While the Gingerdead Men were officially formed in the summer of 1998, the basic foundation was set during the summer of 1997. With a scrapbook full of ideas, band names, and gimmicks, J laid the groundwork for what was to evolve into Project Ginger.
With his pockets empty, J went to work for Wal-Mart. He was incredibly upset with his working conditions and began to plan a conspiracy based on his employer. He told long time friends K2 and B2 his idea and they liked it. While the idea was eventually abandoned, it was still quite ingenious. The plan went like this....
The band was to be called TRAM~LAW, and was intended to be extreme hardcore. The true brilliance of the plan was the fact that TRAM~LAW would not exist. The idea was that J, K2, and B2 would go to other local shows and talk about the great TRAM~LAW show they saw the night before. The conspiracy would be accompanied by fliers and stickers being passed out around town. Somehow, of course, the fliers would all be vague enough to prevent anyone from figuring the scheme out. As demand soared, t-shirts were to be pushed onto the market and money was to be made. Eventually, songs would be written, and shows would be played, all of course would be huge successes (even though the band would be absolute garbage).
The TRAM~LAW dream was squashed when J discovered the name had already been taken by some guys in Indiana who wasted the name on a lame, very un-rock'n'roll emo project that focused more on being "emotional" than on rocking. Yet, all was not lost, as J had thought ahead and listed other possible band names. On the list, second from the bottom, the Gingerdead Men.
The Gingerdead Men officially sprang to life in May of 1998. J and K1 had returned home from college and called up K2 to rock. The very first jam happened to go down before J even had a bass amp, requiring the utilization of the now infamous bassitar. Although the bassitar was unique and added a certain element to the Ginger-sound™, J decided to scrape up enough cash to secure an amplifier worthy of their mediocre dreams as soon as possible.
With all of the first generation equipment then in place, tGDM proceeded to rock weekly, amazingly getting better with each distorted afternoon of noise and video games. This entire first summer was taped by a Sony TCM-353V cassette-corder, setting the stage for the Gingerdead Men's future of home recording tomfoolery. Another factor that helped shape the GDM was the decision to avoid playing covers, a choice made mostly because J could not play his bass very well at all.
In the infancy of tGDM, K1 and K2 had the most experience with their instruments. K1 had been fooling around with his guitar for about three years before getting in on Project Ginger. Prior to that, he worked with J on an electronic / industrial project (Mean World Syndrome). With an interest in rocking out, he was more than eager to step into the role as the GDM's lead guitar player. If tGDM were a boy-band, K1 would've been the dream-boat, GQ guy. He brought with him the SK-1, the portastudio, several guitars, and effects pedals.
K2 had also been playing for a few years, although he was never involved in a band before. K2 learned to play his guitar while in a basement isolation chamber, using a homemade amplifier and a guitar made of solid plywood. Legend has it that he developed his original technique on a five-string guitar, foreshadowing his preference for odd numbers and odd guitars. Remember, he was in on the TRAM~LAW conspiracy from the start and was destined to take his role as a Gingerdead Man. He brought the seven string and some effects pedals into the melee.
As previously alluded to, J had the least experience among the three core players. He first picked up a bass during the Thanksgiving season of 1997, and smacked it around for a few months before making an actual effort to learn how to play it. He was pushed to learn from K1 and long-time friend B2 (a member of Kent electro-rockers Kickdown at the time). Eventually, J figured enough out to be able to scrape by, and brought only his bass and a microphone to Project Ginger. He has since acquired an assortment of stompboxes and four more basses for added fun.
The always-growing list of special guests was what Project Ginger started out to be all about. Even from the very first day of practice, a guest was present. The first lucky soul thrust into the revolving seat was J and K2's friend, B1. Like J, he had little experience with his instrument, a guitar, and had been playing for less than a year. He was present during the first few jams, and contributed some brain-stabbing riffs every now and then. As far as anyone knows, he continues to play to this day, but has been absent from the GDM scene since last jamming on the rough draft of "Cornelius' Revenge."
B2 has also been unlucky enough to sit in with us. It was during these sessions that tGDM learned how bad dual bass guitars could sound. The ensuing wall of low frequency oscillations was unbearable and sounded simply awful, mainly because the GDM were nowhere near tight enough to pull it off. Nowadays, B2 offers only technical assistance and critiques. He and J still dream of getting together a band to do Deadguy-type hardcore, although neither is angry enough to ever sound remotely like the masterminds of Deadguy did.
B3, a friend first met through employment channels, has also made the painful decision to jam with tGDM. For a short time, he even had a side project with K1. He's talented in all things a band could need (including guitar, bass, and keyboards), and he most recently headed up The Spencer Adventure Team- a pop-rock trio. He enters song writing contests frequently but fails to win because his songs are about stalking people and later burying them in the backyard. In 2003, B3 made the conscious decision to become heavily involved in the Gingerdead Men's third full-length amateur recording.
