MP3 A Soup Named Stew - Number Two

Weird Al meets Barenaked Ladies meets They Might Be Giants meets Green Day meets a tasty sandwich; ASNS: helping you feel better about your band. You'll either laugh at us or with us; we're fine either way.

18 MP3 Songs in this album (59:38) !
Related styles: ROCK: Comedy Rock, ROCK: Punk-Pop

People who are interested in Green Day "Weird Al" Yankovic They Might Be Giants should consider this download.


Details:
A Soup Named Stew formed in Baton Rouge, LA in 2005 when four musicians decided to combine their adequate powers for the purpose of defeating the evils of non-entertaining musicians by making the best mediocre music ever. Guitarist Andy Venuto with his strength of being so old no one would ever disrespect him, guitarist and vocalist David Loti with a gift of bantering enemies to submission with his endless nonsensical talking, drummer Jon Schmidt (who was later replaced with a robotic Andy Reed, who was later replaced with a substitute robot drummer) with his power to pierce the ears of foes through his screamo technique, and bassist and vocalist Will Heflin with his adequate ability to make babies, attractive women, and trolls cry, formed the quartet which would one day make other musicians feel better about their bands.

Café Chi Alpha, Café Reggae/Tequilaâs Café, The Caterie, The Darkroom, The East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library, North Gate Tavern, Rickochet Billiards, The Spanish Moon, Rotoloâs, and The Varsity Theatre are venues ASNS has played sharing stages with A Cup of Tea, the Anna Byars Band, the Chris Keegan Band, Judge Genius, Lucid Soule, The Planning Fallacy, The Pretentious, Shark Attack!, and nationally touring acts A Billion Ernies, The Hanks, Liquid Cheese, Lyfe Jennings, Josh Turner, and Puddle of Mudd. KLSU 91.1 FM in Baton Rouge and the nationally broadcast Dr. Demento show have also broadcast the band.

ASNS was the winner of the Students on Target and KLSU 2006 Battle of the Bands (October 21, 2005), which awarded the band a performance at the 2006 Groovinâ on the Grounds spring concert at LSU. Thanks to the award package from the battle of the bands victory, in late 2005 and early 2006 the band captured some of its sounds through six studio tracks recorded at Sockit Studio. These recordings in addition to seven live KLSU acoustic tracks were released as Yes, No, Maybe in March 2006.

A Soup Named Stewâs style is a blend of pop punk, pop rock, alternative, hip-hop, country, jazz, and stand-up comedy, but the band has been recognized as the founder of humor-core. The group has been compared to They Might Be Giants, Weird Al, Green Day, Barenaked Ladies, The Aquabats, and Tenacious D. Songs like âThe Monkey Songâ, âThe Lawn Chair Songâ, âPenguinsâ, and âZamboniâ serve as odes to atypical lyrical subjects, while âRobot Dentist v1.0â stating âin the future when robots are in control of man, weâll need some leverage to show robots that we are their friendsâ showcases the bizarre side of the bandâs creativity. â5 Million Dollars a Yearâ, âLyrical Geniusâ, âAll Punk Rock Sounds the Sameâ, âSad Country Tuneâ, and âShe Broke Up With Meâ spoof the genres of hip-hop, punk, country, emo, and screamo while âBowling State of Mindâ and âYouâve Gotta Work With What Youâve Gotâ are simply fun, humorous tunes. The band regularly weaves abnormal and humorously altered covers into its sets such as âThe Billy Madison Wayâ, The Proclaimersâ âIâm Gonna Be (500 Miles)â, Ogden Edselâs âDead Puppiesâ, and the Diesel Driving Academy commercial jingle.

One of the bandâs strengths comes from the membersâ ability to not take themselves seriously; the website http://ASoupNamedStew.com (constructed mostly in Microsoft® Paint) is evidence enough of this. As Jon Schmidt said, we guarantee youâll laugh if you come to one of our shows. You may laugh with us; you may laugh at usâweâre fine either way. The band even references its own unflattering stature in its song âHow the Mediocre Have Fallen,â and ASNSâs most recent T-shirts say âWe havenât heard of you either.â

True to their mission of mediocrity, the members of A Soup Named Stew have remained average in their musical skills while entertaining many diverse crowds along the way: emo and hard core kids, fraternity boys, sorority girls, random passers-by on Chimes Street and Highland Road, and bar and coffee shop patrons. Although ASNS is nothing impressive on paper or online once you have seen their live performance you will understand the positive response:

âThey played as the opening act for the Groovinâ on the Grounds event at LSU on March 24. I was blown away. These guys rocked!â¦Where these guys rule is in their lyrics. Not taking themselves seriously, they donât take their music seriously, either, and their lyrics are laugh-out-loud funny. Similar in style to They Might Be Giants or Bare Naked Ladies in some of their more whimsical songs, these guys will make you laugh and feel good.â--Carole Davidson of Red Shtick Magazine

âLocal battle of the bands winner A Soup Named Stew kicked off the concert night and it was evident they had a big fan following. They were a fun band, kind of reminded me of Sum 41, Green Day, in a complimentary way. The lead singer really plays up to the crowd and was very entertaining. The other band members were interactive with the crowd as well, a nice band.â--PuddleOfMudd.com

âThe sound of students chanting the name of their favorite band echoed through the parade ground Friday as announcer Big A held in his hand the result of the Battle of the Bands contest. The crowd went wild as Big A announced that A Soup Named Stew, the obvious favorite, had won.â--Kelly Caulk of The Daily Reveille

If given the chance L.A. Times reviews might say: "They play like a group of more or less trained monkeys." Dashboard Confessionalâs Chris Carrabba could possibly state: "I greatly enjoy SNS's song âShe Broke Up With Meâ. That is a killer tune."

But after seeing A Soup Named Stewâs debut performance on March 12, 2005 former drummer of Lucid Soule Andy Reed summed it up best by actually saying "My cheeks hurt from smiling so much." Perhaps thatâs why the band didnât have to bribe him too much to join in January of 2006 when Schmidt was forced to retire because he erroneously joined the AARP. In a Spinal Tap-esque fashion, Reed was replaced with a substitute robot drummer in September of 2006.