The Wrong
It was all Jim Cribley’s fault. Jim
had gotten himself kicked out of the army in ’86, and decided
he had to start a band. I had been press-ganged as the replacement bass
player for Hypo Depression and so knew Jim’s brother, Rob, who
was the replacement drummer. Rob told me I was going to be in a band
with him and his brother, and I figured that sounded about right. Gary
Owens was at our first practice. He said mockingly, as only Gary can…“Man,
you guys are so wrong,” and we were named. We played several gigs as a power trio,
and probably would have been content being an unpaid and unrecognized
garage band in Hawaii with an extremely “selective” fan
base until our livers exploded, but we had sent Dave Carr our demo tape
and he liked it and that changed everything. My brother Dave was much
more ambitious, had friends in L.A., and they wanted to start an indy
label. We suddenly got serious.
Dave’s L.A. connections got us into
the studio, and we recorded “Ethyl Merman Jism Spoon” in
1989. They also printed our album (vinyl only release, FLUX records),
which apparently got some rotation/top ten airplay on KXLU, and was
the favorite of one of the DJ’s at KSFU. We were also the “JACKPOT”
pick of the month for College Music Journal.
Because we were serious now, we had moved
to San Francisco, where we learned that finding gigs without knowing
anyone was tough work. Dave, Rob and Julie (Rob’s wife) did manage
to get us a few gigs at parties, bars, a cable access show, and two
or three shows at the somewhat famous Gilman Street Theatre in Oakland.
We played with the likes of Green Day, Econochrist, Sweet Baby, and
other popular Bay Area bands of the day, but we never really fit in
with the “California Sound” or the uniform punk look that
seemed to be requirements for success in the scene we were in. Dave
got us a slot on the “Make the Collector Nerd Sweat” compilation
from Very Small Records in 1991, which featured cuts from Sam I Am,
Crimpshrine, and The Offspring, among others. This was pretty much the
band’s swan song. Dave quit the band shortly after we had gone
into Sergay studio to record our cut for this album. Part of the reason
he quit was the Wrong’s song writing arrangements, where Jim and
I each demanded equal time for our songs. I think he may have also been
frustrated with the fact that we weren’t gigging as regularly
as he felt we should be.
There was some bitterness about the break
up, but at this writing (2004) we have all put on weight, mellowed,
and would probably be exploiting our reunion tour if there was any money
in it. Dave, Rob, and Jim are still in the Bay Area, and are now playing
together in a band called “Creation Science.” I’m
fat and happy in Hawaii, teaching special education at Kaimuki High
School, and de-fault historian and bio writer for The Wrong. The
Wrong rocked. If you don’t believe me check it out for power trio demo, a live concert at KTUH shortly after
Dave joined the band, and a post-wrong song featuring Rudy Trubitt of the
Squids on bass and
Kev Carr --Or— E-mail me at: kabumpo@earthlink.net |
These photos from a very enjoyable Gilman Street performance in which we got a good audience response.
Rob Cribley on drums, Dave Carr on guitar, Kev Carr on bass
Francis looks on, Kev on Bass, Jim Cribley guitar
Kev sings
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