This past week, our writer Joe Woodard made a reference to a band he was a part of in the 80s. His band was called the Loud Family — the same name of the viral Santa Barbara family he was reporting on. And this week, we asked Woodard to tell us about his local band experience:
“Of all the many bands I’ve been involved in over the years, I’ve always had a warm feeling about the strange one we called the Loud Family. In the late ‘80s, it started with my brother David — who often played with his white pet rat on his shoulder — along with the talented and high coiffed Anita Visser and drummer Tom Lackner. The name came out of a family feeling in the group, because we ‘might get loud’ at gigs and because I had been obsessed with the actual Loud family of An American Family fame.
“Writing an article about the new podcast on the Louds and connecting with Grant Loud — who I remembered being in a band in the series — stirred up memories of our musical Loud Family. I had also spent some time during the work-free COVID black hole doing a lot of creative work and also rummaging through vintage creative matters lurking in the archives. I dug up photos and an old demo tape — done at Dave Fitzpatrick’s studio — and put up a funky web page, also getting the music on all the usual digital platforms.
“This version of the Loud Family replaced David with singer-songwriter Cara Tower and now had nimble drummer Peter Markiewicz (a k a Mars) on board. We got serious-ish, entertaining fantasies of making it — whatever that means — and cooked up a danceable stew with influences ranging from Prince to the Talking Heads, King Crimson, and maybe a new wave girl group or two. I remember the fun and funk of playing at Joseppi’s quite a bit and pop-up gigs at Pepper’s and Oscar’s along with other places my memory has lost track of.
“Fame did not come knocking at our family’s door: the women headed east, and soon, another band had ‘stolen’ our name. But big fun was had, and archives refuse to die. Maybe a line from our song ‘Thirsty World’ sums up the story: ‘there’s no measure of success or fame to convey/A jumbo cup ‘o happiness when you’re lost in space.’”
For a look at the Loud Family band, click here, and for a listen, click here.
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