"The demise of 12 Rods had everything to do with [that band]." ???

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The City Pages has a great article on the demise of the band 12 Rods. It's generally an illustration of how major-label bands are doomed to fail. EXCEPT there's an interesting section where Ryan Olcott accuses another band of sabotaging them at SXSW: We played SXSW right after we got signed. We were a really high-maintenance band because we had a mechanical bass player and our own monitors. Anyway, our gear was sabotaged, we think, by [another band]. We had strings missing off our guitars, one of Ev's keyboards was damaged and wasn't turning on. We had 10 minutes to set up and play in front of everybody. We were this big hyped thing and we played terribly. It was our worst show ever, and it was the most crucial show we ever played. [The other band's singer] was a dick and I couldn't figure out what his deal was. He probably used one of our strings as a tourniquet backstage. The demise of 12 Rods had everything to do with [that band]. Cocks. Obviously, the (potentially defamatory) information was excised by the City Pages. Anyone know who he was talking about?

― subgenius (subgenius), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Why the hell would the paper just cut out the guy's quotes like that? It's a free country, dammit!

― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 23:00 (twenty-one years ago)

no, it had everything to do with "Separation Anxieties."

― reo, Thursday, 12 August 2004 03:19 (twenty-one years ago)

what reo said.

― Nick Mirov (nick), Thursday, 12 August 2004 03:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Reading that article I'm reminded of their entry in Chunklet's Shit List issue:

"...They opened for A Minor Forest (who blew them off the stage) on a weeknight in January, so they weren't happy about performing for about ten people. So like typical primadonna assholes, they acted bratty, taunted the audience, and kicked around their equipment. But their attempts at being confrontational were met by only derisive laughter from the crowd, which made the band even more upset. Luckily, they cut the set short, hastily packed their U-Haul, and moved on to the next embarrassment."

― Nick Mirov (nick), Thursday, 12 August 2004 03:31 (twenty-one years ago)

gosh, I like 12 rods

― Red Panda Sanskrit (ex machina), Thursday, 12 August 2004 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

oh jon you do not. i've heard who the mystery saboteur band is but that's hardly the point, they were never that great.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 August 2004 04:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't Todd Rundgren produce one of their albums? If so, is it good?

― fizzcaraldo (Justin M), Thursday, 12 August 2004 06:36 (twenty-one years ago)

a girl, from minnesota, gave me a 12 rods record.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 12 August 2004 06:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually have always had a soft spot for them since Ev ran the MBV list for many years.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 August 2004 10:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Everything that Steve Albini said in [his essay] "The Problem with Music"... Honestly, I heard from some reliable sources that he modeled that after us.

would that be the essay that i first read in 1994, and which was probably written earlier?

― stevie (stevie), Thursday, 12 August 2004 11:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Why wouldn't I like 12 Rods?

― Red Panda Sanskrit (ex machina), Thursday, 12 August 2004 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno! i thought you were kidding. i don't think i've seen you say 'gosh' before.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 August 2004 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

they were a CORNY band, after all.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 August 2004 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

The faster songs w/ keyboard totally rule; best $1 cd ever

― Red Panda Sanskrit (ex machina), Thursday, 12 August 2004 12:40 (twenty-one years ago)

you know i may have to give them another shot on that recommendation. They never quite attained Next Big Mpls Thing status (hello, Lftr Pllr) even though they had done better than anyone else in a long time (except semisonic) and my sense is they were quietly disliked by many.

A woman i used to work with, and hated, gave me a tape with their album on one side and a todd rundgren best of on the other. i feel rockist about it now, but i chucked it out the window of my friend's car.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 August 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Dave King played drums for them!!!

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 12 August 2004 12:59 (twenty-one years ago)

(I've never heard them, but how bad can they be?)

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Who is this mean band?!

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

iiii'm not teeelling naa na na na naaaaa

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

A woman i used to work with, and hated, gave me a tape with their album on one side and a todd rundgren best of on the other.

Was that intentional? (Rundgren produced one of their albums, see.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:10 (twenty-one years ago)

sort of; she was some kind of crazy rundgren fan! like lifetime fanclub autograph hunting know everything type superfan. and she liked 12 rods. and she had a crush on me. and i hated her.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

You know in the Norweigan black metal scene bands do a lot more than steal each other's guitar strings. 12Rods should consider themselves lucky.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha that Albini bit of the interview is HILARIOUS. "Reliable sources" oh please stop it.

I don't recal anything about 12 Rods except they were on V2 and I used to get them confused with 12 Rounds, whose album you can probably also find in many charity shops

― DJ Mencap0))), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:28 (twenty-one years ago)

12 Rods were pretty good...good new wave band, but I never really understood the "they've come to save Mpls hype"....the Dave King effect maybe....(they were lots better than the Love Cars though)....

G--ff - I WILL PAY YOU 2.5 MILLION FLOOZ TO REVEAL TEH MYSTERY BAND!!!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder if he's talking way back when, like '98 (e.g. when they first got signed). Because then it would be one of two very anticlimactic nothing bands and this is hardly worth talking about.

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

haha m@tt, check yr email. (i'm usually well out of any gossip loop, i'm kinda enjoying this)

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

tell me!

― Red Panda Sanskrit (ex machina), Thursday, 12 August 2004 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw them some months back at St. Olaf College (MN) and they put on a damn fine show. They never seemed "like typical primadonna assholes" and were quite enjoyable while joking with the audience between songs and even played a song twice (although maybe a bit begrudgingly) by request. All this and there couldn't have been more than 20 or 30 people at the show. Anyways, I bought Split Personalities after seeing that show and I have to say I think it's a great record.

