This became a staple of our live show (including a break dancing bit and a trombone addition during the breakdown), but here is the original recorded version done in 1996. I remember getting ready for this recording and just working the rest of the band silly going over and over the six songs we had written. This was recorded with all of us playing at the same time (which is kind of unusual these days). To my knowledge, there are no overdubs at all except some vocal tracks. This recording still has quite a bounce in my opinion. Playing this live in Florida I replaced the line “There is nothing to this song so now please play along” to “I (or we) drove all the way from Kansas to get a phone call the other night”. This was recorded at Red House Studios in Lawrence KS by the legendary Ed Rose who did his best to make a bunch of amateurs sound somewhat good. We booked two days…and ended up staying until 3AM the first night working on things. It was quite the experience.

“Is This Thing On” by Bring Back Joel

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitars
Mike Wahlmeier – Guitars and Vocals
Marshal Kruse – Guitars and Vocals
Mike Moore – Drums

Recorded in 1996 at Red House Studios in Lawrence, KS by Ed Rose