Hey there, welcome to this little page about FCM. There's not much here, and probably won't be, but we thought it might be nice to let you know about us.
The story of FCM begins in Georgia, back in the early months of 2001. 18-year-old Andy Poore had just befriended Jeff Lowrance, who turned 16 in February of that year. Andy was in a band at the time, and the name of the band at that point was "Shadow" (it changed a few times). After much badgering, Andy convinced the rest of the band to listen to Jeff play guitar and sing, and they allowed him to join.
However, despite both young men's devotion to Shadow, it became apparent that the views and goals of Shadow differed from those of Andy and Jeff, and before long at all, the two began meeting independently of Shadow, to play guitar and sing.
Shadow was immersed in covering songs by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin. However, Andy and Jeff were more interested in covering songs by Nine Days, Matchbox 20, Third Eye Blind, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and of course, Barenaked Ladies, the name from which they derived the name FullyClothed Men. But even more than that, FCM began expanding their talents to include writing their own songs.
In July of 2001, the church youth group to which the entire band of Shadow belonged put on a little mini-benefit entertainment night to raise money for a youth event. They called for anyone with talent to perform, be it song, dance, comedy, whatever. Shadow quickly signed up to perform two Lynyrd Skynyrd songs. However, FCM also took it upon themselves to sign up and perform. While not finished with any original songs, they provided a nice opening with a cover of BNL's "If I Had $1,000,000" and Matchbox 20's "Hang".
Between FCM and Shadow, the show was considered stolen. Before too long, though, FCM was well on their way to more originality, with Andy and Jeff both writing songs, even collaborating on some. Shadow began to stagnate, but neither Andy nor Jeff were quite willing to give up on it. So they decided to attempt to re-integrate FCM into the main body of the band. With a verbal kick in the band's pants, and a few lineup changes, Andy and Jeff changed the band's name to "Phoenix" and tried to re-integrate FCM by teaching the band a new trick : their original songs.
For the previous few months, Andy and Jeff had been working on a slew of original songs, with the intent to cut an album. Not that either could afford studio time, but they hoped to use Andy's computer to record amateur tracks that could function as a demo CD. About the same time that Shadow became Phoenix, the CD came together, so FCM presented the band with their first effort :
Greatest Hits Volume 0
- Hide
- She Said
- Again
- Love & War
- One More Chance
- Friday Night
- Apology Of A Thief
- I'm Thinking
- Missing You
- Mastermind (listen)
The CD also contained 3 "hidden" tracks buried amidst many blank tracks of silence. 2 were spoken messages from Andy and Jeff to fans, the last was a last-minute fun song entitled "Hate Your Guts" intended as a joke.
However, the band's reaction was not what FCM was hoping for; they laughed off a few of the tracks as drivel and refused to even listen to (much less learn to play) all but 2 of the songs. The only exceptions were "She Said" and "One More Chance". Andy and Jeff were partly devastated, partly pissed off.
However, they were unwavering in their determination to have their songs heard, so with Phoenix continuing to grow inactive, FCM continued their efforts, even going so far as to plan their second amateur project, a CD of cover songs entitled "My Mind's NOT In The Gutter!", covering a wide range of Andy and Jeff's favorite popular music.
But then, in one fell swoop, FCM suffered a total setback. In January of 2003, Jeff's family suddenly and unexpectedly moved to Texas. With no choice, he accompanied them, leaving Andy a lone FullyClothed Man. Andy continued to work with the band, even trying to re-ignite the lost spark by once again changing the name, this time to "Black Phoenix", and pushing some of his own songs through practices.
However, the loss of Jeff's enthusiasm and support was fatal to Black Phoenix, and after only a few short months, the band was completely dead, and Andy was left with the prospect of going solo, something that frightened him beyond comprehension.
But Andy refused to give up on his dream, drawing in another two of his close friends, Brian and Kim, to attempt to fill in the musical gap left by the loss of Jeff and Black Phoenix. They re-worked a few of the songs from Greatest Hits Volume 0, and Andy continued to write more songs. At this time, those are being fairly well received by peers that hear them.
But without Jeff, there is no FullyClothed Men, and that loss is still felt by Andy. During the last few months of 2003 and the beginning of 2004, Jeff entered the Navy, and after boot camp, moved to South Carolina.
On April 9, 2004, Jeff finally made his first trip back to GA in over a year. Andy and Jeff shared a long-awaited and much-enjoyed reunion that included a frantic recording session to realize the Gutter project. 12 tracks were laid down (and Andy is at this moment working to add a few more) of some of their favorite cover songs. Once this project is completed, the hastily-recorded songs might be linked to from here.
Jeff has revealed that once his tour of duty in SC is over in a couple years, he'll most likely be transferred to a base in GA. Still about 4 hours away from Andy, but that's less than the current 5 and a half, and through lighter traffic. So it is hoped by both FCM that this might be a new beginning for the best friends. Maybe this little mini-band that began as a way to pass time might turn into something worthwhile. The world may know soon enough...
Check back soon for updates, including the possibility of links to MP3s of FCM's songs. If you want to contact us, E-mail [email protected]. Most likely, Andy will be the one to respond. Thanks!
