Garbage garage band: the Garbage Men

These four young fellas from Sarasota, Fla call themselves The Garbage Men, and play some damned fine music on their instruments made from cereal-boxes and other repurposed trash.

Satisfaction by The Garbage Men (Thanks, Nanner!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

Tichrimo

That was done to death in the 70′s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WT-fxBNKs8&t=0m47s
- Editz
  
  Don’t forget the half-assed metal remixes:
  
  http://youtu.be/mrSEPz6ZzXU
- emmdeeaych
  
  I love the reference, but would you consider making it without pissing on other people’s good work?
Anonymous

I am a Sarasotan, and have seen these fellows downtown and around. They also cover Beatles and Monkee Tunes. A real hoot to see them get some exposure here. The local public love them, and they are just a fun part and becoming a staple of the the Sarasota underground. DRINK MORE MILK!!!!
Eye Open Doors

“it will be 8 no 7 dollars”

That’s awesome!
jjsaul

I think they’re rockin’. The horn section could maybe switch it out for whiskey-jug stylings on an empty Tide bottle. Or better yet, a few more pieces of PVC would make a nice slide trumbone.

Some classic inspiration… Hurra Torpedo doing Total Eclipse of the Heart with some kitchen appliances (and guitar). Probably not safe for work considering the problems the stove-smasher has keeping his sweat pants up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br-D7UneS0E

The drummer is totally doing Animal.
- lewis stoole
  
  i think looking at blogs and being on the internet is nsfw
  but holy cow, that was frickin’ awesome. i would put it up there with the garbage men and christian markley.
  - lewis stoole
    
    (and that is a compliment coming from someone who is a member in both the beatles and the rolling stones)
woodly

It’s 8 dollars. No wait what? 7 dollars. I guess it’s 7 dollars now. Huh? Hold on folks, we’ve gotta nail down this fucking price before we can play. I said hold your shit! (Now I thought we agreed on 8 dollars the other night. Oh that was for the 4th of July parade at the elementary school? Godammit… No, it’s just that we look like fucking amateurs up here now with our 7 dollars or 8 dollars and I’m trying to bang my babysitter. Ya well everyone’s banged your Mom, Skylar, so shut the fuck up and let’s just play already. Fucking eh…) Okay, it’s just 7 dollars folks, step on up. This next one goes out to my awesome babysitter, Summer, and it’s a little ditty we like to call, “Satisfaction”. Hit it boys!
the lurch

Saw this already. In 1992. http://www.junkyardsymphony.com.
These guys used to busk in Ottawa and area. Since then, they’ve toured the world. I don’t think they do strings…but percussion they have in abundance.
braininavat

I hope they do Surfin’ Bird.
Bernard Dub

Give them two years, let them move to Europe and they’ll be
Anonymous

Finch House Records is out of Sarasota – great indie scene down there!

Scarecrow Repair

They’re out in public, doing what they want to do, and having fun.

I’d say that puts them ahead of about 99% of the population. I’d throw some money in their hat.

Anonymous

Needs more repurposed cowbell.

Anonymous

yay! sarasota finally gets boinged for something cool! go sarasota music scene!

Anonymous

Neptune, Jr.
Noah Nickels

would have been kind of cool, but the drums sound wayy off beat to me…
pato pal ur

These guys are total bad-ass. I bet this won’t be the last time they appear on Boing Boing.
Anonymous

A french band named “Les poubelles boys” is doing about the same for 20 years now.
Watch here for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My57WksEaLY&feature=related
owlcave

We just covered these guys on a show I edit called “A Gulf Coast Journal” on WEDU-TV. You can check out the full length feature here.

http://video.wedu.org/video/1890876652/

Fast forward to 2 mins in to see the Garbage Men in action.
Anonymous

They’re all Pine View students in this video. Their bottle player (not available for this gig) goes to St. Stephens.
Anonymous

The drummer does a very good Charlie Watts impersonation! They are too good be living in Sarasota Florida, where the average age is deceased.
nibornesor

Check them out: http://www.facebook.com/thegarbagemen

They’re playing at Snooty the Manatee’s 63rd Birthday at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton on Saturday, July 16th and MOSI in Tampa on July 17th. They often play at the Farmers Market downtown in Sarasota and always at the Art Walk on Palm Ave on the 1st Friday of the month at 7pm.
nixiebunny

Give them 10 years of practice, and they’ll be Doo Rag.
woodly

“damned fine”… relative to the sound of one hand clapping? No, wait, that doesn’t work either.
Anonymous

Actually, I think they sound just like the Rolling Stones.
John Brissenden

Can I be the first to say they’re rubbish?
lewis stoole

better than the beatles
and definitely better than the rolling stones
(and that is quite a compliment coming from someone who is a member of both bands)
skeletoncityrepeater

I love how their instruments sound.. just wish that the bass line was a little more solid!!! anyway, it’s great and they should keep doing it.
exile

Kudos for the Trout Mask Replica t-shirt.

