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By Penelope Biver
t It ' s been 20 years since Lucky Boys Confusion first got together in a basement to write songs , playing their first party in the suburbs where they grew up . What happened between then and now is a story about triumph and tragedy , the roads between paved with the love of each other and the love of music .
It ' s debatable whether these boys are indeed " lucky ," or whether it ' s always been their dedication to writing great songs and having so much fun playing them that has brought this band back together after a 10- year hiatus . It could also be up for debate whether they ever disbanded – literally , yes , figuratively , probably not . But in order to understand the impetus and passion behind the release of their new LP Stormchasers and decision to play a 20th Anniversary show in the next few weeks , we have to look back at those roads they took to get here .
Those of you who are old enough will likely remember hearing " Dumb Pop Song " from their first 19-song LP Growing Out of It in regular rotation on Q101 back in 1998- ' 99 . It had a very cheeky catchy chorus , " I ' m gonna steal your girlfriend , I ' m gonna steal your girlfriend ." That airplay helped them grow their fan base beyond the suburbs , and soon they were headlining House of Blues and Metro . By 2000 they were signed to Elektra Records , and their debut Throwing the Game was released in May 2001 . From that LP the song " Fred Astaire " caught a wave of radio momentum . The LP Commitment followed in 2003 , with the single " Hey Driver " seemingly driving the record to success . The production of a video as well as features in movies such as Looney Tunes : Back in Action , Without a Paddle , and New York Minute and the video game MVP Baseball 2004 also
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FORGING AHEAD
helped . But it was while promoting of Commitment ( touring , radio , publicity , etc .) that a couple of twists of fate changed the trajectory for LBC , for better or worse . " The LBC story is we ' re the ' almost ' band ," frontman Stubhy Pandav concludes . " What happened was , [ the label ] sent " Hey Driver " to a test market for radio and said if this comes in at Top 10 in this station in Denver , they were going to add it to 38 more stations . Well , the song went to # 1 . But four days later three billionaires bought out Warner Music Group and any band that was at the bottom , who hadn ' t recouped [ profits ], were dropped , including Third Eye Blind and a bunch of other bands . If that hadn ' t have happened , life would be very different right now . When they dropped us I was like ' fine , you dropped the ball .' It was good riddance . We were moving forward anyway ."
And move forward they did . They continued to tour the country for the next few years – recorded and released the EP How to Get Out Alive in 2006 ( on their original imprint Townstyle but with the help of another indie label Reincarnate , which was distributed through Sony / BMG ) and then Closing Arguments , an LP of B-sides and demos along with one new song . But the road got the best of them .
" We were in Phoenix on our way to a show in San Diego ," Pandav recalls , " and we were just drained . We were drained , making no money , in a van . It had been a three-month tour , and we just stayed out a little bit longer than we needed to ."
When the band got home it was August and they decided to take a break . " We barely talked to each other ," said Pandav . " We decided to meet back up in October . At that meeting I said , ' I don ' t think that any song I write under the name LBC is gonna get a fair shot anymore ,' and Adam agreed . We just decided we weren ' t going to write together anymore ." Adam went off and started AM Taxi with Jason , and I started one of my many projects I ' ve been in since then , and I believe Ryan had a baby on the way ."
Since 2006 , all the band members went on to various other projects . In the summer of 2010 , Pandav formed The Super Happy Fun Club , and their first EP Go Fun Yourself was released . Adam ' s next band , AM Taxi , was signed to Virgin Records in April 2009 for which they put out one LP We Don ' t Stand A Chance . The album was released in June 2010 , but by 2011 AM Taxi parted ways with the label .
On May 15 , 2012 , the band received the shocking and devastating news that LBC guitarist Joe Sell was found dead on the near west side of Chicago . He was 33 . The cause of death was believed to be a drug overdose . The band remembers him fondly a decade later . " Joe was hilarious ," Pandav recalled . " He was the most unorganized human being but so brilliant - as a lot of brilliant people are . One time we picked him up for a four to six-week tour ; he was the last one picked up . He hops into the van with nothing but a backpack . And we were like , ' Is that all you ' re bringing for a six-week tour ?' And he was like , ' Oh !' So he runs back in the house , grabs this ugly suitcase , chucks it in the back of the trailer and we were like , ' Oh good . We figured you should bring something more .' He was like , ' I got some socks in my backpack .' So we asked , ' What ' s in the suitcase ?' And he says , ' Oh , that ' s all books !' So for the whole tour he brought socks and books . He ended up going to thrift stores and buying clothes for the tour . He didn ' t care how he looked ."
Right before Sell ' s passing , Pandav and Krier had been texting each other about getting together to write again . " Then Joe passed away , and I felt like it would have been in poor taste , Pandav admitted . " Then some more time passed and the texts started again , and we were like , ' Why don ' t we just get together ?' So I drove out to where Adam lives , showed him about 30 ideas I had , we worked on two of them , and within two hours we had two songs . And I ' m not talking about just ideas ; we had it structured out . On my way home , I got a text from Adam with the lyrics to the second verse of " Stormchaser ." So , I could just tell he was really excited and I was really excited .
The next step was to share what they ' d accomplished with the other two remaining LBC band members . " I said to Adam , ' Why don ' t we just show this to the other guys and see what they think ?' And I was really nervous ,!" he recalled , because Ryan had children now , Jason had other things going on in his life . And making a record takes time , and a lot of effort , and a lot of sacrifice , and when you have a family you have to explain to them why you want to do this , So I was like , ' The songs are pretty good though '. The other two were equally excited about what Pandav and Krier had come up with . " Jason was already noodling on his bass , and Ryan was kind of like playing around , and we were like , ' Do you guys want to do this ?' We decided to work on those two songs and see what happens . Then it got more and more exciting as more and more songs came to be ."
The band members agree as well as their fans : Stormchasers is LBC ' s best record yet . Even if it did take almost 10 years apart , losing a man , playing with others ,
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