On several occasions, E got himself into the GDM. He had practically grown up with most of the usual suspects and said the Gingerdead Men were about as close to being a real band as he was to being President. He was gracious enough to sing for them when they covered The Romantics' "What I Like About You." Although the recording was lost forever due to a power outage, the performance stands in time as the worst treatment ever of this classic song. To make it more punk rock, tGDM rewrote the song as "What I Hate About You." It should be noted that the Gingerdead Men are not punk rock, but sometimes they pretend to be.
The most powerful impact, yet, was made by drummer S2 in the summer and fall of 2002. He and J conspired to get tGDM into a real studio for their first professional stab at rock and roll. After a few weeks of practice that included bizarre rock tantrums and feedback induced nausea, the Gingerdead Men invaded Magnetic North Studios in Cleveland, Ohio to record the re-entry EP. There, they worked with engineer Chris Keffer to record nearly twelve-minutes of simplified, sci-fi, garage rock, doing everything (excluding vocals) live...in essentially one take.
In the true fashion of every tGDM song, a keyboard solo for Belter's Blues was conceived, executed, and recorded on the spot in roughly three takes. Although their engineer thought they sucked, he was blown away that the GDM were admittedly faking the entire thing for $50 an hour. He was so moved by their free-spirited attitude that he let them use an original, analog, Minimoog synthesizer for the dance-sequence of Castaway. It should be noted that the studio was haunted and that all four Gingerdead Men heard some mysterious sounds coming from the second floor.
Since recording the EP, S2 went back to propelling his own band and found himself without time for the GDM. He has said that he'd drum for them again if he could just find the time. K2 is currently plotting to hijack time so that S2 can bring the rock once more.
Still, there is hope, as S1 has also offered to drum for the Gingerdead Men, if they should ever wish to haul all of their gear to the sleepy Cleveland suburb he calls home. Unfortunately, S1 is constantly busy with motorcycles and schooling, so very little ever happens. It is a shame, because S1 is totally rock'n'roll.
p16 has also made a mark on tGDM recordings, although he is more notable for his work on the visual side of the band. p16 was responsible for the graphic design on the Gingerdead Men's second full-length amateur album (Untitled) and was eager to design the re-entry EP. He's also been there to guide J in the design of Engage*, their third full-length amateur recording. Musically, p16 commissioned the GDM to back him on a recorded birthday song for his girl. Hearts were all a-flutter as tGDM rocked the roller rink!
With the cast of characters out of the way, let us move on to the influences:
tGDM enjoy cinema, science fiction, firearms, rock & roll, cartoons, robots,
muscle cars, fine art, destruction, and martial arts.
Whereas some bands sit down and try to write songs, the GDM take a different approach. The group essentially plugs in and begins to throw notes and rhythms together until something cool happens. Often, a song will sprout from a fifteen minute jam, where it is everything they can do to stay together (a very difficult task when you are mediocre to begin with). Some of the best stuff anybody could ever come up with (when they don't know what they're doing) arises from sessions like these.
From there, they sometimes summon their mastery of the English language and tell twisted tales about whatever seems like a good idea at the time. They have no formula and are free to explore whatever styles of music and storytelling they want. The most unusual aspect of the Gingerdead Men is that after they write, arrange, and finally record a song...they seldom ever play it again. This pattern has only been broken once, and that was to get super-tight for the studio excursion. tGDM get really bored playing the same old songs, over and over and over again. Actually, tGDM tire easily from most things, so most of their songs end up being rather short. This trend, however, is falling to the wayside as they continue to improve their technique and drag out their boring songs over many minutes.
You may have gathered by now that the Gingerdead Men generally go without real percussion. They haven't been successful in procuring a full-time drummer that they jive with, so they rely on the pre-programmed beats of various keyboards. The earliest jam sessions were dominated by the super-funky synth tones of the mighty Casio SK-1. K1 was eventually lucky enough to acquire a big Yamaha keyboard (complete with tons of beats and drum sets), which opened a whole new universe to the GDM. J has since got his hands on a Yamaha PSS-50 keyboard for further percussive adventures. The GDM rejoiced upon these acquisitions and wrote song after song after song.
The GDM have produced many tapes and cds, each with slightly different versions of songs appearing elsewhere. This practice has lead to an enormous discography. While each release features legitimate altered versions and changed track listings, the truth is that J finds extreme pleasure in designing the packaging. Further proof of their addiction to visuals can be found in the colouring book project being undertaken by the group. Stickers and t-shirts are also in the works, even though there is little-to-no demand for such items.
Deep down, the Gingerdead Men want to do some shows for real people. They also want to break the molds of entertainment and desire to do all of their shows at odd locations. Some great places for a tGDM show would be: a feed & grain store parking lot, a vacant lot in the shadow of a cooling tower, an elementary school cafeteria, and a yuppie golf community clubhouse. It would bring a tear to the GDM's eyes if they were able to play to a swarming mass of five year olds moshing it up (or rich golf fools clutching their ears). If you are a daring individual, keep an eye out for us in your town sometime.
The Gingerdead Men are sure to disappoint.
More information will be here eventually, unfortunately for you.
(Updated for historical accuracy on January 26, 2004)
