THE BOOK OF YOUR REGRETS
Chapter 1

...I write all my friends
back in Pittsburgh, PA
you should see how the sun
makes-the-grade every day...

It began in Pittsburgh, PA, a place as far removed from the sights and out-a-sights of California as one could imagine. It is where the Rave-Ups' founder Jimmer Podrasky grew up, and it is where his family roots still remain. Attending Carnegie-Mellon University as an English major, Jimmer formed the group as a "new wave/underground/college-type" band in a town filled with colleges. "I didn't know anything about anything. I knew college." Graduation came and went, and the son of an elementary school principal and a high school art teacher was faced with a now-common decision -- higher education or rock 'n roll? Like any clear-eyed grad, he chose to paint houses.

...choked to death on a 4-leaf clover.
If God is dead, then who took over...

In 1980, the band headed for L.A., where they performed in a Sam Shepard play, The Tooth of Crime, at the behest of a fellow Carnegie alumnus acting in the production. Soon after, the group split apart and Jimmer returned home to paint houses and to contemplate his future. It was not a good time. He was not a good painter.

...where egos and avocados ripen
in the Monday-morning sun
and the closest thing to weather
is the air conditioner...

So, Jimmer gave the West Coast another try. This time he met drummer Tim Jimenez, a Burbank native, who was, Jimmer recalls "the nicest guy in the world." This was, apparently, reason enough to re-start the Rave-Ups. The two teamed with a pair of local musicians and recorded a six-song EP, Class Tramp, which came out on indie Fun Stuff in 1984, completely selling out the 3,000 copies that were pressed. "To be fair, my family must have bought 2,600 of them." But it wasn't until Terry Wilson, a Springfield, MO guitarist who once played with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and Whittier, CA bassist Tommy Blatnik came aboard that the band assumed its present form.

The group's raw blend of folk, country, and rock'n'roll eventually got noticed on the L.A. club circuit. With the release of their first, full LP, Town and Country on the Fun Stuff label in the fall of 1985 (40,000 sold -- unheard of for an indie release), the critical superlatives really started to hit the proverbial fan. Critics compared them to everything from Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Chuck Berry to R.E.M., the Stones and Johnny Cash. About this time, at the request of long-time fan and friend, Molly Ringwald, The Rave-Ups auditioned for, and won, a spot in the film Pretty in Pink.

Chapter 2

...everybody wants to hear a good song,
'cause everybody needs a little something...

Signed in 1987 to Epic Records, The Book of Your Regrets is the group's major label debut. Produced and engineered by David Leonard, the result is a sincere, uncompromising album which shows the group capable of raw rock ("Freedom Bound"), punchy pop ("If Fun Was Not"), and funky backbeats ("Please Taker Her [She's Mine]"), as well as country comforts they've been known for.

"We haven't been heard from in a while," says Jimmer, "We wanted to grow from the last record, but we didn't want to leave part of us behind either."

...some of us will make it
some of us will die...
when the end comes before its time...

"To me, the best songs are the ones that work in the most broad-based ways, and ironically, those are usually the ones that start out as the most personal, the most real," says Jimmer of his writing methods.

The results are songs you can relate to. Songs which tell stories, like "Sue & Sonny" or "Mickey of Alphabet City." Songs which touch an emotion that borders on the universal, as in the apocalyptic sentiments of "When the End Comes Before." Songs about the perils of losing your innocence, like the lovely, yet sardonic "Blue Carrot."

In the end, above all else, The Rave-Ups' honesty stands on its own.

"In the past, we've been brutally frank with the business, and that's probably why we're so poor," laughs Jimmer. "But, at least we got to do what we wanted without being embarrassed about doing it. To me, success is doing what you want to and not having anybody tell you what you can or can't do, and then maybe even making a little money doing it. I mean, why not stick up for everything you believe in? Sometimes it's all you've got. We've got nothing to lose right now and we're going to hold on for dear life to anything that's ours."

And if The Rave-Ups get rich and famous? "I'll buy more cigarettes."

THE BOOK OF YOUR REGRETS is the fruit of The Rave-Ups' conviction. Don't miss out or the regrets will be yours...