both representatives of the company and the band members. RCA eventually agreed to allow the band to do as it pleased regarding the album’s sound. Each morning, the band would drive to the studio and work on producing a track. Each night, a van full of guest artists, sound engineers, and hangers-on would pull up to the studio, out of which would emerge technicians who would undue all of the band’s work. It appeared as if the process would last forever, until Parnassus decided to spend the night at the studio. That evening, he cornered the van of guest artists, sound engineers, and hangers-on, and sent them away. When they came back later in the night to see if he had left, he greeted them brandishing his drumsticks, and whispered incoherent threats of what he would do if they returned. The van turned, sped off, and was never seen again. The album was finally finished, three weeks later, as the band had wished.
It was an unconditional failure, and one which more recent listeners have suggested was possibly unjustified. Solidly In The Black was criticized by mainstream listeners as being too raw for anyone’s consumption. While the critics and indie-rock kings (who until this point had ignored the Captains and treated them as unworthy of distain) all paid homage to the Captians’ campaign to maintain the integrity of their album, they also criticized the content as being shallow. The album’s tour became unofficially known as “the sullen tour”, and was characterized by fans asking for songs not on the album. After its conclusion, the Captains headed to RCA, unconditionally broke from their contract, and retreated to the house in New York. Two days later, RCA released an album of remixes from Solidly In The Black, entitled Sponsored Revolution. During the tour, the entire cavalcade of outsiders had returned to the studio with the album and reworked it as originally intended. The new album met with wild success, but the band refused to comment on it, besides a comment by Spalder that “at least they’d kept bass the same.” Critics claimed that the band members were out of touch with the mainstream, and seven of the album’s songs (all of which were released as singles) remained in the top forty for seven months.
The Captains themselves kept quiet during this period, even after one of the remixes (“Wrench In The Works [Vibrator Mix featuring Chianti]”) won a grammy - the band did not attend the awards, and sent the trophy back when it arrived in the mail. All was quiet for three years, and rumor spread that the Captains had broken up. This, however, was not correct.
To be continued…
There's a fellow I met at Quad this evening, who I've actually met several times before, who doesn't believe in the merits of history precepts because he thinks all the trends are lies, and who assumed that because I was a COS major I thought that philosophy classes & their ilk were a waste of time (maybe because he hates precepts?) People like that make me sad. Probably I shouldn't feel so condescending, but people who instantly wipe out any one side of human knowledge & study just bring me down.