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Big Time Once upon a time, there was a girl named Gloria. Gloria loved a guy named Bill S., and declared her love for him on a wall in an alley off Lexington's Maxwell Street. Some time later, Jerad Morse and Jesse Taylor headed to a friend's house from either a party or a bar (they're not sure), and stopped in the same alley to answer nature's call. While staring at the wall, Taylor spotted it. Gloria + Bill S. Gloria. Bill S. Gloria Bills. Thus began one chapter in the history of one of Lexington's local bands made good. The fact that they've been spending time recently honing their live sound and working on performing as a unit is something that looks like it might come in handy. On Saturday, December 30, at 2:00 PM (EST) Gloria Bills will be performing live on the FOX TV network (channel 56 in Lexington). The event is the first annual National High School All-Star Football Game, to be held in Dallas. The band will perform during the pre-game show, as well as going into and coming out of commercial breaks. According to Cleary, FOX reaches 90 million households in the U.S. If just one percent of said households tune into the game, Gloria Bills are looking at playing for an audience of nearly one million. So just how did a relative newcomer to the Lexington music scene wind up getting booked to play live on network TV? In a word, management. Gloria Bills are represented by Mark Rucker, a Lexington-based attorney/agent primarily known for representing extreme athletes (think ESPN's X-Games). While Rucker's clientele is spread out nationally, and most of the athletes he represents are well-known within the industry, Gloria Bills are the only band he manages. Rucker's management has already proved beneficial insofar as getting Gloria Bills' name and music national recognition. One of his other clients, bicyclist John Parker, is also slated to perform an exhibition at the Dallas event. Rucker has also helped to tie the band to several other extreme-athletic events. They've played a private party in Nashville for ESPN and X-Games athletes, and are slated to perform in Louisville in April during ESPN's X-Trials there. Also on tap, but still tentative, is the ESPN Music Fest, to be held at the Hollywood Bowl in March. Their current focus, though, is definitely on the south. In addition to the FOX performance, they've booked a mini-tour throughout the southeast, which sees them playing Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee before returning to Lexington. In spite of the fact that they are currently without a label, Gloria Bills are undaunted. As Taylor puts it, "We don't have other jobs. We practice every day. This is what we do." Morse, too, sees a positive side to their current situation. Previously, Gloria Bills had been a four-piece band, with a couple of different people occupying the position of second guitarist. He says that since being reduced to a trio, they've been able to "consolidate our sound." He went on to explain that "when it's just the three of us, it flows." And insofar as Lexington goes, none of the band have much bad to say about the current state of the music scene here. Taylor lauds the Blueberries, specifically Otto Hellmuth, whom he calls a "master songwriter." He also noted that Z103 DJ Lee "Sticky" Dellapina has been both instrumental and inventive in helping to promote a number of local bands, Gloria Bills included. With the first few months of 2001 already somewhat filled for Gloria Bills, they're definitely enthusiastic about their immediate future. But where does it go from there? Nobody knows. Maybe it's written on a wall in an alley somewhere. Check out Gloria Bills on FOX 56, WDKY, December 30, at 2:00 PM (EST).
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Although many bands here are likely to go through several incarnations and name changes before they find their groove, not all make the leap to the "big time" like Gloria Bills. Taylor, a vocalist and guitarist, and Morse, a bassist, had already worked together musically in the past in a number of incarnations under various names, going back to the early 1990's. Taylor had been "fooling around," recording his own "grunge/punk" songs at home on a four-track recorder. He shared some of this material with Morse, who, according to Taylor, was "more punk rock." Morse liked what he heard, and the two of them began collaborating. The first "real" partnership between the two fell under the moniker The Broken. Due in part to their tender ages and relative lack of experience, The Broken never managed to achieve any sort of notoriety, and Taylor and Morse went their separate ways. Shortly thereafter, Taylor was at the New Morning Coffee House on Euclid Avenue when he asked someone working there to play a tape of his songs. While the tape was playing, someone stood up and asked whose music he was hearing. That someone would turn out to be drummer B. Cleary, who had previously performed with various local bands, including Cathexis and Lime Shy. As a result of this meeting, Cleary and Taylor formed the short-lived Purity of Youth. Purity of Youth achieved a degree of recognition in Lexington that The Broken had not, playing several now-defunct clubs around town. Ultimately, though, Cleary left the band, and Lexington, for a "paying gig." Undaunted, Taylor continued with his plan to pursue a career in music. A chance meeting with Morse at Kroger on Euclid resulted in the two of them deciding to team up again. Taylor placed a call to Cleary, who immediately decided to join. And Gloria Bills was born. Well, almost. They had a band, but no name. Taylor was pushing for Mason-Headley as the name of the band. Until that fateful night in the alley. Fast forward to early 1999. Gloria Bills had only been together for about four weeks when they recorded a demo, with Otto Hellmuth producing. Based on the strength of that demo, they were signed to Hello Records, which released a CD. During 1999 and early 2000, Gloria Bills found themselves being played on college radio nationwide. Subsequently, though, the band have parted ways with Hello. While refusing to discuss specifics, Taylor did say that the decision to split from Hello was a "mutual" decision between the band and the label. |
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