Ugly Kids, Beautiful Music

The sign on the front of Ugly Kid Joe's tour bus reads "No One U know," but with the success of their new EP As Ugly As They Wanna Be and an extensive club tour, this humorous bit of self-deprecation shouldn't hold true for very long.

The considerable airplay and growing popularity of Ugly Kid Joe's recently released single "Everything About You" have begun to give this exciting and entertaining new band some of the recognition it deserves. Ugly Kid Joe's recent performance at T.T. the Bear's in Cambridge had the enthusiastic crowd singing along to this quirky anthem, described by its composer, guitarist Klaus Eichstadt, as "the ultimate parody of a love song."

Though the title "Everything About You" might lead you to expect yet another heavy metal power ballad, don't be fooled. The "cheesy, happy vibe" of the piano and light, clean guitar combine with Whitfield Crane's lilting vocals to create delightful irony in the chorus: "And I, get sick when I'm around/I, can't stand to be around/I, hate everything about you!"

Simplicity, humor and just a touch of the unexpected--everything about Ugly Kid Joe is absolutely irresistible and a lot of fun.

Based in Santa Barbara, California, removed from the intense competition and pressures of the Los Angeles metal scene, Ugly Kid Joe came together from two different bands in early 1990.

Eichstadt and Crane, who grew up together in Palo Alto, joined up with drummer Mark Davis to form a band that rehearsed next door to another new group which included guitarist Roger Lahr. After the bands played a couple of gigs together, Lahr accepted the invitation to join Eichstadt, Crane and Davis since, as Lahr laughs now, "My band sucked anyway." With the later addition of bassist Cordell Crockett, Ugly Kid Joe as we know it was complete.

These five musicians did not always call themselves Ugly Kid Joe. Eichstadt came up with the name first as a joke, just a one-time thing. The asyet-unnamed band needed something to put on the flyers advertising their gig with L.A. glam band Pretty Boy Floyd, whose lipstick and moussed hair strikingly contrasted with the simple, natural good looks of the opening band.

The gig never actually happened, and Eichstadt still thought of the name as just a joke. But the name Ugly Kid Joe eventually stuck, and it's just one distinguishing feature of the band.

Though Eichstadt considers their music to be essentially heavy metal, Ugly Kid Joe thrives on diverse musical influences which combine to give their music a distinctive attitude and exciting new sound.

"We try to infuse elements of whatever we can into our music, especially humor," says Eichstadt. "It's heavier than just rock, but there's definite elements of rap in it, even a little funk."

Guitarist Lahr, hesitating to classify Ugly Kid Joe, cleverly defines their music as "cool riffs put into a groove."

The members of Ugly Kid Joe don't take themselves too seriously, as evidenced by the last "song" on As Ugly As They Wanna Be. "Heavy Metal," a 27-second burst of metal energy, effectively combines speed metal, thrash, and Crane's heavy metal howls into a nice little compendium of classic Headbanger's Ball.

As a lighthearted tribute to their heavy metal forerunners such as Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC, the track exemplifies the band's ability to see the humor and absurdity often present in the heavy metal music scene today. Eichstadt admits that with "Heavy Metal," "We're kind of mocking ourselves."

"In Hollywood they've got bands that everybody tries to be more outrageous than the other band, or everybody wants to be the new thing or have the new cool image," Eichstadt comments. "And the funny thing is, they all end up pretty much doing the same thing."

Eichstadt attributes much of Ugly Kid Joe's openness to different musical styles and easygoing nature to the relaxed atmosphere of the Santa Barbara music scene.

"In Santa Barbara the whole attitude is completely different. There's a lot of college kids that are playing music for fun that are hoping 'God, I hope I can do something with my music, but I'd better go to college just to back myself up.'"

Lahr, himself a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, recognizes the difficulty of attaining success in the heavy metal world today.

"There's a lot of great bands making great records," Lahr comments. "We're competing with Nirvana, Metallica and Guns N' Roses. We can't sell ourselves short and play half-ass on the album. It's a good push on us to do well."

The intense competition among bands and relatively poor prospects for real success influenced Ugly Kid Joe's decision to first release a six-song EP.

"Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and throwing a full-blown album out into a market that right now is really hurting," Eichstadt explains, "we thought we'd just get our name in people's heads so that when we do the album, we'll already have a fan base that will buy the record and tell their friends."

The real hallmark of the EP is the band's unique perspective and humorous outlook on life and the music industry.

"Madman," another Eichstadt creation and the next single to be released from the EP, tells of a tragic massacre in the perfect world of Disneyland.

As Ugly as They Wanna Be also features a driving cover of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" medleyed with "Funky Fresh County Club," Whitfield Crane's personal tale of jailhouse woes.

"Whiplash Liquor" celebrates the wild, weekend parties of high school. In this ode to "rock n'roll in the cul-de-sac," Ugly Kid Joe also offers a light hearted explanation of just who they really are: "Suburban white alcoholic trash/We ain't glam and we ain't thrash/We're victims of a society/That fucks with me about sobriety."

Clever and amusing as these lyrics may be, Ugly Kid Joe should stop underestimating themselves. These five friendly and engaging musicians have a lot offer the music world. Even now, the band needs and deserves a bigger arena than clubs such as T.T.'s can offer.

Past tours with such established L.A. metal groups as Lynch Mob and Kik Tracee enabled them to steadily build their reputation in California, but now the band is gaining national acclaim.

"Everything About You" has made their name and faces known to listeners of college and album-oriented rock stations as well as the all-powerful MTV viewers.

"Not saying we're successful, but things are going well," comments Eichstadt. "We're out on a bus touring and we're a real band now. We even have our own [guitar] picks and stuff with our name on it!"

Ugly Kid Joe has an unforgettable name and unmistakeable style. Once the band members themselves realize that they have the potential to be much more than just "suburban white alcoholic trash," they will undoubtedly gain success as headliners and a well-deserved place in the metal pantheon of the Nineties.