Release date – 1995

Self released

Kevin Gibson – vocals

Shawn Sprinkel – guitars

Jason Fields – bass

Mike Gilmore – drums

Rob Kleiner – keyboards

Tub Ring is a band that I found out about when I was in jr. high, around the time this album came out. I was able to jump on them quickly due to me being from the Chicago area as well as them and knowing people in bands that would play shows with them and such. I was able to obtain a copy of this CD, and while the band supposedly is somewhat embarrassed about it, I still find it to be a very fun album to listen to. It’s more of a funky, punk influenced sound on this album, but also very melodic as well. The album starts off with the extremely funky and quirky “Scuba Gear” and then goes into a little bit of a darker sound with “Gizzards”, but still somewhat silly. “Flying Pimp” is just a short, thirteen second track where you hear, “Yo bitch! I’m playin’ aight!?” and then a funky little bass line. “Black Message” is a hilarious, but all too true tune about someone who gives a really mean and dark image but turns out to be a really soft type of person. “Invisible Pet” is another just plain flat out silly song about having a pet that you can’t see. “And Then There’s Joe” is another great song, about that one problem friend in every group that no one likes to see come around. “Breakdancing My Way Back Into Your Heart” is a tune about someone who lost their girlfriend and tries all these ways to try to get her back, but then decides to get her back by breakdancing for her. Again, it’s a song that’s got some silly subject matter, a great melody, and overall great personality to it. “Unappealing” is just a song about being an unappealing type of person, not a bad song, probably the weakest song up to this point though. “Yummie Yummie Yummie” is a cover of the famous song by I don’t know who. It’s done in a much more silly and slightly heavier way, and it keeps that great Tub Ring personality of those days to it as well. “New Shoes” and “Death Things on the Side of the Road Make Me Laugh” are the next two songs, kind of two very different songs that I unintentionally lump together, but they’re two more songs with a great sense of humor to them and good melodies. The album closes out with “Courtesy Flush”, a track with four different songs to it. The first songs is about having peanuts in your poo, the second one is about a hot momma, the fourth is about being full of love, and the last one asks if anyone dances. All in all, it’s a track of very humorous music for about seven minutes. As a whole, this is a very entertaining album. I know the band doesn’t really associate themselves with this album too much, although they do have it on the discography section of their website, so they haven’t totally disassociated themselves with it, so that’s a good thing. The band’s taken a much different musical direction (not a bad direction at all), but I’ll always be able to remember where they came from. They came from songs with great humor, great melodies, and a funk/punk influence.

The sound quality on this, especially for a self released album, is not horrible at all. In fact it’s pretty good. It is a little bit raw, but it’s very easy to make out the songs, nothing that interferes much at all with the songs.

This is the beginning of what was, and also what would continue to be a great band. Tub Ring started off with a great personality, great melodies, and as mentioned before, that funk/punk rock hybrid sound. They put out an album full of this back in the middle nineties, and out of 100, it gets an 87.

Track listing

1. Scuba Gear

2. Gizzards

3. Flying Pimp

4. Black Message

5. Invisible Pet

6. And Then There’s Joe

7. Breakdancing My Way Back Into Your Heart

8. Unappealing

9. Yummie Yummie Yummie

10. New Shoes

11. Dead Things on the Side of the Road Make Me Laugh

12. Courtesy Flush