al's been playing guitar since he was 14. having played in various college, cover and original bands, al's influences include elvis costello, neil finn (crowded house), and cincinnati's own rob fetters (psychodots, the bears, the raisins) and adrian belew.

sean started playing bass in 1993 as part of a primordial cover band that eventually evolved into clabbergirl. sean's influences include robert pollard (guided by voices), the rolling stones and shane mcgowan (the pogues)

big sugar's played drums ever since high school band. he really wishes he was a porn star. brian's influences mainly include kiss, and motley crue and barry white.

...step clabbergirls...

leah, katie, julie, kate, and sally, for their constant support and wonderful artwork for the new clabbergirl t-shirts.

...people who take dirty pictures...

jim chalex and kate shoup-welsh. the camera always adds 20 pounds, doesn't it...?

...web geeks...

ian welsh and "weird" harold saltus. really, guys - get a life.

...promotions and prostitutions...

well, promotions, anyway. in cincinnati, kelly montgomery - thanks for the cool flyers, posters and coupons.

...history...

formed in 1994, clabbergirl is a three piece rock band from cincinnati, ohio that plays all original music. sean and brian first started playing together in law school in a band called the blind cave fish. they met al through a mutual friend, who also joined the the band in it's original four piece lineup. after a few weeks the original bass player decided to pursue other interests and sean moved over to play bass as the group reformed into it's current lineup.

soon after formation, the band wrote 2 new original songs and recorded them at beat box studios, infamous in cincinnati as a hotbed for hip hop and hardcore rap. after a marathon recording session, the band mastered and prepared the songs for submission to the 1994 WOXY 97Xposure contest. the 2 original songs "mean spirited girl" and "perfect day" went nowhere. for good reason. (next time you see a clabbergirl show, make sure to bellow "PERFECT DAY!!!!" at the top of your lungs. we might play it, or something like it. or maybe not.)

undeterred, the band continued to rehearse and write new material throughout 1994. in early 1995, they again decided to record material for the 97Xposure contest and met denny brown, guitarist for the cincinnati band the tigerlillies. at denny's basement studio, clabbergirl recorded four new power pop songs - "happy again", "kathy's lament", "rocketship" and "different boy." this time, WOXY selected the single "happy again" from over 200 entries, and the band was featured on the station's compilation album. 

through the middle of 1995, the band played an occasional live show, usually at sudsy malone's or the southgate house. but in august, the band was dealt an interesting twist of fate. al, who worked as a government contractor during the day for the environmental protection agency, was laid off without notice. he managed to secure another job, but it necessitated that he move to <gasp> indianapolis. would the band survive...? (well, obviously it survived, 'cause here you are today reading all about us on the eve of our major record label deal...)

...to be continued...