Our story begins in Atlanta, Georgia way back in the Fall of 1993. That’s when I met Tal Bayer. He had just left the Pietasters and was looking to start a new band. I was new in town and open for anything. It was at practice one night at Tal’s place that I first met Tom Cheshire. At the time, he was living in Tal’s laundry room. A few months later, we played a show at the Wreck Room, opening for the Skats. The show went off well. I left town for a while, and Tom joined the Skats. We had gone our separate ways. About a year later, we bumped into each other at a Shane MacGowan & the Popes show at the Variety Playhouse. He had improved his living conditions somewhat and was now living on someone’s couch in a loft apartment off of 14th Street. We decided to give it another go. These were the days of Jenkin’s Ear Studio where we would practice and record. Brian Kincheloe (Swing Riot), Chuck Petrakapoulis, and Paul Tilghmon all lived there in that space behind the Northside Tavern. I helped Tom edit his first book, Full Time Fool. We worked together writing and compiling poems and stories for our second book, Pants Pocket. I still look back on those times as some of my best.
Tom, who has a very big heart, started booking shows at the Little Blue Reggae Hut. It was a labor of love. We played with some great bands there (the Robustos, Four Hour Fogger, and our own Boys from the County Hell). After the Reggae Hut closed down, everyone packed up and moved to the warehouses.
The band lineup would change a bit over the next year. Mike Bruce, Tom and myself being the only consistent members. Eventually, Marlow Sanchez and Dewayne Halstead (both of Swing Riot) joined us on bass and drums, and the Rent Boys were born. It became apparent pretty quickly that the five of us shared something special.
C11 was home base. We would live, record, and play shows there. It was a great environment to be both creative and hedonistic. We were starting to make our mark around town. We were already packing them in at Dotties, then we started filling up some of the bigger clubs around town. Somewhere around this time, we gave a young group of miscreants their first club gig. I remember a very underage Cole attempting to light his penis on fire at the Point, the Renegades would later play in our living room, and eventually become the Black Lips. We played some amazing shows with Fiend without a Face, the Robustos, and the Fourty Fives. We had quite a scene going on.
We decided to take the show on the road. We met Joe Strummer in D.C. and hung out all night with him. He invited us to his show in N.Y.C. the next night. We played our historic show at Kevin St. James Pub on Broadway. The following Monday, I was digging a trench, sweating my balls off, and scratching my head. Did all that really happen...
We kept moving forward. We headlined the Local’s Only Stage at Music Midtown. When the house lights went up, there were 10,000 faces staring back at us. It looked like we just might make it.
But it was not to be. We recorded our last album with David Barbe at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, then called it quits. We played our last show together, along with the Beltones, at the E.A.R.L. on New Years Eve 2000. We went our separate ways.
Tom went on to form Kid Boom Boom with Dewayne and Russ Jackson (his housemate from 14th St.). Marlow went to play bass with Joseph Plunkett and the Weight. Me and Brucie moved to the suburbs and raised a couple of kids. Brucie would end up moving to Chicago.
Sometime in 2002, Michael Griffeth (Skats) and I got together at his place in Reynoldstown and recorded the County Hell . We did it with one microphone and an old Ampeg ¼” Reel to Reel. Marlow helped us finish the recording. We quietly released it. Michael and Meredith moved to California and I went back to being a daddy.
About this time, Tom and Brent Hinds (Four Hour Fogger, Fiend without a Face, Mastodon) formed their own band, the West End Motel. They would do shows when Brent was in town. Joseph Plunkett would move up to Brooklyn. Marlow and Tom would then reunite as the All Night Drug Prowling Wolves. Tom would also start an online magazine, Dry Ink (dryinkmag.com) with his friend Billy Inman. I finally went out and saw the Wolves play at the Star Bar sometime in 2007. They were amazing! I got a call from Paul Tilghmon about six months later asking the Rent Boys to reunite to headline the second night of the Fringe Binge at the Star Bar. Everyone was down for it. Rob Kincheloe (Robustos) filled in for Brucie. The show went great. It was the first time in eight years that we had all shared a stage together. We reunited again 6 months later to play New Years Eve at the E.A.R.L. with our old friends Fiend without a Face.
During this time, Michael Griffeth and I had gotten together to begin recording sessions for the next County Hell album. Tom and I had recorded some great stuff together a few years back that I also wanted to release, so we went ahead and recorded those songs as well. We called in some old friends for the Sessions: Stiff Penalty (Fiend without a Face), Marlow, Jeff Moore (County Hell/National Grain). We recorded some demos. We booked the E.A.R.L to do some additional recording. Brent Hinds joined us, and by all accounts, the show was a smashing success. The band has progressed into something of a collective, now performing under the name West End Motel. We are currently recording at The Living Room in Atlanta and expect to have an album out Saint Patrick's Day 2010. The album will feature Tom Cheshire (vocals), Brent Hinds (lead guitar), Mike Shina (Electric Guitar, Piano), Stiff Penalty (Upright, Electric Bass), Ben Thrower (acoustic Guitar), Mark Carbone (drums), George Wallace (pedal steel), and Jeffrey Butzer (melodica, piano).
This site is dedicated to the memory of our time together, making music for the last 15 years. We would like to thank all those who supported and inspired us over the years.
Rocco goes to Prague, the Rent Boys, the Skats, the Robustos, Fiend without a Face, the Fourty Fives, Reactionary Records, Steve Jackson & the Pietasters, the Beltones, Flogging Molly, Joe Strummer, the Clash, Shane Macgowan and the Pogues, Franky Stubbs & Leatherface, Scotty Cheshire, Frankie Cutlass, Gary Lindsey, Stormy Shephard, Matt Hensley, Mac, Jeff and everyone else who came out to all the shows, Paul Tilghmon, Brian Kincheloe, Rob Kincheloe, Russell Jackson, Chuck Petrakapolis, Brian Colantuno, Tim Nassar, David Barbe, Tal Bayer, Buffy D., Hell Mach 4, Curt Wells, the E.A.R.L., the Echo Lounge, the Point, the Star Bar, Dotties, the Clermont Lounge, the Little Blue Reggae Hut, C10-C11-C12, Dry Ink, and Brent’s old van (R.I.P.)
Mike Shina 2009
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