MOUTHY ISSUE ONE
February 2003
TOM FOOLERY & THE MISTAKES
interviewed by Ian C Stewart


Tom Foolery and the Mistakes formed "on a chilly October day in Dayton, Ohio, in 1996. I was only going to be in Dayton for another month, so it was just supposed to be a stupid side project. Then I moved out west, and it stuck with me. Live, it was a one man show, and I recorded albums with my friends on a four-track when I went home on vacation to Ohio. Whoever wanted to come over to the recording session was Tom Foolery and the Mistakes. We recorded an equal mix of good and silly. In 1996, when the very first incarnation of the band came to be, I couldn't really come up with a name. i had really dumb names. But one day, I was talking to my friend Todd on the phone and he said, "Tom Foolery and the Mistakes." In 2000 I thought it would be funny to show up to a scheduled show with a full band. And it was funny. Since 2000, there have been about 5 different lineups due to new jobs, babies, and losing battles with lupus. I guess I'm sort of the revolving door of the band. We're kind of like Guided By Voices in that sense."

"We opened for Wesley Willis in Lubbock, Texas in February 2001. Unfortunately, Wesley Willis got stuck in traffic near Austin, and didn't catch our set. It would have been awesome if he'd seen us, liked us, and written a song called "Tom Foolery and the Mistakes.

"We were playing a show in NYC this past summer, and afterward we were all hanging out outside this bar a few blocks from St Marks Place. We were all half drunk, it was three in the morning, so we were all pretty tired and stuff too. And then these two guys walk by, and the one guy says to the other loud enough for all to hear, "HEY, IT'S THE DUDE FROM WEEZER!!!" referring to me. I looked up, and it was former MTV VJ Jesse Camp. I was in so stunned I couldN't think of a witty comeback, like "hey, it's Jesse Camp, you're not a washed up former MTV VJ at all," but I couldn't think of that until it was too late."


www.tomfooleryandthemistakes.com


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