One of the most longest named bands of the 1980s, Billy Stringbean and the Pufferfish, are making a comeback with their new album, Songs About Rocking.
The highly-anticipated album is being accompanied by a tour, which kicked off last week in Cincinnati, Iowa, which is also known as the Cincinnati of Iowa. The concert was held at the Cincinnati Civic Center and Convenience Store, which was a packed hall. It was literally a packed hall as the band played in the hall at the civic center while the baseball card convention was going on inside the main arena. But it was standing room only, mainly because there were no chairs, with some 9 people in attendance, including the four band members.
Fans were ecstatic to have the classic lineup back together again, including Michael “Mike” Michaels on keytar; “Little” Mike Little on rock flute, Mike “Mick” McMichael on fancy red guitar, and Stringbean on vocals and electric triangle.
With the new album, Songs About Rocking, the band is looking to introduce a new generation to songs about the act of singing about rock songs.
“Back in the old days, you weren’t taken seriously if you didn’t have a hit song about the act of rocking. Boston had “Rock and Roll Band,” which explained their rise as just another band out of Boston, Bad Company had “Shooting Star,” about a kid named Johnny who wanted to be a rock star, Twister Sister had “I Wanna Rock,” which was about a guy with a desire to rock, and Foreigner had “Juke Box Hero,” about a guy that wanted to repair juke boxes,” explained Stringbean.
“These bands all had literally nothing to say and knew next to nothing about the world outside of their own existence and they turned that myopia into music gold,” added Stringbean. “And in doing so they inspired a whole generation of rappers who sang songs about rapping.”
Stringbean said he’d like to bring that cliched, narrow view of the world to a whole new generation of millennials and whatever they call the generation after millennials.
The band is hoping Songs About Rocking is more successful than their last album, Songs About Rocks and Geodes, which was dedicated to their love of rocks. The album spawned a minor hit in “I Want a Rock (An Igneous One),” but the album fizzled after that.