They should listen to Devo’s, ‘satisfaction’, and consider getting more, um, angular.
Anonymous

These boys are friends with my son, and I can assure you that they are all incredibly good, creative and ridiculously smart kids. They truly do give all their profits to charity – it’s not just a marketing ploy. This is a group of teenagers that are doing good things and having fun doing it – you should see the smiles on the faces of their audiences!
blacksquare

It’s probably a little tough for these guys to find girlfriends at the moment in Sarasota, but in seven years when they’re all majoring in trash guitar at RISD it’s going to be a different story. Art school chicks really dig these kinds of skills. Hang in there dudes! You sound dope
- DoctressJulia
  
  So, you’re saying the only reason these kids are making music is to ‘get girlfriends’ and date ‘art school chicks’? :/
  
  Wow, how enlightened you sound. /s
  - freshacconci
    
    They’re teenagers. That is what teenagers think about. The fact that they’ve got a great hobby that will probably lead to some of what they think about, not to mention an excellent way to work through the frustrations of not getting some of what they’re thinking about, is a bonus. I doubt blacksquare was judging or condemning them.
  - Anonymous
    
    As someone who has lived in Providence for 20 years and once worked for RISD I’d say that you need to temper your opinion.
    
    ANY person who would make an instrument is a driven creative person and THAT is what appeals to Women who attend RISD.
    
    In essence you are selling the women of RISD short in your headlong plunge to find something insulting in these obviously awkward young men finally having their insides appreciated. The Women of RISD and these young garbage men can see beauty in places you can’t.
    
    How sad for you.
- Anonymous
  
  forget RISD, they should go to VCUarts, its practically free compared to RISD…
Anonymous

These Guys RULE!! These guys are the future. Making their own instruments AND playing live at a festival??? Sign these dudes now!
They didn’t have to rely on rich parents/friends to get instruments, they did it themselves. F-ing awesome is all I can say.
FreakCitySF

That guitar? bass guitar? sounds great! Reminds me of a sitar or something. The rest of the instruments do sound like trash being played though.
Anonymous

Outstanding, from an inventive, whimsical and creative viewpoint. Beffheartian in all the right ways.

See, kiddies, it ain’t about having a $5000 Les Paul or flash pots or the most groupies. It’s about the music, and making that music in any way that you can.

Bravo to those four. I sincerely hope that they don’t go for “music classes” whose only result, in the name of “professionalism”, will be to blunt their enthusiasm and creative drive.

I wonder if they know about Harry Partch,, or these albums:

http://www.amazon.com/Gravikords-Whirlies-Pyrophones-Experimental-Instruments/dp/B00000BIII

http://www.amazon.com/Orbitones-Spoon-Bellowphones-Various-Artists/dp/B00000BIIG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310227525&sr=1-1
Anonymous

Raising money for Heifer International with sales of their CD! Heck – I’d buy that just for such an awesome organization. Way to go guys!
bourgeois_rage

I played junk drums about 10 years ago in a college band called Trilobite Agenda. The set was a bit more complex than this and sounded better. It was still very clangy, but it was helped by the fact that we used some old cymbals and a snare drum. The bass was an old cardboard barrel, and we had a bunch of random metal pieces suspended by rubber bands and whatnot. I don’t think that there is any video or audio online, but maybe I’ll work on doing that. That was the only junk, though we had an accordion and a bass to round out the trio.
deose

I believe those guitars are real guitars, just wrapped in a cereal box. I do not believe they implemented their own electronics out of garbage. But good job on the creativity.
- obeyken
  
  deose – if you take a look I think it’s pretty clear that the guitars are very much DIY instruments, in the cigar-box tradition (e.g., http://makezine.com/04/cigarbox/). I think we can cut them some slack for not winding their own pickups using salvaged copper wire and discarded refrigerator magnets.
- gellfex
  
  Deose, winding a pickup is far simpler than you might think, and that’s really all you need in the guitar. The volume & tone pots are just gravy. http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-A-Guitar-Pickup/
  
  See the beginning of “It Might Get Loud” as Jack White makes a crude lap guitar and wails on it.
- Berlinimal
  
  believe it.
  I went to a Gr. 2-12 school for the gifted in Sarasota called Pineview (albeit 20+ years ago), and I’d be willing to bet at least a couple of these guys do too.
  While there, our classes (especially science and math, but also virtually all others as well) regularly included applications of the concepts we learned and quite often had assignments to make things from just the sorts of materials this band has used.
  I also applaude them on their creativity and ingenuity, although I think someone should point out to the lead guitarist that what he forgot was that criticizing your bandmates while on stage makes you look like a total d-bag.
  - nanner
    
    I’m wondering if these kids are Pine View students too! My 2 kids go there and I’ve seen some interesting things. There were a couple of Pine View students demonstrating a hovercraft they built out of leafblowers in front of GWiz during the Mini-Maker Fair. Some pix from the fair here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150118746870071.325867.148905440070 it was fun, i hope they do it again this year!
  - Ceronomus
    
    Pineview alumni represent! If they aren’t going to Pineview, than something has gone wrong with the program because these are just the sort who should be there.
    
    These kids are great and, if I see them while I’m in Sarasota, I’m certainly getting the CD and dropping some cash in their hat. LOVE the creativity!
    - nibornesor
      
      Pine View it is!
El Mariachi

Reminded me a bit of the Robot Band Song from Machinarium.
Tristan Eldtritch

Yeah, I agree with FreakCity, the DIY instruments have a trippy, eastern sound to them. Pretty cool.