It’s been a bad week for downtown Manhattan. When news broke that both the Mars Bar and Max Fish were being forced to shut their doors (they say the Mars Bar will be back, but I think that’s a big crock of crap), many a local blogger – myself included – was moved to weepily reminisce about their heady days imbibing within each establishment’s hallowed walls. Oddly enough, both of these bars make me think of the band below. As such, their cacophonous din has been in my head for the past couple of days. So now, I share with you.
I put up a post about The Unband in some slavishly-overwritten depth back in 2005. As mentioned there, I first met them when they were crashing at my friend Rob’s Costa Mesa bungalow back in the mid-90s, but they frequently played the Manhattan club circuit, which found them darkening the doors, soiling the stages and slobbering all over the barstools at venues like Brownie’s (gone) and The Continental (no longer a live music venue). But when they were “off duty,” you were invariably more than likely to find the gents in the Unband wreaking havoc at both the Mars Bar and Max Fish (I believe they might have even performed at Max Fish at one point, but can’t totally remember). That they never achieved global superstardom wasn’t a total shock, but it was at least entertaining to watch them attempt it.
Time passes. Eras end. Bands break up. People fall out of touch. Bars close. I have no idea where the boys are today (I was Facebook friends with one of them for a little while). In any case, I doubt they’d be happy to hear about the closing of their favorite watering holes. Here they are butchering an old Billy Squire warhorse. Crank accordingly and raise a glass to the Mars Bar and Max Fish.
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