Check it out! Backseat Beat featured a MM favorite, Social Studies, performing on top of some hill above the Cow Palace.
Social Studies was definitely the hottest band in the Berkeley co-ops in the early 2000s. I remember many nights watching them play in the Cloyne Court kitchen while munching on a vegan Chik Patty sandwich with Prego sauce.
Jesse, the bass player, was Cloyne’s maintenance manager, a total babe, and his signs always had excellent penmanship. In this interview, he details what it was like going to French high school. Wow, no jocks, no prom, just a bunch of skinny kids smoking cigs? What was there to rebel against? I probably would have ended up in a fraternity just to be “different”.
Anyway, their music rocks too. Check out Backseat Beat for more.
Update: I was audited by some notable co-op historians. Andrew points out that I probably mixed them up with Spunky Brewster, an ’80s cover band for which Jesse played guitar. Kat says Social Studies formed after we lived at Cloyne. Turns out my memory really was affected by all the drinking and contact highs.
