LRHB Industries Dept. of Public Records

This, my friends, is the first in a series of articles delving into the forgotten memories of, well, me.

I was going through some boxes which pretty much contain the contents of my life, and I came across so many things I, and I have a feeling many others, hadn’t really thought about in a long time. So, I thought it’d be a good idea to sit down with my trusty sidekick Google and see what’s become of some of the things I loved so dearly.

First on the list: Save Ferris.

Ahhhh ska. Some may say you’re dead, but I will always have a place for you in my heart. Save Ferris gained some fame in the late 90’s when ska, or rather the third-wave, took it’s last gasp before slowly fading back into the murky depths of Orange County from whence it was resurrected (with much thanks to No Doubt, of course). I was never a giant fan of Save Ferris, and that SPAM song pretty much annoyed the hell out of me, but I think my biggest reason for being drawn to the female-fronted ensemble was that they sounded so much like the Bay Area’s Dance Hall Crashers.

Save Ferris’ first two albums, Save Ferris and It Means Everything, were energetic and fun. Their cover of 80’s new wave hit Come On Eileen got major radio airplay. In 1999 they came out with “Modified” that I a) have never heard and b) had never heard of until I started looking into them, so I’m guessing it wasn’t that great. From the reviews, it looks like it was a departure from their ska roots, and since they were primarily a ska band, it also singled their departure from, well, being a band. Save Ferris broke up in 2002.

So what are they up to today?

Interestingly enough, lead singer Monique Powell has a myspace page (now private) where she seems to blog regularly about her more recent goingons, and she also has a personal site which is somewhat up-to-date once had a personal website, which is now gone. There you once find pictures from 2003, news about her solo album and tour from 2004, and a biography, discography, and fan club.

Bassis Bill Uechi, known early on for his trademark bear hat thing, unfortunately does not have a myspace page. The old Googs indicates that he was playing with a band, Starpool out of Aneheim, CA, in 2003, but they’ve since broken up. Various newspapers list him as “Rock musician Bill Uechi (Save Ferris)” and note his birthday (he turned 30 this August). Other than that though, I can’t find much else.

Saxaphonist Eric Zamora, and trombonist T-Bone Willy also played with Bill in Starpool, and drummer Evan Kilbourne went on to play in April Sixth, who is actually still together, pretty rocking, and on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/aprilsixth. They’re now signed to Columbia records, but Evan is no longer with the band. And last but not least, guitarist Brian Mashburn, who was also in Starpool with the others, now plays with Stephanie Esparza in the band Victory Season who, like all bands now, have a myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/victoryseason. They’re pretty rockin’, and a little Hollywood, even though they hail from Orange, CA.

And that, my friends, pretty much sums up… what ever happened to SAVE FERRIS!

( Oh, and on a side note, just as proof that Ska indeed is not dead, I just heard a little ska instrumental in the background of a Discover Card commercial, so… there. )