My name is Tom Nordlie. I used to sing for Allstar 69 some of the time. Since we've been putting this web site together, we needed a band biography and I got elected to write it - since I used to do a lot of rock journalism and have some familiarity with this kind of thing. We're an informal bunch of people so I am going to make this as straightforward as possible.
Allstar 69 was a five-piece band that used to consist of Russ Johnson on guitar and vocals, Debra Fetzer on guitar and vocals, Rob Harris on bass and vocals, Kristen Parker on drums and vocals and Tom Nordlie on vocals.
Allstar 69 - the current version - is a four-piece: members are Rob, Deb & Mike Hetrick - plus, yet another Gainesville punk rock alumni: George Covington III - replacing the departing Kristen Parker on the skins.
We play rough, aggressive, usually angry rock 'n roll music, mostly originals with some covers. Our influences include things like Black Sabbath, Kiss, MC5, Stooges, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Motorhead, Black Flag, Roach Motel, NY Dolls, Jimi Hendrix, early speed metal, old Van Halen, old Rolling Stones, and T.Rex among a million others.
We are also heavily influenced by our own past experience, which involves numerous Gainesville bands from the last ten to fifteen years - mostly heavy-rock stuff in the "Gainesville punk rock scene," which, like most punk rock scenes, is more musically diverse than the term "punk rock scene" might suggest. The best-known things we have done are the Doldrums (Russ), the legendary Mutley Chix (Deb), Grain (Rob), Fluffy Kitty (Kristen) Butter the Heifer (Tom), GRINCH (Mike) and Craigger White/Rainbow Bridge (George)among many others.
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