(it would be interesting to hear who this other band was...)

― Just Some Lurker, Thursday, 12 August 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

It was the Icarus Line.

― ape's hand, Friday, 13 August 2004 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I edited Lindsey's 12 Rods piece. Both Lindsey and I wanted to keep the part in there about the band that allegedly sabotaged their gear, but it's potentially libelous and there isn't any evidence to support it. Regardless of whether it's true or not, it would have been bad journalism to include a pretty serious allegation that doesn't have any evidence to back it up. Still, I didn't want to take the story out completely, because I think it says a lot about the way 12 Rods perceive their fall, so that's why it looks the way it does.

― Melissa Maerz (Melissa Maerz), Friday, 13 August 2004 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and it wasn't Icarus Line. It's possible that if you email 12 Rods through their web site, they might tell you, though I don't think the band's name matters as much as the story itself.

― Melissa Maerz (Melissa Maerz), Friday, 13 August 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

I still want to know who that mystery band was

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 19:21 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.80stees.com/images/products/Misfits-Jr-Tee.jpg

― David R., Tuesday, 24 July 2007 19:25 (eighteen years ago)

haha never saw this thread before the 12 Rods guys are cousins of mine

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 19:26 (eighteen years ago)

"A mechanical bass player"? WTF, are they the Country Bear Jamboree?

― Martin Van Burne, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 19:45 (eighteen years ago)

the mystery band was Soul Asylum.

― Richard Wood Johnson, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 19:50 (eighteen years ago)

"A mechanical bass player"? WTF, are they the Country Bear Jamboree?

-- Martin Van Burne, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 7:45 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

it was the late 90's, everyone was still using really confused terminology for programmed/pre-recorded backing tracks.

― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 19:52 (eighteen years ago)

So there was no robot bassist?

I have no further interest in this band.

― Martin Van Burne, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 20:05 (eighteen years ago)

Wow, didn't expect to see this revived today. I wrote the story. Trust me; the identity of the band isn't nearly as interesting as the story itself. Seriously.

― lindseykai, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 23:54 (eighteen years ago)

Right ok.

But who was the band?

― Drooone, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:02 (eighteen years ago)

Well then email us and tell us!! We all want to know!!

― Stevie D, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:03 (eighteen years ago)

please?

― Drooone, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:16 (eighteen years ago)

Lucy's Fur Coat

― David R., Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:24 (eighteen years ago)

j3sus 1f 1t's n0t th@t inter3sting th3n ju$t g00glepr00f 1t alr3ady.

― Alex in Baltimore, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:30 (eighteen years ago)

If you send me an email, I'll tell ya. I just feel weird about message board gossip mongering, Google-proofed or not.

― lindseykai, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:38 (eighteen years ago)

The name of the band was Cocks, Lindsey and Melissa just missed that last mention.

― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 01:41 (eighteen years ago)

nine years pass...

who was that band tho

― laraaji p. henson (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 26 July 2016 23:58 (nine years ago)

whoever it was, I want to thank them..

― Mark G, Wednesday, 27 July 2016 09:21 (nine years ago)

I always confuse 12 Rods with 12 Rounds

― akm, Wednesday, 27 July 2016 11:52 (nine years ago)

no idea what happened to it but used have this local bands 90s CD comps (i don't know if every city was like mpls in the 90s but holy shit there were so many fucking local CD comps back then) that had a very very early 12 Rods song before they figured out their identity and it sounded EXACTLY like Jane's Addiction, kinda funny

― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 27 July 2016 14:41 (nine years ago)

"A mechanical bass player"? WTF, are they the Country Bear Jamboree?

irl lol

― this is a salad for the BALSAMIC REVIVAL (Dan Peterson), Friday, 29 July 2016 15:11 (nine years ago)

so who was the band

― ♫ Corbyn's on fire / PLP is terrified ♫ (jim in glasgow), Friday, 29 July 2016 16:17 (nine years ago)

Biohazard

― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 29 July 2016 19:52 (nine years ago)

this was a really ugly band iirc? i actually like that record gay? at the time

― ælərdaɪs (jim in vancouver), Friday, 29 July 2016 19:57 (nine years ago)

showbiz pizza band. fueled by love triangle with 12 rods bassist.

― veggie sticks potato snacks (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 29 July 2016 20:48 (nine years ago)

every time I see "gay?" i think of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeahDax24Dg

― laraaji p. henson (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 29 July 2016 20:51 (nine years ago)

eight months pass...

http://prod3.agileticketing.net/WebSales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=275372~163a5c15-c3ae-4635-ba12-bbe995cbeb29&epguid=a38ceb8d-93ea-46b9-935c-0541270e134a&

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 13 April 2017 17:41 (nine years ago)

Bonus after-credits sequence will reveal who the mystery band was.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 13 April 2017 18:04 (nine years ago)

heh

really I should just ask Ryan, but I don't communicate w him much and he's p bitter about the Rods' career

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 13 April 2017 18:09 (nine years ago)

three weeks pass...

he still makes really cool music, electronic stuff under the name "c.kostra"

https://ckostra.bandcamp.com/

i only know him a bit from around and as a the sound mixer/booker at local club, he's always been super pleasant and great to deal with

― I got da Midas touch as you fucking were LG x (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 9 May 2017 01:38 (nine years ago)

agreed although sometimes he is really grumpy on FB :(

― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 9 May 2017 14:01 (nine years ago)

four years pass...

can’t believe all this time the band was Gay Dad

― Warmed Regards, (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 17 September 2021 21:40 (four years ago)

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