Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Music

Local band: Rancid Polecats

By JULIE GARISTO
Published May 10, 2007

THE BAND: Gary Dizon, guitar and vocals; Robert Mortellaro, drums; Tom Gagnier, bass; and Jerry Meguiar, guitar and vocals.

FORMED: 1992 in Tampa by Dizon and Meguiar. The current lineup has been together five years.

THE SOUND: "We're mostly a punk band, not that far from a Dead Milkmen sort of thing. We play polka and lounge with a punk core and stretch out into other weirdness, " Dizon says.

CD: Bloody Awful, 1996.

COVERS: "The first covers we did were hard-core versions of Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf and Devo songs, " Dizon says. "We'll do a lounge version of an Ozzy Osbourne song. . . . We do 40 or so originals and 120 covers. We like to take a song and turn it on its ear."

THE SONGS THEY WRITE: Dizon's underlying themes are "relationships and fear of the unknown." Meguiar says he writes about aliens and Bigfoot. "Most of the original songs, we just made up onstage, " Dizon says. "Peterbuilt and Gina were the first two songs we kept."

AUSPICIOUS BEGINNINGS: "We originally started out for fun, " Dizon says, "to see how many times we could get kicked out of a bar."

POLE-HEADS: "In the late '90s, there were 20 people that would follow us that were hanging out in this collective in Brooksville, " Dizon says. Adds Mortellaro, "It's still that way. We have people like Crash Mitchell come up and play with us. . . . Once you've been a Polecat, always a Polecat."

THANK YOU VERY MUCH: The band has had several themed events, including an Elvis tribute (Dizon threw peanut butter and banana sandwiches at the audience). Says Dizon, "Each of the shows was a festival and would turn into a debacle."

POLE-KITTENS: Meguiar has an 8-year-old daughter named Maggie, and Gagnier has twin 2-year-olds, Helena and Vivian.

DAY JOBS: Dizon handles health insurance claims; Mortellaro works at Sam Ash Music; Gagnier is a director at WFTS-Ch. 28; and Meguiar is an electric data supplier.

POLECAT RULE OF THUMB: "If there's a song that someone in the band hates, it's going to be added, " Dizon says.

CHECK 'EM OUT: 9 p.m. Friday with Crippled Masters and Car Bomb Driver at New World Brewery, 1313 E Eighth Ave., Ybor City. $4. (813) 248-4969.

[Last modified May 9, 2007, 10:56:04]