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AGGIELIFE
il 6. 2000
THE BATTALION
Page 5
Thursday
OArcrt*
Austin band makes stop in College Station
N
BY CHRIS CARTER
The Battalion
I o, “Fritz Beer” is not just a clever
stage name. The lead singer of the
I Austin-based pop/altemative
band Punchy laughs at the question.
“My real name is Fredrick Beer, but
everyone has called me ‘Fritz’ since I was
a child,” he said. “I come from a long line
of Fredricks, obviously Gennan, and all
of them have been called Fritz.”
For the past two and a half years.
Beer has led Punchy through the release
of their debut EP and hundreds of shows.
“We nonnally play about live shows a
week,” Beer said. “It’s usually a couple
during the week and then traveling around
on the weekend playing a few more.”
Beer is definitely no stranger to the
stage. The former lead singer of the St.
Louis-based band. The Bishops, has
racked up more than 2,500 gigs over
the past eight years. While in St. Louis,
The Bishops practiced playing rock in
the Midwestern-style of Husker Du,
Soul Asylum and the Replacements,
and released two albums. Nothing seri
ous came of this outing, however.
After it became apparent some of
the other members of the band were not
as serious about The Bishops so Beer
decided to pack up and move to Austin.
“1 had been to Austin a couple times
before to see some friends and was like,
‘Wow, this is great!’” he said. “I final
ly moved down here and I love it. Now
I get to just play my ass off!”
Once in Austin, Beer teamed up
with friend Daniel Bull, a bassist, and
they ran an advertisement in the paper
for a drummer. Instead, they got gui
tarist Errol Siegel.
“Errol saw the add and said he liked
the singer/songwriter philosophy we
had,” Beer said.
“He turned out to work real well for
us as a group, and for a while we played
sets as just two guitars and a bass with
out a drummer.”
Today, Punchy still consists of Beer
and Siegel, but they have since added
drummer Armando Reyes, and replaced
bassist Bull with Lee Abramson.
Beer hesitates to describe Punchy’s
musical style, but is very clear on his
musical philosophy.
“Someone compared us to Elvis
Costello the other day,” Beer mused. “I
guess 1 can hear that, but I like concen
trating on the songwriting aspect of this
music. 1 don’t want to do the folk thing,
but writing a good rock song is a great
feeling.”
Punchy will bring its stripped-down
style of rock music to College Station
this weekend.
“We’re excited about coming back
to College Station,” Beer said. “We’ve
been there several times over the past
few months, and we’ve had a good time
every time we’ve played there.”
Punchy will play an acoustic set on
Saturday at Sweet Eugene’s. Cover at
the door is $1 and they will begin to
play at 9 p.m.
V
Outdoor Fiesta
Saturday, May 6 th
3pm - Midnight
KTSR 92.1fm will be broadcasting Live -
'k Live Music
k Miss Cinco de Mayo Bikini Contest
(must pre-register)
k Beer & Margaritas
k Grilled burgers, hot dogs, & nachos
Call 693-6684for more details!
1912 South Texas Ave. (under the water tower)
PHOTO COURTESY OF BITTERKITTEN RECORDS
Guitarist Errol Siegel.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BITTERKITTEN RECORDS
Drummer Armando Reyes.
Punchy
Punchy
CD Courtesy of
Bitterkitten Records
Straight from the clubs of Austin, Punchy offers a cheap,
mindless sort of genre-dodging rock that can be as confusing as
it is oddly appealing.
Throughout the eight songs on this CD, there seems to be a
common theme in songwriting — repetition. Though many of
the cuts on this release have a good mix of electric and acoustic
guitars with a solid rhythm lineup, the songwriting itself is sim
plistic at best. This simplicity does lend itself to some catchy
tunes such as “Daddy’s a Postman,” and “ 16 Shades of Gray,”
but the overly repetitive nature of the lyrics and weak musical
style of songs like “Spray Job” and “Crawl” ultimately weight
this CD down.
The overall sound of Punchy is a toned-down, Midwestem-
rock sound, sans the ever-present ode to post-evolved punk
rock, such as Soul Asylum, Local H or the Replacements.
Though they pay homage to this school of rock and would fit
very well in the clubs of Minneapolis or Cleveland, they are
right at home in Austin, being much closer to the musical style
of fellow Austin natives, Fastball. All in all, this music sounds
like it would be much better if it were not confined to the medi
um of a compact disc, but brought to life through a solid perfor
mance. [Grade: C+]
Director Applications
Available
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T U D EE IM TT
FOUNDATION
Applications may be picked up at the
12th Man Student Foundation Cube
located in the
Student Activities Department
inside Koldus.
Interviews will be conducted on
April 12-13.
Applications are due April 7!
Questions'! E-mail us at:
student@twelfthman.tamu.edu
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Attention
JUNIORS
Applications are being accepted
through December 15, 2000, for the
Master of Physical Therapy class
beginning in July 2001
The 3+3 MPT Program allows admission
after completion of your junior year and
prerequisite course work
■ MPT classes begin July 6,2001
■ Scholarships covering tuition and fees
are available to qualified students
■ The CAPTE preaccreditation site visit has
been completed*
To Become a Part of ASU’s MPT Program,
college juniors must:
■ Have completed 90 SCH of undergraduate
and prerequisite course work by June 30,
2001
■ Have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
■ Have a minimum grade of B in all physical
therapy prerequisites
H Submit admission materials to the ASU
Graduate Office by December 15,2000
■ Have completed 75 observation or
employment hours in 3 different areas of
clinical practice by March 16,2001
■ Have taken the GRE by December 15,2000
MPT
Angelo State
University is one
of Texas’ premier
regional universities.
Located in scenic
and historic San
Angelo, ASU offers
a pleasant learning
environment where
personal attention
and mentoring
enhance the
educational
experience for
students.
*For additional
information
concerning
accreditation,
admission or
the MPT Program,
contact the
ASU Graduate Office
at 915-942-2169 or
Physical Therapy
Department at
915-942-2545.
Monday - Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
angelo.edu/dept/physther
Email: ptdept@angelo.edu
A MEMBER OF THE TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
ANGELO STATE
UNIVERSITY