(from the beginning) The Drapes At Pyramid Lounge

Steppin' Out

October 17-30, 1980

The Drapes consists of Mississippians John McMurry, guitar/vocals; Drew Henson, bass; Gene Brandon, drums; Suzy Elkins and Bruce Tinnin ("The Dentines") on vocals; and the one out-of-state exception, Texan Rick "Casper" Rawls on lead guitar.

According to Drapes' cofounder McMurry, the band formed in 1980 for the sole purpose of "playing our own music, along with enough music like it to get us through a four-hour club date." He clears this up by adding, "the music we write is fairly basic in that there are no really esoteric influences, just stuff we like in Rockablilly, R&B, Chicago Blues, 'early' country, the Beatles, of course, and the whole British-mod thing because it was a guitar sound, and that's what we are -- a guitar band. We try not to appear dated with our material; unless we're covering a song out and out, we try not to copy our influences -- only to integrate them." As for their original lyrics, McMurry added, "a friend of ours, Robert Field, is one of our contributors, and most of the lyrics are his -- we like them, sure, but more importantly, we empathize with them. I think they carry."

Together just a short while, four of The Drapes have long-term friendships dating back to high school and college dance band days in Hattiesburg, MS. McMurry and Elkins, after graduating from college, became active in the 1976 Austin, Texas music scene where they met and played with guitarist Rick "Casper" Rawls until 1978. When the pair re-established contact with Rawls this year about The Drapes' project, he had a lucrative position with American Sound, a company which has among its clients Styx, Kansas, and the Doobie Brothers. "Casper" resigned without hesitation, having tired of "too much equipment for too little music."

Bassist Drew Henson was the founder of "The Viewmasters," a group which brought the future Drapes in contact with Bruce Tinnin, an artist from Meridian, MS. According to drummer Gene Brandon, Bruce was recruited because "of his image, his voice; he's behind our concept, and his influences are more contemporary than ours. He adds the spark."

The group's plans? According to McMurry, "We want to keep learning original material... to appeal to the 'wine, cheese, and Volvo set' as well as to the 'young and the disinherited.' Seriously, of course we'd like to make records that have some sort of artistic merit. We need to expand our sets, get some big city exposure, and then see what happens. Above all, we want to make a dent as a Southern group that avoids the twin-lead 'good ol' boy' Southern boogie stereotype. I hear those records and wonder "why waste so much time and vinyl... let's rock!"

Get behind The Drapes at the Pyramid Lounge, Oct 23, 24 and 26. Don't miss 'em!