If the success of the Primitive Radio Gods hasn't changed main man Chris O'Connor, it sure hasn't lightened him up.
"Now I have an excuse for being an asshole!", O'Connor remarks about the surprise success of his runaway hit, "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand".
It wouldn't be surprising for O'Connor to be just a little ticked at the music industry. After several years and four independent albums with the Santa Barbara, California based I-Rails, the group disbanded. While other members started the regular 9 to 5 grind, O'Connor finished recording his album - Rocket - on the side, for only $1,000, in a friend's garage on a broken-down, 1969 Ampex 16-track tape-deck.
Fast forward to 1993, and the music bug bit O'Connor one more time. Rather than release a solo album, he took the monicker Primitive Radio Gods (after a song on the I-Rails third album) and self-promoted the album. College radio dropped the ball, and the lukewarm response convinced O'Connor to give up the dream - until housecleaning in 1994, when he blindly sent out a few copies to industry executives.
That one-in-a-million shot happened. The song whose inspiration was (in O'Connor's words) "9 grams of psilocybil mushrooms", "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand", caught the ear of one executive after another.
Only two tracks from his I-Rails days - "Are You Happy" and "Where The Monkey Meets The Man" - made the final cut on Rocket. Refusing to revive the I-Rails material, O'Connor's band includes former I-Rails members Tim Lauterio on drums and Jeff Sparks on bass with new member Luke McAuliffe on guitar. And the man who cites musical influences ranging from K.C. & the Sunshine Band and Ohio Players to rock staples Kansas and Journey has made a record, Rocket, which doesn't sound tired or dated. And while O'Connor says "I've only just begun to vindicate myself", the real story of Rocket is that some dreams still come true.
