BRAT ROCK

In 1995 I was a member of a band called I Guard the Sheep. The band was a four piece that consisted of Joel Baker, Lynn Owens, and James Morales. James moved away while Todd Space moved back and joined the band. In the beginning I was only the lead vocalist, but moved on to be the sludgier of 2 bassists in the second incarnation.
While most of us were into various 90’s Hardcore, Lynn was jamming to Caroliner Rainbow and other noise of the period. The combination of influences was evident on what we brought to the stage.


I was in art school at Florida State at the time. I made a simple artist book with the above title page. I cut out photos from the local paper of white men and added captions.


I liked the look of the book, and used the same design strategies on a flyer for an upcoming show. One of the men displayed on the flyer was Scott Maddox. Scott Maddox was the mayor at the age of 26, one of the youngest ever mayors of a large American city.


As a result of the flyer the police began investigating, purportedly at the request of Maddox. Maddox’s father had been the head of the Police Benevolent Association so it seemed anything was possible. While the police ended up only wanting to know my name, the whole affair made a wonderful media stink. Media comes easy in a small town.
Maddox and I talked on the phone and he was quite nice.


Going through my archives I wondered what happen to the woman whose photo I took on the front cover of our split 7". She had modeled for me rather frequently and I never talked to her after Tallahassee.
I found out today that she moved to LA, changed her last name, got plastic surgery, and has had some roles and guest appearances on major television shows, including a one season lead on a drama about plastic surgery.


Around the time of IGTS, MTV was launching a program called Unfiltered. The premise of the show was for viewers to submit their own stories and film themselves. MTV would later edit the footage. I called MTV and pitched a story. I told a story of a man named Sandy who had been hit by a car while on his bicycle. As a result of the collision, Sandy had to use a wheelchair. Prior to the accident Sandy had been the singer for a band called I Guard the Sheep. He and his band were trying to cope with his new life. Sandy was still taking the stage, albeit now in a wheelchair. A classic over comer story.
MTV was totally into it and sent me a Hi-8 camera and instructions to start filming Sandy and his life. We rented a wheelchair and Joel became Sandy. We filmed a number of scenarios and interviews with those affected by Sandy’s new life. We worked out a show at a local club, and MTV sent us an extra camera so that the footage could be totally pro. There was a tremendous turnout for this IGTS debut and we got wonderful footage. We figured our story would totally make it.
Yet despite all the heavy production by MTV and IGTS, our story didn’t make the cut. I was told the main reason they didn’t opt for the story was because the guitar sounded too nauseating during our live performance.