Ultimate Fakebook rode out of the plains of Manhattan Kansas two years ago with rock in their hearts and a message for us all: Pop music is alive and well and you don't don't have to look very hard to find it. With their special brand of upbeat rock guitar goodness, UFB mixes intelligent and off beat lyrics with hooks so sharp they'll drag you across the room.

1997 was certainly the year of the Fakebook, as "Fly Far Away", the first single off their debut album Electric Kissing Parties (Noisesome Records), fared well on the local radio stations, and in addition to a well received ASCAP showcase in Chicago and a spot on the Denver stop of the Mentos tour, UFB swept the KLAMMIES at the 1998 awards ceremonies, taking home an unprecedented four awards from five nominations.

In their current incarnation, Ultimate Fakebook is Bill McShane on vocals and guitars, Nick Colby on bass and backing vocals, and Eric Melin pounding away on the drums. Bill and Nick have been playing together for years, and in fact are the only remnants from UFB's previous four piece rig. When seminal rockers Truck Stop Love (Backyard/Scottie Bros.) disbanded in '96, Bill and Nick recruited Eric to take his rightful place behind the skins with UFB, thus creating a creative powerhouse which continues to amaze & electrify audiences.

I hooked up with the boys from the 'Book at the Grand Emporium on a Monday night when they were topping off a bill with Jeff Clay from Nashville, TN. and KC boys The Brannock Device.

The Zone: For a lot of local music goers, you boys seemed to have arrived from nowhere. One day, nothing and the next you're all over the place. How did that happen?

Eric: Well, we recorded Electric Kissing Parties in March and passed it out to everyone we could. Jeff (Peterson from Noisesome Records), gave us a paper to sign in August, and it was released in September. Jeff's been great for us, and we're really glad he's been there for us. He's done a lot to get us exposure and connect us with people that can do us a lot of good.

The Zone: You've managed to play with Everclear, Wilco, Paw, and even Night Ranger. How was it playing for a crowd that had probably never heard of you and was there to see one band and one band only?

Eric: Well, at the Everclear show (at the Hurricane), people stood there and listened for a minute then turned their backs on us
Bill: We just kept playing and eventually we won some over.
Eric: But really they were there to hear doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo. (the guitar intro to Everclear's Santa Monica)
Nick: Wilco was cool, because Wilco comes out and plays this country music, and we're up there rocking out and the crowd was really into it. That felt really good.And the Paw show was great because they (Liberty Hall) had the best crew around. The people were really friendly and really tried to do stuff for us, and make sure we were okay.
Bill: and we didn't know what to do because we're used to just standing there and being ignored.

The Zone: How was Night Ranger? Did you get to hang out with the boys?

Bill: We didn't get to meet them at all. We could've talked with them before their soundcheck, but we were dumbstruck and in awe of their rock power.
Eric: The crowd was a lot of fun, and I think they got into us because we've got that 80's rock feel, and Bill's definitely got the solos. He didn't do enough noodling though..(laughs)
Nick: Night Ranger came out on stage in these matching vests with no shirts on and just played all the hits. They had rock faces and everything. They taught us how to rock.

The Zone: How was the Mento's show? How'd you get hooked up with that?

Eric: Well, Jeff Peterson got us involved with that, and we just told everyone we knew about it and somehow we got enough votes.
Bill: We were one of two out of town bands at the show (Odgen Theater in Denver, CO), and we went on first
Eric Which was weird.
Bill: and there was only one other real rock band, and the rest of the bands were kind of hippie rock.

The Zone: Well, you were in Denver...

Eric: But we went on first as an out of town band, and if it would have been done by how many votes, we would have been like second to last. But the crowd was really receptive.

The Zone: And you got a song on the Mento's compilation,along with House of Large Sizes and MU330 and various other regional.

Eric: Yah, the Mentos people said they've sold like 4,000 CD's
Bill: I think it's closer to 6,000. But they're selling it for 15 dollars and if nothing else, people are getting to hear us. We sell them for 3 bucks and then give a bunch of them to our friends. I thought that was one of our worst shows ever, because my shoe came flying off during the set , and I had snot hanging from my nose the whole time, and they were FILMING it! The whole trip back I thought that we must have looked really stupid up there. But I finally saw the video they made and I guess we didn't do that bad at all. I managed to look cool & calm the whole time..laugh
Nick: We do that alot, where we get off stage and think we just sounded like shit, but then we go back and find out we didn't do that bad at all.

The Zone: Let's talk about Electric Kissing Parties. Where'd you get the idea for that?

