The Band
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In 1995 a few months after completing the musical Why the Y in Ybor?
and leaving dogs on ice, Joe Popp was getting anxious to perform live again.
Without a band, he submitted some of his Ant Farm recordings to the
Southeast Music Conference, a showcase held in Tampa, Florida.
He was surprised to be accepted and scrambled for new band mates.
He enlisted well-known rock power drummer, Jeff Wood, and super
tight bass player Martin Rice.
The band's first show, only a few weeks after forming was to a sold out Janus Landing in St. Petersburg, Florida, opening for the Toadies. They were very well received and quickly whipped out their first CD - Complex Machine. It was recorded in three short days at Morrisound Recording and the reviews were excellent, leading to 8 Florida Jammy Award nominations. The next two years would be a literal whirlwind as the band would put out another CD - Bruiser, pack out shows, and back it up with fast driving punk fueled pop. They opened for bands such as Mike Watt, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, Seaweed and Jawbox. They even got national exposure with a Fox Baseball commercial with Lenny Dykstra singing a punk version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
It seemed that the band were to be signed, but lack of funds for touring and a changing
music scene kept them from breaking out. Popp left the band in June of '97
shortly after composing and performing Macbeth with the band. As crowds waned Popp
is quoted, "It just isn't fun anymore, I don't want to fake it".
They ended up playing a few reunion shows in the Tampa Bay area until
Popp left for New York in June of 2000.
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