Manifesto

Let's make this brief. My name is Ian James. My great grandfather was born on a farm in northeastern Illinois. Then I played bass in a band called FLOWER with Richard and Ed Baluyut, on guitar,who later went on to form VERSUS and then THE PACIFIC OCEAN (Ed) and WHYSALL LANE (Richard), and Andrew Bordwin (later to play with RUBY FALLS) on drums. After they kicked me out of FLOWER, I joined a new band called CELL. CELL had connections and was very professional and, most importantly for our careers, friends with SONIC YOUTH. SY suggested to their label, DGC, that they sign us and voila, it was so. Great, the big time! Not so fast, though. Just because you sign with a major label it doesn't mean you're good (I don't know where this misconception started, but it's the root of many an evil). I found major label life (as well as CELL itself) to fall far short of my naively high expectations so I quit to start FRENCH.

The first members of FRENCH were Andrew (from FLOWER) and Maria Ocanto (from Miami) . Maria played bass and I played guitar. We quickly recruited the 3rd Baluyut brother, Jimmy, to play guitar as well. Life was good. Then Richard made Jimmy quit and join VERSUS. He now plays in a very good band called +/-. We soon found Lorna Pomeroy pretty much randomly and she joined on guitar. We now had what was and is the classic FRENCH lineup. It lasted for several years. Andrew eventually left to pursue " a real career" because he had "a family". Priorities, my friend, priorities. THE ROCK MUST COME FIRST! Anyway, we were lucky enough to add Chris Deaner (also of +/-) as our new drummer and we soldiered on. We played lots of shows. Maria left to teach school for a year. My friend Michele McGonigle stepped in and we played more shows. A year later Maria came back. Then a bunch of stuff happened and we decided to look for a new drummer (not Chris's fault - he's great) . Oh - and Lorna got pregnant and moved to Vermont (priorities again). No drummer, no 2nd guitar player. It was just Maria and me. We played some shows with a bunch of folks, such as Gary Greenblatt (late of STIGMATA A GO GO) on Guitar, and Harry Druzd (late of ENVELOPE and always of Max Fish) and Michael Krashes (late of several bands whose names escape at the moment - sorry) on drums, but in the end we decided to go on as just the 2 of us (Maria and I) for the moment and exist purely via our website. We can play live ( we make Jimmy and Chris play with us - in fact we've played live as recently as 02/05/06), but mostly we write and record. Oddly enough, now I've bought a house in northern Vermont (recording studio in the basement) and will be living there full-time beginning the summer of 2007. I think Lorna said she'll play with us again at that point, and maybe I can convince Maria to move there as well, but no matter what, FRENCH will continue. And who knows - maybe we'll play in your town someday (especially if you live in Burlington or Montreal) and you can come say hi...

MANIFESTO

	Mission Statement:

	We want to destroy corporate America.

	Our Deal:
	We are not professionals. We don't want to be professionals. I was once in a band that prided itself on being professional. It sucked the life right out of the music. So we'd like to proudly declare our unprofessionalism. Fuck doing things right. We're doing this for fun, to do it the way we want to do it, and not in some pathetic hope that we might someday be popular or make money. In fact we invite you to hate us and to download all our music for free! Go ahead and share it. Fuck those asswipes who think you should pay for the privilege of listening to their crap. Our crap is free!

	Our Members: IAN JAMES: Guitars, Vocals, Drums MARIA OCANTO: Bass, Vocals LORNA POMEROY: Guitars JAMES BALUYUT: Guitars MICHELE McGONIGAL: Bass ANDREW BORDWIN: Drums CHRIS DEANER: Drums

	Our History:
	Let's make this brief. My name is Ian James. My great grandfather was born on a farm in northeastern Illinois. Then I played bass in a band called FLOWER with Richard and Ed Baluyut, on guitar,who later went on to form VERSUS and then THE PACIFIC OCEAN (Ed) and WHYSALL LANE (Richard), and Andrew Bordwin (later to play with RUBY FALLS) on drums. After they kicked me out of FLOWER, I joined a new band called CELL. CELL had connections and was very professional and, most importantly for our careers, friends with SONIC YOUTH. SY suggested to their label, DGC, that they sign us and voila, it was so. Great, the big time! Not so fast, though. Just because you sign with a major label it doesn't mean you're good (I don't know where this misconception started, but it's the root of many an evil). I found major label life (as well as CELL itself) to fall far short of my naively high expectations so I quit to start FRENCH. The first members of FRENCH were Andrew (from FLOWER) and Maria Ocanto (from Miami) . Maria played bass and I played guitar. We quickly recruited the 3rd Baluyut brother, Jimmy, to play guitar as well. Life was good. Then Richard made Jimmy quit and join VERSUS. He now plays in a very good band called +/-. We soon found Lorna Pomeroy pretty much randomly and she joined on guitar. We now had what was and is the classic FRENCH lineup. It lasted for several years. Andrew eventually left to pursue " a real career" because he had "a family". Priorities, my friend, priorities. THE ROCK MUST COME FIRST! Anyway, we were lucky enough to add Chris Deaner (also of +/-) as our new drummer and we soldiered on. We played lots of shows. Maria left to teach school for a year. My friend Michele McGonigle stepped in and we played more shows. A year later Maria came back. Then a bunch of stuff happened and we decided to look for a new drummer (not Chris's fault - he's great) . Oh - and Lorna got pregnant and moved to Vermont (priorities again). No drummer, no 2nd guitar player. It was just Maria and me. We played some shows with a bunch of folks, such as Gary Greenblatt (late of STIGMATA A GO GO) on Guitar, and Harry Druzd (late of ENVELOPE and always of Max Fish) and Michael Krashes (late of several bands whose names escape at the moment - sorry) on drums, but in the end we decided to go on as just the 2 of us (Maria and I) for the moment and exist purely via our website. We can play live ( we make Jimmy and Chris play with us - in fact we've played live as recently as 02/05/06), but mostly we write and record. Oddly enough, now I've bought a house in northern Vermont (recording studio in the basement) and will be living there full-time beginning the summer of 2007. I think Lorna said she'll play with us again at that point, and maybe I can convince Maria to move there as well, but no matter what, FRENCH will continue. And who knows - maybe we'll play in your town someday (especially if you live in Burlington or Montreal) and you can come say hi...
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