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Article published Nov 9, 2007 All Terry Anderson and the boys want to do is kick some ass
By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff
If there was an Olympic medal for ass-kicking, Terry Anderson and his motley crew of fellow musicians would be standing on the center platform, waving gold.
Not that Anderson and his band — appropriately named the Olympic Ass-Kickin’ Team — want any recognition for their efforts. They just want to keep doing what they do best — climbing on stage each night, plugging in and ripping through song after song of good, old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll.
“We get up there, and we don’t have a lot of stage banter,” Anderson told The Daily Times this week. “We knock out about 20 songs in an hour, just kicking ass, and that’s all we want to do. I just kind of came up with the name one day, and I think it’s kind of apropos for what we do. I saw a Dave Edmunds show a long time ago, and he did that — just played one song after another for a solid hour, doing nothing but kicking ass.
“I was thinking about the Olympics one day, and how it would be if they had an ass-kicking team, and I thought the name would be perfect for us, because that’s what we want to do. We don’t have any slow songs; well, maybe one or two, so we can catch our breaths, but we just want to get up there and kick ass all the time.”
With the songs that make up the band’s self-titled debut, it’s hard not to award Anderson and his bandmates the gold. There’s nothing flashy or mind-blowing about what they do; there’s no heart-rendering introspection or guitar-shredding or full-on assault of anger and angst. If nothing else, Anderson and the OAK Team come across as a party band still on their feet when the last keg at the frat party has been drained, peeling off one rock riff after another for the three girls and the couple of nerds who have yet to pass out from too much beer.
They do it with style and panache and an approach that makes it virtually impossible for another band to cover one of their songs. It just wouldn’t sound the same to hear someone else try and play a song like “Thunderbird” (sample lyrics: “I bought two quarts this morning / on my way to work / and if I drink them by myself, my head is going to hurt / why don’t you come over here, and help me drink this Thunderbird”) or “Rehab” (“Won’t take no answer / it’s a matter of life of death / you’re killing yourself and everyone around you / and you’re too drunk to know what’s best / you’ve gotta go to rehab ...”)
“Sometimes it’s just immediate that a song I’ve written is meant for this band,” Anderson said. “We have our own thing, and whether people realize it or not, other bands can’t do, or maybe don’t want to do, what we do. Like ‘Big’ Al Anderson (of NRBQ) tells me, ‘Nobody’s doing what you’re doing, Terry. I mean, nobody.’”
Joining Anderson (who drums as well as sings) is bassist Jack Cornell, a bandmate of Anderson’s in one form or fashion since 1978; Dave Bartholomew, a collaborator of Whiskeytown fiddler Caitlin Cary and her band, Tres Chicas, on guitar; former Six String Drag member Scotty Miller, also on guitar; and Cartridge Family member Greg Rice on keyboards. The band hails from North Carolina and prides itself on its quirky sense of humor almost as much as its abilities to rock.
“When the four of us get together, it’s just chemistry,” said Anderson, who also performs with The Yayhoos. “Everybody’s just having a blast playing together, and we do every night that we play. It all just fell into place, and it’s been a long time coming. When I’m back home, I’ve got all these songs laying around and I just keep writing, so they’ve got to go somewhere. And I love the way these guys interpret the songs — it’s just fun, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
An example of OAK Team craziness — a party in West Palm Beach, Fla., where the stage jutted up against the swimming pool. As the band wrapped up “Check Please,” it’s closer, Bartholomew unplugged his monitors and did a swan dive into the pool, guitar and all.
“It’s like that all the time — everywhere we go, we have fun,” Anderson said. “We all have jobs and stuff, but we try to take advantage of the time we have together to go out and promote the records and just have a good time.”