In 2004 my friend Greg Norman, a recording engineer at Electrical Audio in Chicago, played me some songs from his band, The Bitter Tears. I was expecting “post-rock” with “angular” guitars played by gear-geeks who soldered their own cables. What I heard instead was a melodic, dark-humored two-step with an oboe solo. Then he played me “Murdered In The Bar”, and I was an instant fan. A few weeks later, I caught their live show. It looked like a tornado had ravaged a drag hag whorehouse, and they brought horns to celebrate its ruin. They became my favorite band.
Thanks to roller derby, five years later I got a call to join my favorite band. We toured the world with our dysfunctional orchestral country rock cabaret.
Here’s a link to the tour diary The Mush Behind Your Tongue In Cheek
