The Middle East, Cabridge MA, c. 1994

ben, jonno and the legend of PODS

Brotherly love yields strange fruit. My brother Jonno had been a sometimes-drummer for LEMONHEADS, and when I opted out of said outfit he (almost immediately) encouraged us to try our own thing. Which, with the help of Dave Richman, Joshua Pickering and Gary Vitagliano, we did.

The most illuminating history of PODS I'm aware of awaits you at beatplasma.net. (12/07: Or, ahem, at least it did at one point. Apparently not anymore. Cue the wikipedians.)

As you all know, *I* never remember anything unless it's written down and extensively photographed--and even then, it's pretty hit-or-miss. So I shan't attempt to recall anything but broad strokes. (This much trivia I do recall: the name originated as an acronym for "pardon our dust..." We also almost went with the name SNUFKIN -- a character from some Finnish books for children, don't ask -- or DUCK SEASON FIRE, a line from an old Warner Brothers cartoon.)

PODS was about the, er, creative tensions that come into play when you throw together one songwriter (me) chock full o' punk/new wave/hardcore influences, and another (Jonno) with, shall we say, a more classical and mainstream pop axe to grind. Grind we did, and I'm proud of the sparks that shot outta the whole thing.

Among the highlights I remember: getting the first EP serviced by ROCKPOOL; being played (more than once) by the legendary John Peel; repeated invitations to ramble and strum live on WBCN, WFNX, and a host of college stations; hanging on in the local PHOENIX top 10 for weeks, without any commercial support or distribution; and a farewell rave-up at Aerosmith's MAMA KIN on Landsdowne. Of course, I may have imagined all this. Whatever. Good times...