REFLECTIONS
A ROCK ’N’ ROLL REVIVAL
Sam McDonald, Matt Thomas, Billy Warden, and Jeff Holshouser of The Floating Children.
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by BILLY WARDEN
NOT EVEN THE MAKERS OF VIAGRA HAVE PITCHED THE RESTORATIVE powers of their product as insistently as proponents of rock ’n’ roll.
From Bruce Springsteen to Joey Ramone to Pink, billions of decibels have gone into claiming for the music the mantle of all-purpose elixir, mender of broken hearts, guardian of the faithful’s most delirious dreams. Truth? Hokum? This summer, I got my chance to find out. On the evening of April 20, while playing catch-up with another blown tax deadline, an email arrived from the organizers of the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation. Would my old band reunite
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for the foundation’s annual August fundraising extravaganza at the Triangle’s venerated mecca of indie rock, The Cat’s Cradle? The tax sheets melted away along with the political argument in the kitchen. The email swept me back to the riotous late-’80s heyday of The Connells, The Pressure Boys, The Veldt, Three Hits, and my baby, The Floating Children. Of course, a reunion was out of the question. Completely impractical. What with family obligations and business responsibilities. Naturally, I replied: “Oh HELLZ YES.” Now, a quick word on how ill-advised this may have looked to an outsider. The Floating Children were not a stand-and-
Jonathan Drake
COMEBACK KIDS
