The band
Nick Appleby
Lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keys, percussion
Nicolaus Copernicus Appleby was already a well-established rock star when Coldplay was still in short pants. Born in a cheap flat in the seedy sheep-mining village of Flensing Minor, Nick longed for the time when he could break free of his working-class roots and rise to the heady heights of his musical idol, Enoch Powell. After some grim times in Sheffield in the late '70s as the rhythm glockenspieler for a fledgling Def Leppard, Nick finally broke into the big time when his skiffle act, Bag of Weasels, appeared on “Top of the Pops.” Unfortunately, the band was not actually scheduled to appear (to the consternation of BBC security) and, after an embarrassing stint in court, Nick's meteoric rise was followed by an equally meteoric fall back into obscurity.
Fun facts about Nick
- For a short time in the mid-90s, Nick solved crimes with the help of his partner, a wise-cracking, animated Jack Russell terrier.
- When seeking respite from the pitiless glare of publicity, Nick sometimes goes under the alias of “Ack Nippleby.”
- Nick once was deported from Australia after eating an entire wallaby on a bet.
- Nick's wife, Bethany, is an attorney and part-time supermodel who sings and writes songs in her own right. Nick, Russell and Bethany also form another band, Buzzbaby, who are the subject of an entirely different web site.
- While trying to jump Royal Gorge in Colorado with his rocket-powered Vespa, Nick plummeted 1,050 feet to a crushing landing onto rocks below. Saved from certain death by the resilience of his rock-hard pectoral muscles, nevertheless for a solid week thereafter he could say nothing at all except the word “Lederhosen.”
Russell Shaddox
Lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keys, noises
Born on the cusp of autumn, 1962, in Dallas, Texas. A year later, JFK was shot and Russell was forced to move to San Antonio by the Warren Commission. There he grew up, in the shadow of the Alamo, assuming the Alamo's shadow could reach several miles northward, over the tops of skyscrapers, and all the way to the airport. He made friends, and some enemies. He loved, and he lost. He started off naïve and ignorant, journeyed northward and grew wise beyond his years, and finally made his way back to “naïve and ignorant.” And there he sits today.
Fun facts about Russell
- Russell once almost started a fire in his house trying out a trick he learned on “MacGyver.”
- Russell has written three songs about dogs. One of them is on this CD.
- Russell has been to Ireland twice, drank a lot, played in pubs, and met several members of Clannad, but not the cute ones.
- About 20 years ago, Russell had occasion to meet both Ellen DeGeneres and Kate Jackson. Ellen was really nice. Kate had a cold.
- Russell used to draw cartoons and was once told by a professional cartoonist that his cartoons were funnier than Doonesbury. But the cartoonist was Jack Tippit, so make of that what you will.
Thad Brown
Lead and rhythm guitars, cool hair
Thad Brown was born Malachi Nehemiah on a strictly vegan Mennonite commune near Bucksnort, Tennessee. Growing up, the repressive faith of his family prevented him from learning about his boyhood heroes — Coleman Hawkins, Ben Hogan, Woodrow Wilson, and Spencer Tracy — and eating steak. Thirsting for knowledge and hungering for steak, he began a passionate written correspondence with a struggling actress in Los Angeles named Mercedes and, at her urging, broke from family and faith to find the girl who had so inspired him. Sadly, Mennonites have notoriously bad senses of direction, and Malachi rode the rails to New Haven, Connecticut, believing he was near Sausalito. Accepted at Yale due to clerical error, he changed his name to Thad Brown because it was easier to spell and studied Classics despite a crippling learning disability that made it impossible for him to read while clothed. Banned from every campus library and most restaurants, Thad wandered the streets naked, screaming Cicero at the top of his lungs while eating pork chops, until Nick Appleby found him and convinced him to play the guitar by claiming that Anaximander had laid the foundations for what would one day become Charlie Christian.
Fun facts about Thad
- Thad went to high school with Charlie Manson’s son.
- Thad once broke down in tears listening to the Brandenburg Concertos.
- Thad wrote a book that has been translated into Polish.
- Thad once bummed a cigarette off of Bob Mould while waiting in line for the men’s room.
- Thad wears cowboy boots essentially all the time, but hates horses.