Last night’s show at USF =

We apologize.

        

So I just found this article online that got written about us right before our fourth show two months or so after after “Who Authorized This?” came out. Instead of a few people knowing about who we are like now, absolutely nobody did.

This might just be nostalgia talking, but I think this is my favorite thing that’s been written about us.

I remember us saying pretty much all the stuff written in the article, but at the same time, being written a year and a half ago and knowing everything we’ve done or haven’t done since then, it seems like a completely different time.

So, using the power of the Internet, travel with me to the the ice cream parlor of time for a waffle cone filled with IJ flavored nostalgia:

The Joke That Went Too Far
by Tatianna Geliga

What could nail clippers, the big dipper, and male strippers possibly have in common?

Absolutely nothing, but the association of lyrical mayhem. Rhyme without reason fueled by the absurd, and composed with only one goal in mind—to make others laugh.

You may have never heard of them, but after one show it is quite impossible to forget the band named Inuit Jargon —the joke that went too far.

A birthday gift for a friend that freakishly morphed into an increasingly known band in the Gainesville music scene—the evolution of a composite monster of outrageous personalities, Inuit Jargon’s songs are as delightfully nonsensical as the band members themselves.

University of Florida sophomores Matt Ruecker, Shaun Spalding, and Andrew Celauro had no idea that by recording one song into a small Radioshack mic in Matt and Andrew’s dorm a lazy afternoon freshman year would become something much greater.

“The first song we did was just us screwing around—like it didn’t have any words. And it was like music with me playing guitar and them bang’n on stuff and it was pretty good—we called it ‘Funk Jam,’” said 20-year-old Andrew as he sipped on apple juice.

With Shaun as the lead singer, Andrew as the guitarist, and Matt as the percussionist, one song turned into four, and four songs began the saga.

When naming the CD, the boys drew inspiration from a concert given by The Faint a month before.

“For all of their songs they had a visual component and for one song they had two pictures of hands—each screen had a hand and there would be a word written on each hand and it was just lots of different stuff,” Andrew recalled. “And I don’t remember any of them except for one time one hand said ‘Inuit’ and the other said ‘jargon’ and I was like that sounds like a pretty good band name.”

It wasn’t long before other friends became aware of their recorded song and wanted to hear more.

“Anyone that we knew at that point kinda knew what was happening so we came back from Christmas break and it was like, there was no reason to not keep doing stuff,” Andrew said with a shrug, while pouring more apple juice into a plastic cup.“As long as someone told us that it was funny—or even if they didn’t say it was funny—as long as someone heard it and didn’t hate us after, that was enough of a reason to make another song.”

“Boredom and birthdays– the birth of Inuit Jargon,” Matt quipped in, as he ran a hand through his shaggy hair, smirking at his use of alliteration.

With his growing background in film and media studies, Shaun produced a Website to spread the word and generate curiosity in their fledgling creation at www.inuitjargon.com. The site contains biographies, lyrics, and downloadable songs.

“When we made a Website, I think that was sort of the turning point were it was like ‘there is no turning back!” declared Shaun.

And indeed, curiosity did build and recording more songs was the only way to appease their growing fan base.

“After we made the CD for Charice and we decided to keep making more songs, we told everybody that we were recording a concept album but like we didn’t know what the concept was,” Shaun said between laughs. “So I guess that was just a joke, but after we told so many people we couldn’t be like ‘hey we’re not gonna do it anymore.’”

“I wanted to call it ‘Greatest Hits’ just because at the time we were making it, it was like a really, really big joke—it was like a really tacky joke too,” Shaun admitted. “It wasn’t like a sophisticated joke ‘cuz obviously we had no albums and no real hits…but as it evolved, it became a more sophisticated joke, so that’s sorta lame to name your album ‘Greatest hits’ because like everybody else does.”

Throughout its production, the Website stated that the CD was to be called ‘Greatest Hits.’ However, with the revelation that by naming it that, it was just be imitating a joke that had already been done, they had a slight dilemma.

“We actually finished it and by that time, we were waffling on the idea, and I guess Andrew was looking at the Website because I made a bunch of Inuit Jargon wall paper…and each of the pictures had a caption and one of them was ‘Who Authorized This’ –we were all yelling into cell phones… so we were like ‘problem solved!’.”

After the “release” of their album, the band decided it was time to start performing. But the question they faced then was how?

