What bands are Me First and the Gimme Gimmes from?

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in 1995. Drawn together by a mutual love of 1960s and 1970s music, the Gimme Gimmes work exclusively as a cover band. They have covered songs from such artists as Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, and John Denver. The band is named after a children's book of the same name by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione. The Gimmes have a habit of wearing quirky matching costumes during their live shows.

History[]

The band wasn't originally planning on releasing albums, appearing only on compilation albums for their first year. In 1995, however, the band began releasing singles named after the singer they had covered. They produced Billy, Diamond, Paul, Denver, Barry, Shannon, Stevens, and Elton in this manner. Their first full-length album, Have a Ball, was released July 29, 1997.

Each album by the band is themed differently: Have a Ball focuses on classic 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s songs by singer/songwriters like Elton John, Neil Diamond, and John Denver; Are a Drag consists entirely of showtunes, Blow in the Wind consists of 60s classics, Take a Break consists entirely of contemporary R&B songs by artists such as Boyz II Men, Lionel Richie, and Vanessa Williams; their fifth album, Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah, was recorded live at an actual bar mitzvah and consists of pop music from the 1960s through the 1980s by artists such as REO Speedwagon, Styx and The Beatles, as well as traditional songs like "Hava Nagila" and Love Their Country's theme is country and western song such as The Eagles and Garth Brooks. Their latest record, Have Another Ball! has the same theme as their debut which is 60's-80's music.

They entered the studio on April 3, 2006 to work on their sixth album, Love Their Country, which was released on October 17, 2006.[1] The theme of this album is country and western, and includes covers of tracks by Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Hank Williams, Sr. and Johnny Cash.[2]. Prior to the release of the album, Fat Wreck Chords released a digital label sampler, iFloyd which included "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" by the band.[3]

In late 2006, Fat Wreck Chords released another digital label sampler Christmas Bonus, containing a previously-unreleased cover of Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans".[4] In August 2006 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were scheduled to play three dates at PNC Park after Pirates games, but after they got booed on the first night, the next two nights were canceled. They were to play along with fireworks during the post-game "Skyblast" shows.

On December 5, 2007, Fat Wreck Chords released a flash MP3 holiday bonus sampler called Hanuk-Comp containing "The Boxer" which was originally released on the "Garf" single (released in 1997).[5] There is also a downloadable podcast that features commentary from Fat Mike and Floyd during breaks between songs in which the next album is revealed.[6] It is named Have Another Ball! and contains all the B-sides from Have a Ball. The album was released on July 8, 2008.

Members[]

Touring Members[]

Discography[]

Albums[]

Riffs borrowed from other bands[]

Me First and The Gimme Gimmes are known for filling their covers with famous guitar riffs from songs by other punk rock bands.

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External links[]

• Biography
• Music
• Video
• At The Vogue

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a punk cover band composed of members of other well known bands such as Swingin’ Utters, NOFX, Foo Fighters, and Lagwagon, who all play in Me First and the Gimme Gimmes as their schedules permit. Their first live performance was on 4/20/1996 at the Chameleon Club in San Francisco.

The studio core comprises Spike Slawson on vocals, bassist Fat Mike, Joey Cape on guitar and backing vocals, Dave Raun on drums, and Chris Shiflett on guitar (his brother Scott of Face To Face/Viva Death fills in for Chris on tour). Touring members have included Brian Baker (Bad Religion/Minor Threat), Barry DaLive (Crosstops/RKL), Eric Melvin (NOFX), Matthew MacNasty (bagpipes player from the Real McKenzies), and Warren Fitzgerald (The Vandals).

Originally a themed 7″ singles project, now each of their full length albums covers a different genre of music spanning the 50’s to the 90’s. Their first release in 1997 was entitled Have a Ball, followed by Are a Drag in 1999. In 2001 they released Blow in the Wind and two years later released Take a Break. Almost immediately after the release of Take a Break the released a live album Ruin Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah The genres they’ve butchered now include country, on Love Their Country featuring covers of songs made popular by The Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash and others. Their most recent release is a collection of B-sides from their album Have a Ball, simply titled Have Another Ball.

The Gimme Gimmes perform to entertain themselves as much as for the entertainment of their fans. Their albums and concerts are some of the most lighthearted and off the wall musical experiences in the punk world. Concerts are often interrupted between songs to freshen cocktails at the on stage tiki bar. CD liner notes relate the hardships of recording such as Fat Mike getting so caught up in “Wild World” that he believed he was Fat Stevens, a guitar-toting Islamic Extremist, so that when Spike sang “All My Lovin” he mistook it for “Allah my Lovin” and condemned Spike to death for heresy.

The Gimmes are also known for their costumes. Each album has a ‘theme’ for which they all dress up for the cover art and live shows. Some themes include red suits, metallic suits with fezzes, cheerleader outfits, drag (each Gimme dressed as a character from a musical they took songs from on the cover of Are a Drag: Chris Shiflett was Columbia and Spike was Dr Frank N. Furter from Rocky Horror, Joey Cape was Annie, Fat Mike was Sandy from Grease and Dave Raun was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz). During a Warped Tour they dressed as AFI, to the confusion of many fans. Most recently they have been dressing as cowboys, but are possibly best known for their lurid Hawaiian shirts.

Or their live album, “Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah”, the band performed for a crowd of 30 at a Bar Mitzvah. The CD contained video of the actual event and the liner notes were written by attendee Benjamin Rosenblatt who describes the events: “They made a lot of mistakes. They even started a song then stopped, then started again.” -track 7 “Strawberry Fields Forever” on the CD. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Past Shows

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For the uninitiated, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes consist of Lagwagon frontman Joey Cape on the guitar, Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters) on the other guitar, Lagwagon drummer and Fat Wreck utility superhero Dave Raun on the skins, and are rounded out by Fat Wreck-head-honcho/NOFX main-dude Fat Mike, and incomparable crooner Spike Slawson. Over the years, their prominent bands have occupied them to the point that they haven’t been touring under the Gimmes moniker. However, they’ve kept the touring formidable with the help of a rotating powerhouse of performers.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are set to tour worldwide in 2022, so be sure to catch them live. When duty calls for one of the Gimmes to perform with their other band, rest assured a traveling Gimme will step in. Tour Gimmes have included: Stacey Dee from Bad Cop/Bad Cop, John Reis of Rocket from the Crypt, Johnny “2 Bags” Wickersham from Social Distortion, Jay Bentley from Bad Religion, CJ Ramone from The Ramones, and most recently, we saw UK import, Pink from The Damned filling in on skins! You never know which star-studded lineup you’ll get, but you know it will not disappoint.

After 7 studio albums, a live record and too many singles to count, they’ve tackled just about every genre under the sun. Be it Motown, Country, show tunes, Japanese Pop (sung in Japanese!), these seasoned punk rock pros have triumphed on every occasion in a way only the Gimmes could. With such an extensive and wide ranging catalog, where does one begin?

Lucky for you, they’ve done that work for you. Out now, Rake It In: The Greatestest Hits, finally compiles all the best hits onto one disc! From perpetual favorite “I Believe I Can Fly” to the classic Country tune “Desperado”, to the diva sensation “Straight Up”, the hits just keep a-comin’! They’ve even thrown in some deeper cuts for the Gimmes’ most fervent enthusiasts with “City of New Orleans” and “Hats off to Larry”. With 17 of only the very best hits, Rake It In is sure to satisfy Gimmes fans from all reaches of the globe.