MITCHELL

There are at least four artists that go by this name: 1) The current most popular scrobbles under this name are for the British comedian David Mitchell. He stars in the 20-episode online video show "David Mitchell's Soap Box", presenting his views on a particular issue in his usual inimitable style. 2) Mitchell is a Dutch soul singer, akin to Maxell and Erykah Badu, who had a hit single with "Not Around" in 2001.

1) The current most popular scrobbles under this name are for the British comedian David Mitchell. He stars in the 20-episode online video show "David Mitchell's Soap Box", presenting his views on a particular issue in his usual inimitable style.

2) Mitchell is a Dutch soul singer, akin to Maxell and Erykah Badu, who had a hit single with "Not Around" in 2001.

3) MItchell was a lo-fi pop-punk band from New Port Richey, FL in the vein of bands like Digger, The Impossibles, Hot Water Music, Donuts N' Glory, and Four Minute Mile-era Get Up Kids. Formed in 1998, they recorded one split CD with Clearwater pop-punk band The Simpletons, a single titled "I'm Never Washing This Hand Again" and contributed songs to various compilation CDs and skateboarding videos. The band consisted of Brett Walsh on guitar and vocals, Chris Belt on bass, and Mike Strand on drums.

MItchell was well known for their Andy Kaufman-esque live shows which were frequently cut short by audience and promoters' frustrations with their antics. Members of the band would sometimes leave the stage to make phone calls to the guys left onstage, eat audience members' hot dogs, or simply go to the bathroom. They were often kicked out of venues for their lo-fi pyrotechnics which included a single sparkler. Later, to up the ante, they would evolve to lighting each others hands on fire.

In 1999, Mitchell signed with Naples, FL based Distant Rise Records, which later became Recovery Records and was the home of other local punk groups such as Unsung Zeros, Agent Felix and Die Tomorrow.

Towards the end of their run the band began to favor playing less of the 3 minute pop songs they had established themselves with and instead would perform confusing 15 minute harmonica solos they called "Sound Poems" a reflection of the bitterness and boredom they had developed towards their own sound and performances.

On May 18, 2001 they performed an elaborate farewell show complete with program notes which included the lyrics to their set and encouraged memebers of the crowd to take their instruments and microphones and perform their songs as a way of letting their fans in on all the fun they'd had for the past four years. The very next day played a reunion show.

That summer Mitchell was voted "Best Punk Band" in the Tampa Bay magazine Weekly Planet's Best of the Bay Readers Poll. Yet there was to be no more of Mitchell except for an impromptu performance in 2002 when the three members were requested to perform at a benefit show to raise money for a local art studio/performance space. They played their entire recorded discography plus an encore medley of Little Richard songs including "Long Tall Sally" and "Ooh! My Soul!" that resulted in Walsh cutting his hand on the guitar and bleeding all over the venue. A fitting end.

After Mitchell, Mike Strand joined the band Waiting For Bruce Willis which soon disbanded and reformed as Still Waiting. Brett Walsh and Chris Belt joined the band Bear Country. Both quit after two years. In 2002 Belt fronted his own band called The Swell, The Current and played a small number of shows before disbanding. In 2003, Walsh formed the Country City Death Camp with NYU classmates Cole Greif-Neill (of Oakland-based Young and Natural) and Calpin Hoffman-Williamson. They recorded a 7-song LP that was never released. Walsh briefly played drums in the Gainesville, FL band The Roanoke Ghosts with guitarist/vocalist Eric Chellberg. Bear Country reformed as the Sugar Oaks in which Belt is the current guitarist and Walsh frequently contributes on trumpet or accordion.

4) Mitchell is punk rock band from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Influenced by classic punk bands like The Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and The Misfits, Mitchell rose from the ashes of Paul Goodno and Dustin Anderson's 2-man punk/metal band super*room*sedative. Looking for a fuller sound and a way to jam live, Dustin and Paul recruited their old college friend Jay Kincer to play bass. During the initial jam the trio clicked and recorded a cover of the Sex Pistols classic Holidays In The Sun. Feeling good about the track and wanting to jam more the trio began to work on tracks for a full length album. After a few months of writing and jamming, the boys set up shop in Dustin's home studio and laid down the foundation for their debut Small Mouth Bass. Over the next few years the boys would record several more albums and play an aggressive live show schedule around western Michigan building a loyal fan base. Mitchell is a true punk rock band. Nothing fancy, just a case of PBR, some MST3K movies and a stack of amps. Current members are Dustin Anderson: Vox/Guitar, Jay Kincer: Bass/Vox, Paul Goodno: Drums/Vox.