Bill: It's from this...pamphlet from the 30's called "The Art of Kissing" and it's a how-to thing for lovers. And in the back there's this section called Electric Kissing Parties, which we use on the back of the album. (An Electric Kissing Party is where people take their shoes off and scuffle about on the carpet in their socks, then turn out the lights and kiss. The result is electric shocks when two sets of static charged lips meet. -ed.) I found it in this tourist shop in New Orleans and the title really stuck with me.
Nick: We weren't going to call the album that, but by the end of it all, we kept coming back to it.
Bill: We tacked Electric Kissing Parties Pt. 1 on the title of Roll, because I really hate one word titles, and it was this kind of epic song about grade school skating parties, which I guess is what we had in the 70's and 80's as opposed to Electric Kissing Parties in the 30's. So we call it the title track, but really it's not.

The Zone: You guys certainly live up to your name with covers ranging from Night Ranger, to ELO and Olivia Newton John. You also have thrown in some TV Fifty and Creature Comforts into shows before. How's that work for you?

Eric: We basically can play a little bit from all our favorite local bands.
Bill: We played a couple Creature Comforts songs at this one show where we played for three hours and didn't have any stuff to play. We asked Chris (Tolle) about it and he was really cool with it.
Nick: We just like to rip off other local bands. (Laughs)

The Zone: Well, we have to talk about 'em. The KLAMMIES. Wow! 4 out of 5. (Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Alternative/Rock, Band of the Year)What was that like?

Bill: It was pure luck. We were shell-shocked.
Nick: I feel like we're never gonna live up to that hype.
Eric: It was just amazing. I had no idea that would happen. We were crossing our fingers, but we never expected that...
Bill: I'll say one thing about this. We don't plan on ever winning anything again! I think we've maxed out in Kansas City. (Laugh)

The Zone: So what new stuff do you have in the pipe? You guys are recording again?

Eric: Yah, we've got time in August and then in September. We're technically doing demo's, but we're approaching it like a full album. We're going to do everything like we would for the real thing.

The Zone: Is this another collaboration with Red House and Ed Rose?

Eric & Bill: Yeah...

The Zone: Will this be another Noisesome release?

Bill: Well, we don't know. Noisesome's working on Creature's (Creature Comforts) album (The Politics of Pop, which should be available in early September) so they don't really have the time or resources to focus on us. We're just going to do what we did last time which is record the album then pass it out to everyone we can.
Eric: We'll give it to the labels and say "this is the album, like it?" and hope for the best.

The Zone: You guys are just now branching out of the Lawrence/Manhattan/Kansas City area. How's that going?

Eric: Well, before anything else, I want to say that the Lawrence and Kansas City crowds have been great. And the KC band's have really accepted us & we're really honored to be playing with these guys. It's really nice to be able to come down the road and play here and get treated with respect by all the bands here. They've been just great.
Bill: Yeah, everyone's been great. We really feel like we're among friends here.

The Zone: Where do you see yourselves next year or farther down the line.

Bill: Hopefully playing!
Nick: Yeah...
Eric: Millionaires! I wanna be huge!
Bill: What?
Eric: Yeah, I wanna be bigger than Steven fucking Tyler! I want people to recognize me as much as him. I want my face to be pasted on MTV.
Bill: Yah, well we played with Night Ranger so now we know the formula.
Nick: Yah, matching vests with no shirts...
(Everyone laughs)

With that I left them to finishing their set lists and I walked back into the bar to wait with the rest of the crowd. The Brannock Device was just finishing up, and already you could tell the crowd was ready for Fakebook. After a bit of a impromptu contents to guess what a Brannock Device is (it's the device used to measure feet for shoes), Fakebook took the stage and proceeded to rock out.

Recently, they've been playing mostly new material sprinkled with nuggets from E.K.P, but they started off the show with "Life Raft" (from the album) then slide into new ones "Glitter and Glue", "She Don't Know My Name", and "Of Course I Will". As ever, UFB proved why they are a must see live show. While Bill serenades, Nick and Eric are just on fire and are constantly in motion. These boys won't need any diets any time soon if they keep up the energy they emit on stage. Not only do they know how deliver their own material, at the Grand Emporium they brought out ELO's "Living Thing" and followed it up with a hilarious re-enactment from Boogie Nights. (Feel, feel, feel my heat!) After a tight 45 minute set they finished up with "Perfect Hair", leaving the crowd aching for more. After some considerable encouragement from the audience, they came back and got us ready for bed with a super-charged version of "Roll".

Ultimate Fakebook is a band that knows it's territory, and within it they are the absolute masters. Whether on album or from the stage, UFB is the perfect band to recharge your batteries with. Do yourself a favor and see this band before they're selling out the stadiums. You'll thank me later.

carry on.

-- Aaron Weber