From Charlotte To Memphis...

I moved to Memphis in 2002 which was around the same time that a band from Charlotte, North Carolina moved to town. They had this sticker campaign that just overwhelmed the sidewalks, light poles, and power boxes around Midtown. The stickers were always black and white with ambiguous things on them like old people sitting in a McDonald's with the name 'The Pelicans' on it. It wasn't that it was original because it certainly wasn't. It was just uncommon for Memphis so it was sort an interesting gimmick considering the context of Memphis. Most of the bands and people there are very relaxed about things and don't do flashy things to make themselves so obvious.

I saw them for the first time when they opened up for Melt-Banana at Young Avenue Deli. They were spastic and the East Coast/Southern counterpart to the 8-bit bands from L.A. ala' Retard Disco types like Totally Rad! There were three of them. Two guitarists and a synth player. They all added something to the combo though. The main singer/guitarist, Preston Drum was spastic and had a paranoid energy. The other guitarist, Patrick Joden, didn't sing at all but just seemed in his own world and never opened his eyes. And the synth/singer, Action Jackson Gilman, sang through what sounded like a CB radio over Nintendo sounds. 

Though they were short lived and I only saw them a handful of times, they were a really fun live act. The only recordings they made were two 4 song demos recorded by Chuck Vicious of The Oscars. There isn't any way to get these anymore unless you just have them and for all I know they'd probably like to keep it that way. But unless I hear any protests, here are three of the songs from those recordings.

'Remember Murphy Brown?' is probably my favorite of the three. Hell On Wheels is older and starts out with a sample from The Terminator and Action Jackson sings on it. He also sings over the soft sounds of 'Orange Evening' which is the only slow dance song they ever played.

Like I said, nothing too fancy but it was good at the time and I still think it's pretty fun stuff.

Pelicans, The - 'Remember Murphy Brown?'
http://www.mediafire.com/?ep5dvudjj4j

Pelicans, The - 'Hell On Wheels'
http://www.mediafire.com/?hmjjtodg1g3

Pelicans, The - 'Orange Evening'
http://www.mediafire.com/?jujtasjydw0