Origin of the Shirtless Biddles
Trying to remember how Shirtless Biddles began is a little like trying to recall the first time you dressed yourself without any help…you know it definitely happened, but it was so long ago that the details are a little unclear. The best I can recollect, the sparks that turned into the fire that gave life to the Biddles began flying about three quarters of the way through 1992 when Randall and I (by the way, my name is Brad) met in our freshman year home-room class at Beech Grove High School.
There was really no point to the class. The fine administrators at BGHS decided to call their version of “home-room” T.A.G. …I don’t really remember what it stood for…but we just called it Tag. In Tag, we were supposed to be talking to our teacher about problems and issues that we may or may not have concerning the school or our lives or whatever. Now, our home-room teacher was a nice enough guy, but he was not really interested in hearing about everyone’s teen drama. Instead, he allowed the class to be a haven, a place to “let loose”. The students in the class (and our teacher) mostly talked and laughed and a couple of the young ladies even danced to the songs of a radio station that the school approved. This is where it all began. Randall and I sat in the back, away from everyone else. I don’t know if I was the first to go back and sit next to him, or if he was the first to come back and sit next to me. Whatever the circumstances, we had decided that quietly making fun of the other kids in Tag was the easiest way to make ourselves feel better for not fitting in with them. We particularly enjoyed giggling at the dancers. The humor in them was that they did the same choreographed dance to every song. Fast songs…slow songs…you name it, they did it. We even took a popular song of the day (Tag Team’s “Whoomp! There It Is”) and replaced the lyrics to make it fit the situation. It would become the first song that we crafted together. We thought we were brilliant. That, of course was not the case…and here to prove it are the lyrics we came up with:
Tag room, back again
Same old dance with a brand new trend
Movin’ to the left and right
Gonna keep this party goin’ all night
…and then repeat over and over again to the point of stupidity. There you have it. Not an epic beginning, but a beginning nonetheless. Randall and I became fast friends and eventually more like brothers. After a series of odd vocations and vacations we started playing guitar and writing songs together. By the time we were both 16, we were a full-fledge acoustic duo with ambitions of bringing back folk music in a big way. Needless to say, we didn’t succeed at that. After a couple of unsuccessful open stages, we bought distortion pedals and made most of our songs into social and political punk tunes. Over the next year or so, many musicians came and went but Randall and I stayed together and kept on writing songs. We finally managed to put together a solid line-up and somehow evolved into a metal band. That’s where we met Brandon, bass player extraordinaire! Brandon was a bit different than any other bass player we ever had. Most of the guys that played with us before were actually guitar players that only played bass because they wanted to play in a band…and there is nothing wrong with that…but as I said before, Brandon wasn’t like them. Brandon is a true bass player…and I don’t think he even knows how to play guitar….he might…but I don’t think so. Anyway, that band had a pretty good run, but that is another story altogether. Eventually it ended as everything eventually must.
Randall and I decided to get back to our folk duo roots. Once again, we started writing acoustic songs. Our first appearance under the name “Shirtless Biddles” was the farewell show for our metal band. We played first and we only played one song, but it was fitting. Randall explained to the fans that this is how our metal band had begun...two guys playing acoustic guitars. We played to a pool of dancing lighter flames and walked off. After that night, we kept practicing and writing songs. We had a crazy notion to turn Shirtless Biddles into an indie rock band, but it never sounded quite right and soon led to frustration. Though we never spoke about it out loud, Randall and I mutually decided to put the Biddles on hold again. He had a short stint in a band called “Painting Jaime” and I co-founded an aggressive rock outfit named “Hero”. For a little while, we were content…but it wasn’t long before the idea of the Shirtless Biddles came calling and we were powerless to withstand it any longer. After Painting Jaime disbanded in 2005, Randall decided that he was going to start a solo acoustic project. I told him that if he ever needed a back up musician or background vocals to let me know. Well, he let me know. It wasn’t long before we were writing all new songs and talking about playing coffee shops and festivals and such. Shirtless Biddles was our name before we even said it out loud. Brandon was the obvious choice for our bass player. We were just happy that he said yes! I couldn’t imagine playing in this group with anyone else. After about 12 months of preparation that involved writing, practicing, and playing a couple of open stages, the three of us played our first official show on August 18th, 2006.
Now the Biddles are here to stay and we’re having the best time with it! We’re just looking forward to playing as many places as we can and meeting all the people that care to meet us. I think I can speak on behalf of all of us here at the Biddle camp when I say that whether you’ve seen us 10 times, 20 times, or never…we’re always excited to have people hand-clap and toe-tap to our style of unfettered Midwestern folk music!
Most directly yours,
Brad Powers
Shirtless Biddles
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What is a "Shirtless Biddle"?
The question asked most by people that see us or have heard of us is "where did you get your name?". Here is Brad's explanation:
The name comes from this story, which I'm sure I don't have completely accurate:
There once was a poet named Dylan Thomas. I won't get too involved in explaining who he was. He was basically a brilliant writer from somewhere in Europe. When he was in his prime he did a lot of traveling to the U.S. for book signings and special readings. Anyway, during that time, the hotel/motel industry wasn't what it is today. Thomas was always set up with families that were nice enough to let him stay while he was here. One of these families was the Biddles. One day, while the Biddles were out (maybe at church or something) Thomas was preparing to leave to go home. He thought it would be funny if he stole all the shirts in the house. So he did. He packed up every last one of the Biddles' shirts and left before they returned. Thomas didn't speak of it for some time. Finally, one day when he was writing his publicist he signed the letter and ended it with " P.S. How are the shirtless Biddles?" Many years later a folk singer named Robert Zimmerman shortened his first name to "Bob" and changed his last name to "Dylan" after Thomas, his favorite poet. You might call the name of our band a vague Bob Dylan reference…since we're such huge fans…but then again you might not.
--BP
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