NORMAN — There exists a place, deep in the heart of Norman, where time has stopped. Children in Starter Jackets gather around a campfire and ask one another ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ Everyone owns at least one Tamagotchi, fourteen slap bracelets, and about a million pogs (designer slammers included.) Boys drool over Kelly Kapowski, girls over Zach Morris, and everyone is genuinely concerned when Jessie gets addicted to caffeine pills.
In this place, My So-Called Band is king.
The ’90s cover band, formed as a side project by musicians originally hailing from the Evangelicals, the Workweek, and the Pidgin Band, began as a joke, but quickly took Norman by storm.
“We would get together and hang out at Othello’s comedy night and at some point we decided we were going to start a ’90s cover band as a joke,” Kyle Davis said. “We just kept coming up with really awesome songs we would want to play.”
Their first show, less than a year ago at The Deli, developed a line down the block by the beginning of their set and the band soon had to move to larger venues to accommodate the crowds.
“By the third show we had a line down the street before we even started,” Davis said. “It kind of sucks to have all these people that want to see us, and they can’t get in.”
The band debated on several ’90’s pop culture-related band names, including Nirvana White, Titanic, and White Ford Bronco before deciding on My So-Called Band, a play on the teen television drama “My So-Called Life.”
And the band members are serious about their ’90s pop culture. In fact, since forming they have learned enough songs to nearly fill three separate, unique three-hour sets. Because of this extensive repertoire, fans are guaranteed to hear a wide range of music, including the good, the bad, and the ugly of ’90s music.
“There are a couple of songs we like to have in every set just because they’re really fun and the crowd’s really into them,” Davis said. “We also have songs that the crowd really hates but we still want to play them sometimes. They came to see a ’90s cover band. You have to take the good with the bad, you know? Sometimes if you’re going to hear ‘No Rain’ you have to also sit through ‘Tub Thumping.’
But for all their talk of playing songs the crowd hates, at their shows there seems to be no room for anything but a good time in the crowd. Within the first few chords of most songs a collective gasp can be heard from fans as they recognize the song and soon everyone is moving to the beat and singing along. The band members attribute this to listening to crowd requests.
“Whenever people find out that you’re a ’90s cover band, they’re like ‘Do you play this? Do you play this?’” band member Carly Gwin said. “Now we’re at the point where we can say ‘yeah’ or we can say ‘not that song but a different song by that band.’ Everyone has a ’90s song that we should play.”
That band — audience interaction is something that My So-Called Band is all about, and it reflects in their performances. By the end of the night, fans are exhausted from dancing, drinking, and singing along. The beginning of shows, unlike the end however, can be a bit nerve-wracking.
“It is a bit of a challenge to get people into it,” Davis said. “It’s a little nerdy, playing ’90s songs, but I think we do them pretty well. If people are in the moment they tend to have a pretty good time and eventually get up there and start dancing and acting a fool. That’s our goal. That’s what we want — people to cut loose a little bit.”
The band’s next performance will be at the Brewhouse tonight at 9:30 p.m. There will be a $7 cover at the door. Band members said they’re ready for Norman to come out, have some drinks, and celebrate the simpler time of the 90’s with them. They also had one small request for fans.
“If someone could find some Crystal Pepsi and let us know how to get a case of that, that’d be great,” Davis said. “Or Zima would be even better. We’ll pour it into a Super Soaker and drink it on stage. If they can get ahold of some Zima, we’ll throw down and learn whatever ’90s song they want us to learn.”