“It starts with the Bell…the local band Morningbell—best local band—we had gone to see them like just about every show they did, and we just thought they were awesome,” Andrew said with a tone of admiration. “So then at one show we went to, I was talking to Eric their bass player after the show…and that night was pretty much the night that got stuff started—that night, he found out what Inuit Jargon was, and we gave him the Website, and he started telling me what equipment to use at home…that’s probably the point when it crossed over to the joke that’s gone to far.”

“The joke that has yet to have a punch line,” Shaun rephrased, igniting an amused outburst from the other two, after the laughter produced from the previous comment finally began to die down.

Morningbell set up Inuit Jargon’s first performance at Hyde & Zeke Records on September 9, 2005.

Now they practice within 2 days before every show, however for their first show, the band spent a full week, 3-4 hours, citing one of the reasons as being that they didn’t even remember most of their songs.

“Morningbell pretty much put their reputation on the line for that show because they hyped us up hardcore, so if we got up there and sucked that would look really bad…,” Andrew said with a touch of amusement. “If we got up there and looked like idiots we would probably be like ‘yeah, but you know what? We kinda are idiots—this is a big stupid joke anyways, so what does it matter?’ but we wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for these guys.”

Accrediting Morningbell for their start, Inuit Jargon considers Eric Atria their unofficial manager/promoter.

“They’ve got the pepper! They are up and coming,” Eric said with enthusiasm before a show both Inuit Jargon and Morningbell played at the Shamrock on November 10th. “They’re hilarious! You don’t always like your friends’ bands, but I genuinely like them.”

Though a conceptual collaboration with Inuit Jargon is quit probable, Eric is still unsure if a musical collaboration will occur.

With an array of seemingly random props such as auction paddles and Hungarian bellhop uniforms and skits with a dancing robot made up of a clothes hamper, tinfoil and CD eyes being wrestled and conquered by a wizard in a pointy purple hat, there is not one show that is like any other.

“We try to make every show at least 30 percent different, because there is no reason for our friends to pay $5 to see the same thing…we plan something surprising so you’re not like ‘Oh, that was cool like a month ago but what do you have next?” Shaun said.

According to their observation, about 70 percent of their audiences think they are hilarious but the other 30 percent looked slightly confused.

“The thing is, not everyone’s going to get the joke, not all jokes are meant to be got,” Shaun said with a shrug.

“It’s not a comedy show…it’s a multi-media experience,” Andrew interupted. “You don’t wanna just get up there and be Jay Leno and like try your hardest to please everyone, but you really only make like two old ladies laugh… yeah I said it! I think Jay Leno is a boring old biddy!”

Though Leno is definitely not the band’s role model, former professional athlete turned rapper Deion Sanders was stated to be unquestionably an idol—with a large black and white poster adoring their living room wall supporting their devotion.

A time after college is not something the boys want to think about.

“There is no immediate future for IJ, there is no sense in looking at the future…like we seriously didn’t think we’d have more than the Hyde & Zeke’s show,” Shaun said. “We didn’t think we’d be doing it past the 15 minutes it took to record the CD.”

“It only took us 15 minutes to record a half hour CD. That’s how awesome we are!” Andrew laughingly chimed in. “We played everything really fast and then slowed it down!”

Inuit Jargon is back in their home studio laying down tracks for their upcoming album that has yet to be named. Its anticipated release is sometime after summer 2006.

-Shaun

        

After having only a single black extra large t-shirt for almost a semester, we finally got some new shirts printed on Navy and Baby Blue shirts. Check it out…

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My favorite reaction is “I like it, but I don’t get it”

I guess the answer to that is that there’s nothing to get except for we wrote a song called “Pony!” which is going to be the single off of the new album.

That, and girls love shirts with baby horses on them.

-Shaun

        

So last month was a pretty exciting month for us starting with the MEISA Battle of the Bands last Wednesday…

We played a short 20 minute set, but used the time pretty wisely playing a 5:02 version of Jada Pinkett Smith retooled as a duet between me and “Butch Armwrestle” aka Travis.

The crowd was awesome, and out of 8 bands we got 2nd place, which is pretty great considering we’re not a real band. Lauris Vidal (who was really awesome) got 1st, and I suggest you all go to his show at Sidebar on Feb 19th.

In the end, Inuit Jargon was the real winner, 2nd place is one more than 1st place.

Think about that one.

-Shaun