Gunston Midas rock since 1992
History
Chris & I started the band in 1992. It was a reunion of sorts, being that we had played together in 2 different bands in high school: The Cooties (1985-1987) & Qu'est ce que C'est? (1987-1988). I had en electric guitar & a 15-watt practice amp and Chris had a drum set. And aside from a few miscellaneous percussive devices in his drum bag, that was about it. So we borrowed what additional musical instruments and recording equipment necessary to start recording the seemingly boundless song ideas that were floating around in our heads, and we got to work.
Eventually, we saved up enough money to buy our own 4-track recorder and the next thing we knew, the new millennium was staring us in the face. CD's had officially replaced cassette tapes and we decided to self release one and the result was The Ladybug Room (2001). Around that time, Chris & I played our first live show as an acoustic duo at the Benelux Music Festival outside of Richmond, VA.
While our earlier recordings were somewhat formulaic, the songs we started writing during this period of time were much more varied in terms of content & tone, as well as aesthetic. I had just bought a Fender Telecaster and at that point, a certain amount of twang just seemed to be called for. So on Ladybug, as well as it's successor, This Dog Kills Fascists (2002), our usual indie-pop fare became fused with a noticeable country influence, which, truth be told, has never really left us.
With more emphasis on the rock & pop, we released My True Design in 2004, after having upgraded to a digital recording deck, resulting in our best sounding album to date. In late 2004, we were approached by Richmond indie Digitone Records, and in April 2005, we played live again as a duo at a label event in Virginia Beach. Digitone released 2 digital singles, "Sometimes It Seems," and "Great Lake Deep Sea," that same month, and they promoted us via their website throughout the summer.
In May 2005, our ranks swelled to 3 with the addition of Scott McCaulley, who joined us on bass. We performed our first show as a full band/electric trio in September 2005 in Williamsburg, VA. Through the end of the year, we played monthly shows and began recording our follow up to Design. In December, we were asked to play at The Norva in Norfolk, VA as support for The Violent Femmes, and we ended our busiest year yet performing for a sold-out crowd.
In February2006, all of the previous year's momentum came to a screeching halt when my 35 year old heart went and had itself an attack. By the time I had finished my period of rehabilitation though, Scott had become less and less involved with the band due to the birth of his first child, and throughout 2007 and into 2008, we continued our recordings, again now as a duo. In May 2008, we released Upstart Princes Of Shoddy, this time in conjunction with Tunecore Records, making it available on U.S. iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, and amazonmp3.
We put out A Glorious Mistake in December 2009, and again with the help of Tunecore Records, it's available from iTunes and (insert your favorite online music retailer here). We've been told it's good, and who are we to dispute science that solid?
A new project is in the works that will include drums, electric guitars and hopefully a few more glorious mistakes. Stay tuned...
-Doug Burton, January 2010
