A History of Two Month August as I Remember It

When Shelby first told me he was going to be jamming with some guys back in the summer of 1997 I thought it was cool. Shelby and I had been friends for several years and had jammed many, many times but never really in front of an audience. I knew he was talented and was excited that he could do a little more with his talent. When I went to see them practice one day I was a little disappointed. The other guys in the band weren't that great. At the time I liked guitar solos and was proud of the fact that I could play them for a long damn time - even though it was mostly the same riffs over and over. Well Josh didn't know how to play guitar solos and that automatically made him sub par. Eric and Johnny

Eric, Johnny, and Josh practicing at Grace Community Bible Church back in 1997.

were about on the same level. They were all okay but no where near as good as Shelby. One of my favorite bands at the time was 311. When they played a 311 song ("Do You Right" and "Homebrew") I usually begged them to let me jump up on their practice stage and rap a verse and sing some out of tune harmonies. They would let me, and we had fun. Sometimes, when Shelby would be taking a break (read: making out with his girlfriend) I would seize the opportunity, grab his guitar, and jam with the other three playing Pearl Jam's "Alive" (just so I could play the guitar solo).

Their first gig was at Josh's friend's pool party. I went along to be the sound man/backup rapper. Before the party the dad of the house paid us with pizza, but he told us we needed a name. We came up with several and wrote them on one of the pizza boxes: Dead Survivors, Six Bald Men, Johnny & the Junkyard Dogs, & several others. None of the names were good enough, but they decided on Johnny & the Junkyard Dogs. Needless to say, that name didn't last long.

While they kept jamming in the fall I planned to go to Louisiana Tech. Before I moved though I let them play at my going away party. I opened up the show as a solo acoustic man playing "Same Ol' Blues" for the first time in public and badly butchering "Mrs. Robinson." Then Two Month August played the first gig with their new name. The name that sounds so deep was so named because it was August and the band had been together for two months. The next weekend I was gone. I did keep in touch though. I heard about the first Train Station show and how Johnny almost didn't make it to the gig. Ryan helped the band sound check. It sounded so good that he landed a permanent position. Johnny played his last gig that night, but he wasn't told until he heard it second hand. Somewhere around this time is when they started writing their own songs to go with all the covers they were playing. I came home one weekend and went to a practice where they proudly played about three or four originals including "Never Looking Back" and maybe "Too Late." I was impressed. Sometime before I moved back the next summer Eric left the band, and Two Month August broke up for the first time.

After I moved back Shelby was ready to get the band back together and asked me to play. I was glad to join and even brought along Austin to play bass. By this time Josh could play those guitar solos that he was lacking in the past and we were ready to rock. Josh even started writing some pretty pop songs. We booked a show at the Train Station and told everyone to come. Everyone did; it was a huge turnout. We played some covers, some Shelby songs, a couple of my songs, and a couple of Josh's songs (one of which "Be Here Tomorrow" I never did get all the chord changes). By then Eric was ready to join the band again, and we played in Josh's backyard for his sister's birthday. During this show, no one was paying any attention to us, and I announced all our originals as Matchbox 20 songs in the hope that someone would listen. Miraculously, before the show was over we had a few people getting in to it. I then left the band to play in The Becoming Orange mainly because Shelby always wanted me to play guitar parts that were too hard. Good thing they didn't try to play "Strawberry Passion Cigarettes" with me in the band. It would've never worked.

The next phase of Two Month August was the Skate Heaven gigs. These shows were the funniest. Twelve year old girls screamed at all four of the guys, got their autographs, gave Ryan phone numbers, and Shelby kisses.

Then the dark period came. Shelby wrote a song based of a Nostradamus prediction of a major world catastrophe on May 5, 1999. The rap/rock style made the song a favorite of the fans. Columbine happened and made people extra paranoid. Shelby's trenchcoat and talking about the world ending on May 5th and all of the Pickle's cultish activities gave many people quite a scare. A rumor got started that something was going to go down on May 5th. The rumor spread quickly by word of mouth and the Call & Comment section of the Denham Springs News. Shelby got called into the principal's office of Live Oak High School and was told that him and his friends weren't any different than the Trench Coat Mafia of Columbine. The obvious exception that the principal overlooked was the killing people part. This whole incident caused some kids to stay at home on May 5th, Two Month August's End-of-the-World-As-We-Know-It show to be canceled, and a name change to Innerview. Damn Nostradamus. The band then played a show at Kaleidoscope and took a break for a while.

The next time they started playing they were a bar band. After Shelby filled in on guitar for a couple weeks with the Blues Mile Band, he realized that they could play that scene well. He called up Eric and Josh, they found a drummer who was over 18 (Jason), and they played at the Tope La in Hammond once again as Two Month August. At the first show, hardly anyone showed up, I helped to butcher "Round Here," and someone requested Morrissey. That proved they weren't playing for high school kids anymore. The next gig at the Tope La was outside with beautiful weather and Ryan on the drums, which made it a lot better. Fortunately, more people came to this show. Then Two Month August went on tour with Rye, another Baton Rouge band, but they never left Baton Rouge (or Rotolo's for that matter). After several months playing a gig or two every weekend they broke up for the last time, and I saw it all. I saw Shelby start playing with Josh and Eric, I saw Josh and Eric improve tenfold in their playing, I saw Shelby and Josh evolve as songwriters, and I saw Ryan become one of the best drummers I know. I saw young girls scream, I saw heads bang, I saw principals shake with fear. I saw Shelby thrust his hand in the air while singing, I saw Eric play okay while drunk, and I even saw Josh move around while playing - once. Two Month August will live forever as legends in our minds.

- Rob Mulhearn
April 2001

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