Honor Role

In 1983 Richmond VA's Honor Role was conceived as a 3 piece band, with Steve Schick playing drums and guitarist Pen Rollings ( later of Butterglove) handling most of the vocals. Locally they became notorious for their quirky quick-tempo songs and Pen's habit of topical confrontation. One early incarnation of the band recorded 8 songs for a local compilation tape (1983). Another released the endearing 9 song E.P. - "It Bled Like A Stuck Pig" (2/84). At about the same time as the E.P.'s release, the band again changed bass players and took on a vocalist.

The addition of angsty vocalist Bob Schick ( the drummer's sibling) as frontman immediately changed the band's focal point. This allowed Pen the freedom to concentrate all his energies on his already intense guitar playing. Bob's sardonic presence made itself known both on stage and on record with the "Judgement Day" 45 (6/85). At about the same time as the 45's release, the band once again changed bass players from Jeremy Bunn ( later of San Francisco's Bedlam Rovers), this time settling on Chip Jones.

Chip had played with the Schicks before. That familiarity is evident in the dark brooding rhythms he and Steve create. The pulse of the bass rolls solidly through the kick-heavy almost martial beat of Steve's drumming. Over that grinding pulse runs Pen's guitar, ranging from a scratching dissonance to a lyrical backdrop for the bleakness of Bob's atonal droning.

With the current (mid-1986) line-up complete, the band simultaneously recorded another 45 - "Purgatory / Jank", and their first L.P "The Pretty Song". With the completion of these two records come preparations for an extensive nationwide tour in the fall of '86.

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