5 Old-School Lafayette Local Bands You Should Get Reacquainted With

Back in the day, it was a normal night, on any night of the week, to walk down "The Strip" and hear 3 to 4 local bands bangin' it out at Shanahan's, Nite Caps, Buckshots, etc. Now a days, things are a little more spread out if you want to go watch live, local, original rock bands. The other day while I was on vacation, I decided to try and organize my c.d. collection. Well, I didn't quite succeed at that task, but what I did accomplish was finding a crate full of nothing but local band's c.d.'s I had collected through the years. I've had a blast going through them the past few weeks, and thought you might enjoy re-visiting, or hearing for the first time, some of the bands that have helped shape the Lafayette music scene through the years. This is only a taste of what I've found, so if this generates a decent amount of interest, I'll be posting more. If you dig this post, please share this link with people you might think will like it. ENJOY!

Frigg-A-Go-Go

When I first moved to Lafayette, the first local band that people I met said I needed to check out was Frigg-A-Go-Go. I finally got my chance one Mardi Gras when they played outside Cafe' 101, now Papa John's Pizza on campus. I was instantly a fan and was lucky enough to catch them quite a few times through out the years. In 1999 they released the c.d. "The Winning Score". It still sounds as good to me today as it ever did. Here's a couple of my faves from the disc, "High Society" and "Burnin' Hell Blues".

"High Society"

"Burnin' Hell Blues"

Stealing Cane

sugartown records

Stealing Cane came onto the scene with an ace guitar player/vocalist in Keith Blair,Brian Petry on drums. and all around first rate players rounding out the band. Keith gained early notoriety as the guitar player for Miss Molly and the Whips, but decided to get his own band together with Stealing Cane. In 1999 the band released "My Crazy Life" on Sugartown Records, and quickly stormed the local Lafayette scene. Here's a couple of my favorites "M&M Girl" and "My Crazy Life".

"M&M Girl"

"My Crazy Life"

Swill

The mighty Swill! What can I say about these guys. Swill was a great band, great friends, and absolutely DESTROYED the stage every time they played. I've seen them play too many times to count or remember...we had some fun times back in the day. In 1999 they released their first proper c.d. "Gold Medalist". Members of Swill splintered off into many other bands sence then, and I'll cover that and let you hear those bands in a future post if you want me to. Until then, put your ears all over these tunes "Gold Medalist" and "Love & Lust 101".

"Gold Medalist"

"Love & Lust 101"

Spank The Monkey

One of the biggest local bands to come out of Acadiana from the past 10 years is without a doubt Spank The Monkey. They drew some of the biggest crowds out of anyone locally with their mix of covers and originals. They got radio airplay all over the Gulf Coast region with their first single "Sweet Daisy" from the band's debut c.d. They went on to release 3 more albums including "White Trash Lullabies" and "3". You can still catch the guys every now and then gigging around the area, and you should definitely do so...they sound better today then ever. Here's a couple of my favorites, "The Bear" from the first c.d. and "L.O.L." from the band's second.

"The Bear"

"L.O.L."

Santeria

Santeria was quite a force to be reckoned with on the scene back in the day. Led by singer/savior poet/prophet Mr. Deje Legg, Santeria came across like the family from "The Devil's Rejects", and that is partly what drew me to them. The other part was the great music. Giant, sweeping tunes with fantastic lyrics. They released the c.d. "Santeria" in 1998 to local critical acclaim, and gained a cult like following that packed places everywhere they played. They put out many more great c.d.'s through the years, and Deje has gone on to have a few more awesome bands and a solo c.d. Again, I'll post all that info/music in the future if you want me to. Here are a couple songs by them I've always loved..."Speed Of Sound" and "Zixox" from their c.d. "House Of The Dying Sun".

"Speed Of Sound"

"Zixox"

Filed Under: frigg a-go-go, local music, newsletter, santeria, spank the monkey, stealing cane, swill

Categories: Local News