Thursday, Jul. 16, 2009
The Long Arms of Octopus Jones
Octopus Jones
Darrin Cripe admits he moved to Myrtle Beach to play golf. While he still hits the links occasionally, this Coastal Carolina University rising senior also occasionally hits the books but mostly he hits the drums. Cripe is part of the four-piece local rock outfit Octopus Jones, who will perform as part of Saturday’s Myrtle Beach Rocks showcase at the House of Blues in Barefoot Landing, North Myrtle Beach. The long-running showcase event allows four to six bands to play the big stage in the music hall, something to which most local bands aspire to do at least once in a lifetime. Each band is given a wad of tickets for their fans to redeem at the door and then given back a part of the $5 cover charge. It’s a great idea. The House of Blues benefits by having multiple bands and their friends, fans and families fill the venue, and the bands enjoy playing on the same stage as their musical heroes and through the best P.A. system they are likely to work with this side of a major record deal, and they make at least a little gas money while they’re at it.
Cripe, an Indiana boy, moved here for golf and school and met John Pruitt (bass/vocals) at a House of Blues show. Pruitt, also a CCU student, struck up a friendship with Cripe that developed into forming Octopus Jones just more than one year ago. “We talked about old blues and new wave music,” said Cripe, “and started jamming together in a garage down in Socastee.” Danny Martin (lead vocals/lead guitar) and Clay “Dorothy” Carlisle (guitar), also both CCU students, joined after an impromptu jam session one night. Chris Wilson (keybords/percussion) will join the four core members of Octopus Jones Saturday, as a special guest.
“John and Clay were [in an apartment] living below Danny,” continued Cripe, “and the first time we all got together, we had three guitars and I was playing [drums] on the table. We knew that – more than just liking each other – there was something special going on,” said Cripe. The first blush of a budding romance between band mates gave way to songwriting, practice and then a slew of gigs – mostly at The Clubhouse Myrtle Beach (now closed), and then at The Basement, a tiny little club in downtown Myrtle Beach that’s getting a lot of attention lately from those in the area’s original music scene.
Like many residents and students, Cripe laments the lack of college-town vibe in, or adjacent to, the CCU campus. “There’s nowhere around CCU to play,” he said, commenting on the fact that CCU, in the no-man’s land between downtown Myrtle Beach and downtown Conway, has never had a region typical of other college towns, some with much smaller schools. Though strip malls and Super Wal-Marts are-a-plenty in the growing commercial districts surrounding CCU, and a few small bars cater to the 21-and-over student crowd, there’s nothing remotely reminiscent of Athens, Ga., or Columbia’s Little 5-Points region – except for the so called Super Block of downtown Myrtle Beach, home of a half-dozen clubs, shops and a restaurant, which has struggled to reach the broader young adult community. It may be the defacto college town area of Myrtle Beach, or at least the closest thing we’ll see for a long time.
“The bars out near us [CCU campus] want cover bands and pop tunes,” said Cripe. “There’s just not much of a community feel in the music scene here at the school.”
Octopus Jones’ music offers a refreshing throwback (an oxymoron?) to the fun new wave rock of the ’80s with a new millennium twist. “We all collectively write the songs,” said Cripe. “We’re fans of David Byrne [The Talking Heads] and The Clash, a lot of late ’70s punk – we’re big Dylan fans – it’s just rock ’n’ roll.”
Check out Octopus Jones at www.myspace.com/octopusjones
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