Bob.: Wikis

Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles.

bob. was a rock band from Quincy, Massachusetts.

History

bob. was formed circa 1990 by drummer Jeff Stewart and keyboardist Tim Knepper--who had been bandmates in the Christian metal group Sentry during their college years--and their friend Chris Janke.

They chose the name "bob." because of its simplicity and lack of pretense. The lowercase "b" was intended to underscore this concept of bob. as "the common man." The period at the end was saying, "We are bob. No more no less."

Early line-ups of the band featured Janke on vocals, Stewart on drums, Knepper on keyboards, Jim Texeira on guitar, and a veritable revolving door of bass players. Despite playing numerous gigs at Boston and Cambridge area from 1990-1992, the lack of a consistent line-up was hampering the band's creativity. This changed in the autumn of 1992 when Jackie Andree and Bill Doyle became the full-time bass player and guitarist, respectively. Jackie had known Jeff, Tim, and Chris while they were all students at Eastern Nazarene College, and Bill had been a friend and co-worker of Jeff's for a year before joining bob. The band featuring Janke, Stewart, Knepper, Andree, and Doyle played their first show together on November 6, 1992 at the legendary Rathskellar in Kenmore Square, Boston.

Weeks later, the quintet recorded its first demo together, a four song effort engineered by Dan Hallas, and released in 1993.

From 1993-1994, bob. regularly performed in and around Boston at most of the top clubs of the day, including T.T. the Bear's Place, The Channel, Bunratty's/Local 186, Bill's Bar, Mama Kin, The Paradise Rock Club, and the Middle East.

In August 1994, the band went into the studio again to record its first full-length album. With Dave Spaulding working the controls at his Double Edge Music recording studio in Haverhill, Massachusetts, bob. laid down eight tracks over the course of a single weekend.

After the August recording sessions, Doyle left the band for several months to begin graduate school in clinical psychology. He rejoined the band in January 1995.

In Fenruary 1995, bob. signed a deal with Fingerprint Records. The label decided that the eight song album was a bit short, so bob. return to the studio in March 1995 to record their own Solo Dios Basta and a lively cover of Mark Heard's Fire. With a more generous 10 cuts, Tales from the House of the Wholly Bobble was released on CD in April 1995. And their version of Fire was included on the Mark Heard triubute album Orphans of God. Although Wholly Bobble received good notices from the Boston music press, the album was a commercial disappointment, due in part to limited publicity and marketing. By 1996, bob. was dropped by Fingerprint Records.

In June 1997, bob. returned to the studio to record their second album. Working with friend and engineer Dan Hallas (aka Danny Horrid) at his DLS Mobile Studio, bob. laid down 10 new rock, jazz, and ska infused tracks.

Over the next two years, bob. continued to play gigs in the Boston area (typically as part of a funk or ska bill). Unbeknownst to them at the time, bob. played their final show in May 1999 in Amherst, Massachusetts. In June 1999, bassist Jackie Andree decided he wanted to do something different musically and left the band, thus disbanding bob. Jackie went on to play two extended interim stints with Sand Machine and formed The Verge with Terry Blasko, Jon Morris, and Steve Metcalfe. (For the record, Jackie blames J.G. for the slow demise of bob. Jackie contends bob. was already done, and he was merely the first to admit it.)

After Andree left the band, Doyle, Janke, Knepper, and Stewart continued playing together, albeit with some major changes: 1) guitar and horns were out; 2) Doyle became the bassist; 3) Janke swapped his singing chores for loop programming, digitized sound effects, turntable, and spoken word breaks; and 4) Emily Brewster (Janke's wife) joined as lead vocalist. This quintet played until 2002 under the name Scuttlefish. In 2002, they recorded their only album, You've Got Blue on in the Picture.