In The Beginning... Ever spend a lot of time looking for something only to find it was right there all along? We lived in the same house at Rutgers College in 1993-1994 and both played guitar. But curiously enough, even though we both had tons of songs that we had written alone, we never tried to play an original song together. Well that's not completely true. There were impromptu songs that were played at parties and such but they were usually spawned after a keg stand or two or three. For example, there was the "Die Song" which goes something like, "die, die, die, die, die," as well as the infamous "Bung Song." We had a long way to go. But even though we lived together, we never thought of playing some serious music...until the very last week in the house. We learned Plush by Stone Temple Pilots and were very surprised, no... shocked, that it actually sounded pretty good. Good thing we waited until we were moving out. Beach House With the choice of moving home or moving to the Jersey Shore for the summer, we packed our things and headed south. During the summer we tried our hand at a bunch of cover songs. We had some favorites like "Crazy Mary" and "Lightning Crashes" but our old staple was always "Down By the River" by Neil Young. I think we were the only ones who liked it. A defining moment for the band (which was not yet a band) was when Dave's brother Chuck came to visit and joined in our songs. His voice was very distinctive and he had a much higher range than either of us has and I think we realized that if we were to sound good we'd have to find our own sound. Since neither of us is a master guitarist or and neither of sound like Robert Plant, we would have to use harmonies to define our sound. So we started to play songs like REM's "Driver 8" and U2's "Running to Stand Still." But even though we were playing songs together we never once tried original songs (other than the "Die Song" and others). Cover Me When we both moved to separate parts of Hoboken, NJ and in the winter of 1995, Bob was the first one to suggest actually trying to be serious about playing. We began actually plugging our guitars into amplifiers and bought actual working microphones and we were in business. We tried to emulate two small bands from New England called Thanks to Gravity and Guster. They both had the sound we were looking for, but Guster really uses harmonies to define their sound and we only wished we could sound like them. The B 'n D band almost died one Saturday afternoon at Dave's apartment when we tried to record a version of the song "Dissolve" off of Guster's first album. It was much too high for either of us to sing and it sounded like crap. We thought we were through. But we tried one more time a couple of weeks later with a version of "Happy Frappy" by Guster (yes, that actually is the real name of the song). It came off great and the band was officially born. The only thing missing was a name. I don't know who coined the phrase but we were quickly known as the famous Bob and Dave Hoboken Rag-Time Tuba Band and Friends Ensemble. That was soon trimmed down to the Tuba Band. We played various cover songs through the spring of 1996 and we decided to debut at a party at Dave's apartment in May. With a packed house and a keg, we made it through 9 songs despite Dave's annoying habit of singing the wrong words. The music went over well and there was much beer for the band after the show. Bob and Dave Band We were tiring of the covers though, so in the summer of 1996, it was Bob, once again, who suggested playing original songs. We tried playing a song written by Bob, "Give Back What I Mean," and we were on our way to the next level. The Tuba band, out of pure laziness, turned into the Bob and Dave Band, and we soon abandoned all covers. Bob wrote the background vocals to Dave's "Clearing it All Away," and our songs became rife with harmonies. We experimented briefly with electric guitar on studio versions of songs like "Canyons of My Heart" but that went out the window quickly. We decided we were going to stick with two acoustic guitars and our two voices. We were really on a roll when Dave got the call that he was moving to Toronto for his job. Booooo. Brief Break Some thought the Bob and Dave Band had broken up when Dave moved to Toronto but in truth, it was probably the best thing that could have happened. Dave spent his free time in Canada writing new songs that would soon be turned into Bob and Dave Band songs and Bob wrote some songs about how he'd never give up his bachelor lifestyle (oops!). Revival Upon Dave's return to the States, the Bob and Dave Band was instantly revived and was better than ever. This was our Blue Period. We practiced and practiced some more until we had a good hour's worth of original songs to play. We began to play on Wednesday nights at Zells, a bar in Hoboken. Our best performance was "From the Top" and it was captured on tape by an annoying guy who was running the show. Some fans could even be seen singing some of the words. Time to Rock The time is right for a change. The stars are aligned perfectly and the planets are in order. We have some old songs that are very upbeat and rocking, but a large amount of our songs are a little slower and a little to heavy. It's time for some happy songs. We have started co-writing our songs. The results have been very encouraging so far with Sundress Girl and Sweet Lemonade. Only God's Almanac knows what will come next for the Bob and Dave Band... Giants Stadium? Millions of adoring prepubescent fans?