Meet… The Mediocre Friends
So the story goes that four high school buddies from Hillsborough in Somerset County start making music together and then stop when real life gets in the way. Thirty years go by. All four are still alive. They keep in touch. They eventually reconvene. Start making music together again. Like what they hear. They each write a song and make an EP. Soon the old arguments resurface. Apparently, the fact that they’re now adults in no way inhibits them from yelling at each other over stupid stuff. But they persevere. The result could be construed as Power Pop but these guys would probably argue over that as well. The bottom line is that it sounds pretty damn good. That they all agree upon.
As bassist Bill Cederroth says, “when people are dumfounded that bands like Eagles, Beatles, Guns N’Roses, Oasis and Van Halen can’t figure out how to get it together, I always say the same thing, `my three knucklehead friends and I can’t agree on the music and get in the same room…and we’re no Van Halen.’
“I’m the least accomplished musician of the four lifelong friends who wrote and recorded these songs so I think it is both ironic and fitting that I’m mostly responsible for how we got here. The other guys have, and continue to, write and record their own stuff and have been in some bands with various levels of success. There’s even a music degree among us. Having said that, we’re also basically just working dudes and family men. I still thought there was an itch to be scratched. So that’s what we did.”
Bill—with drummer Chris Dickscheid, lead guitarist/keyboardist Mike Eckhart and singer/rhythm guitarist Gay Elvis—rehearsed the tunes all last year at Woodrock Studios in Raritan. Mastering was done at West Side Music in Ocean County’s Jackson Township. They probably couldn’t even agree on a title to they just named it So This Is It.
Listen here: https://themediocrefriends.bandcamp.com/album/so-this-is-it
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