As the Serous Bob Retrospective continues, I present a cleaned-up version of the Serious Bob demo. The ZIP file, accessed by clicking the cover at the bottom of the post includes all 10 original tracks, the black cover, and is the first of the Serious Bob reissue downloads that will eventually form a set of 10 “discs.”

This is disc one. Enjoy!

The official Serious Bob History says this about the demo:

During the final semester of High School, Tai was working on an Independent Project for Mr. DuFresne, the music teacher at Monarch High School. It was a loops-based dance album that preceded his work with Serious Bob. Eventually, Tai brought in Da7e and cellist/DJ Keith Dickerhoffe (who would go on to play the cello on “This Place”) to help with a few tracks. During the process, Tai and Da7e developed simple production skills. Armed with a few simple chord progressions, a few computer programs, a mic, a 1⁄4” to 1/8” adapter, and a mattress up against the bedroom door (for soundproofing), Serious Bob produced the Self-Titled Demo.

The idea to distribute the EP was spurred on by the recent mass sale of fellow Monarch High School band Unsung. Unsung had made their own copies of their demo and sold them to students in the halls for $10, recouping their recording costs. Serious Bob incurred minimal recording costs, and the three members knew that more people would listen to a free CD than buy something from a band they had never heard of. Thus, Serious Bob’s policy of giving away their music for FREE was born.

 
The EP also outlined several other Serious Bob themes that would repeat in the following years. “HAMAS/FBI” was re-focused to be a political statement about privacy (the band also wrongly thought that the HAMAS scare left over from 9/11 would blow over), “A Modest Proposal” is both literary humor and about cannibalism, “This Place” was the first “serious” song written and displayed Da7e’s love of vocal looping, and “The Serious Adventures of Sancho” introduced both El Macho and Sancho the Mariachi/Crime Fighter/King as well as being the first Bob song to follow one story with an arc and dialogue built into the song. The Demo also features the first SB cover to be recorded, “Sweet Home Alabama.” This cover was never meant to exist, but was a sudden improve during a record take that was tacked on to the end of “The Love is Gone.” Tai thought that the “The Love Is Gone” was too serious for a joke band, and asked that Da7e make some sort of humorous apology at the end of the track. Unfortunately for apologies, Elliott happened to be playing “Sweet Home Alabama” in the background. As a result, the Bob has incorporated more songs like “The Love is Gone” over the years. Da7e now explains them as “Pop Parodies” or songs that mirror classic pop structure, but are actually about toast, pie, chili or things besides food.

 
The Demo was recorded before the show at the BBQ, and saw various levels of release. The first version of the Demo can be identified by its CD stamp: cartoons of Da7e, Elliott and Tai with Tai’s phone number as a contact. Later incarnations are missing the phone number.

 
Original cartoons (click to expand):

Click to download the ZIP file!

Christopher Sweeney, the Theater Director and friend of the band, encouraged Elliott, Tai and myself to play at the Monarch Senior BBQ in May 2002. We eventually decided on the name Serious Bob, and registered to play a four song setlist as one of the opening acts. The first song was “Skin” which has remained basically the same since it’s inception in the hallways of Monarch, where the band was born. It was followed up by a politically-themed cover of “Stay Together for the Kids” by Blink 182, but instead of the normal verses, I ad-libbed about the Bush Administration and the horrors it would inflict upon our generation. The third song was a Beatles cover: “In My Life,” performed solo by Elliott. The set-closer was “Where is My Mind” a Pixies cover, where Tai and Elliott played the same guitar at the same time as Elliott sung, and I screamed the keyboard part from the back of the stage.

At the end of the set, the mood was mostly congratulatory for the two Seniors. The closing act of the night was Turoke, the band that still features drummer Jason Frantz, who would join Serious Bob the next year as part of the full-lineup.

Weeks before the show, Elliott, Tai and I spent a few hours playing instruments and making up song lyrics in Tai’s basement. One of the songs started to take a definite form, andwe recorded it using a simple mini-tape recorder, placed on a table in the middle of the room. The song was called “HAMAS/FBI.” Although the original recording was lost, this was the birth of the Self-Titled Demo.

The resulting track, announcing Serious Bob’s existence to the world, opened up the Self-Titled Demo.

During the original improv that eventually became The FBI Song, the Bush Administration was restricting civil liberties in the wake of 9/11. The smarter and future versions of us would later look back on this as the root cause for the song. Realistically, we were just making music because two of us knew guitar, and I could make up simple rhymes, given the tempo wasn’t too robust.

Download link “The FBI Song” by Serious Bob off Serious Bob (Demo)