When Warner Brothers is beating on your door and local papers say your album is the best local release since The Shins, what would be the best thing your band could do? Well, how about break up?It might not be what most bands would consider, but that’s exactly what Lenny D’Wayne, Johnny Cassidy, Dagmar Andrews and Roger Apodaca, former members of GoMotorCar, did. “Warner Brothers didn’t think we could go platinum so they stopped courting, and I had basically put all my eggs in that basket,” says D’Wayne, vocalist and guitarist for the band. GoMotorCar recorded two LPs and an EP in their glory days. D’Wayne has since poured his energy into co-owning and operating Atomic Cantina, Andrews has received a masters in music and has been teaching in Cape Cod, and Apodaca has been playing in his latest project, Black Tie. Black Tie’s shtick is that it features different musicians for each of its recordings and live performances. Apodaca will launch his sophomore Black Tie album, Goodbye, Farewell , with guest appearances from his former GMC buddies. (Since Andrews no longer lives in New Mexico, the CD had to be built from WAV files sent across the country. He added drums and percussion tracks all the way from Cape Cod.) Black Tie will release its new album this Friday with a special lineup that includes Apodaca with Cassidy and Andrews, along with a few other musicians like Paul Newcomb from Los Brown Spots on cello.With the incestuous love bands share in this state, D’Wayne thought it was the ideal time to have a reunion show with his old GMC bandmates and tease us all a little—sort of a cruelly sweet punishment for once believing we’d hear them blasting from radios everywhere. This Friday, the boys from GoMotorCar will don their traditional all-black attire and turn on the bank of red lights they were almost famous for.
Launchpad hosts the GoMotorCar reunion show/Black Tie CD release party this Friday, July 20, with special guests of god and science. Cover is $5.
