Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The last time The Pharmacy played in Lawrence it was in a basement, the location of which they can’t remember. The Seattle-based punk band came last Thursday, to the Jackpot Saloon where a group of about thirty fans rocked to their tunes.
Lead singer Scott Yoder, dressed in jeans and a tie-dyed shirt, kept high-energy beats flowing for about an hour. Until the band left the stage to pack up their instruments and hop in their van to drive overnight to their next destination: Boulder, Colo.
The band’s current marathon of a tour—80 shows in three months— has left the four members with many stories to tell.
Most recently, the band enjoyed some quality time at Montana Mike’s Steakhouse, 1015 Iowa St.
“We went there and I had a hamburger the size of my face,” said keyboardist Stefan Rubicz, 20.
Bassist Ryan Thompson, 23, said his father’s graduate advisor, who is now a University of Kansas faculty member, picked up the tab. Free meals are appreciated, band members said, as they’re usually “pretty broke.”
Once in Minneapolis, the quartet had $10 collectively, and Thompson stripped for money. He made $6 for his performance.
The Pharmacy has also had a few run-ins with the law.
In Kentucky, the group said they were almost arrested for swimming in a closed public pool.
In New York City, Rubicz had to go to the police station after his friend was involved in an altercation.
“I spent like four and a half hours there just talking to all these cops. It was like NYPD Blue,” Rubicz said.
The experience helped the band define its type of music their. Rubicz showed an officer some pictures of the band and the officer said, “Oh, so you’re one of those grunge-punk-psychedelic bands.” The band still uses the descriptor today.
— Edited by Ben Smith
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