Semi-Famous initially began as a fictional band from John Jughead’s (Screeching Weasel, The Mopes, etc) book Weasels In A Box. In late 2022, Jughead brought the band to reality, enlisting fellow musicians Ryan Rockwell (Mixtapes), Billy Brown (Crash And Burn, Ashers, Unseen) and Poli Van Dam (ex-Bombpops), and whoever else he can get his hands on. John Jughead explains:
The intention from the beginning was to take the fictional band of Semi-Famous out of my book Weasels In A Box, and to record some songs under that name for the audiobook release. We had so much fun writing in a form that most of us had not been engaging in for years so we decided to write more. But the thing that happened is, even though still influenced by Screeching Weasel, the songs took on their own life. I have high regard for the songs written by Ben Weasel and Dan Vapid, and I have always stayed away from trying to sound like them. I don’t have the vocal talent of Vapid, or the humorous darkness of Ben, so it made sense that Ryan and my emulation of that time period would sound different from the originals. Semi-Famous’ music will continue to be inspired by that music and the music’s multiple time periods but, especially with the writing of Poli van Dam and inspiration of Billy Brown, our sound will continue to grow in exciting new directions.
This supergroup born from a fictional group recently announced their debut album Destroy Ourselves, which will be released 26 Jul 2024 via Rare Bird / Duck! Records. Now they’ve given us not one, but two new songs to enjoy, plus a music video for each one.
First we have title (to the book) track “Weasels in a Box”:
And while we knew that song was coming, the band also delivered an unexpected single “Clown In The Window” (also titled as “Clown In My Window” in the video itself).
Preorder links for vinyl can be found below.
Striped Music (EU)
Rare Bird Lit (Everywhere else)
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
Leave it up to you, thatsgoodenoughforme, to mention the inconsistency in title. We actually DID catch it in time but decided to leave it. Ha! – Jughead