On Friday, May 2, Headliners is hosting a Rock Show decades in the making. It’s not only the first public show in over 35 years for these four legendary bands from Louisville’s original music scene centered around the Tewligans dance floor in the ‘80s, it features musicians with notable pedigrees, from Squirrel Bait, Hula Hoop, Love Jones, King Kong, Palace, Lemonheads as well as quite a few members of the Atherton High School Marching Band.
Q: What’s your rock bio?
Rich Schuler, Led Pelvis: The first band I was in was the Yellow Dogs, in high school. I went on to play in Squirrel Bait Youth, then Led Pelvis, King Kong, Havanarama, and Dolce Volante. Oh, and I was in Palace with Will Oldham for a spell between King Kong and Havanarama.
Ben Daughtrey, Fanci Pantz: Technically, the Atherton High School Marching Band. Soon after I met Byron Hoagland and we formed Tooker in my garage. We got our chops playing covers at gigs around town including the Women’s Penitentiary in LaGrange which ended in a pyrotechnics incident… I went on to play in Hayata and the Science patrol, The Front, Squirrel Bait, Fanci Pantz, The False Prophets, Lemonheads, 9-iron, and Love Jones. Probably forgetting some.
Rachel Grimes, Lemonade Hayride: I grew up playing piano with my family. I joined the rock band Lemonade Hayride when I was 16. In college I learned to write for other instruments and create written scores for chamber and orchestral music and live theater. Later I played in Hula Hoop with Eric Stoess, then the indie-chamber group, Rachel’s. I’ve collaborated with lots of wonderful artists, with the Louisville Orchestra, and performed and recorded with King’s Daughters & Sons.
Fritz Simlick, Led Pelvis: I’m a self-taught rock music composer and arranger who also has a distinct electric guitar sound. My first and only significant band is Led Pelvis.
Byron Hoagland, Fanci Pantz/Folks on Fire: My first band was playing mom’s pots and pans on the kitchen floor in my diaper. Fast forward 13 years and I’m playing drums in her holy roller church. Think Chuck Berry with Jesus lyrics.
Q: Tell me what this band is all about.
Rachel, Lemonade Hayride: Good times, catchy riffs, unexpected chord changes, rapid-fire humor layered with anecdotes, and making music from the joy of knowing each other all these years.
Rich, Led Pelvis: Unbridled Passion.
Ben, Fanci Pantz: Mmm, I think Fanci Pantz was an amalgam of our collective interest in Funkadelic, B.T. Express – the music of WLOU soul radio., Hardcore Punk and WAKY radio top 40 hits. Oh, and fun – costumes, theater, weirdness. We really didn’t have a goal, it was just pure adolescent expressionism.
Byron, Fanci Pantz/Folks on Fire: Playing in the sandbox together with music instruments and mics. Good parallel play, and whaddya think? engagement.
Fritz, Led Pelvis: Led Pelvis is all about lifting people’s vibration. We’re a hard rock band that is not cynical, that you can rock out to, dance to and laugh with all at the same time. And being original. I’ve never heard, “Led Pelvis sounds like….”
Steve Jones, Folks on Fire: We were a post-punk band that used absurdism, funk grooves, and an expansive, psychedelic sound to navigate the stresses of early adulthood. Recurrent lyrical themes were childhood viewed from the cusp of adulthood, spiritual emptiness, the vapidity of pop culture, and a deteriorating American dream. There was a tension between broad satire and arty reflection that achieved a balance when the band fired on all cylinders.
Q: For people who didn’t live it, what was the Louisville independent music scene like in the ‘80s?
Rich, Led Pelvis: Homemade, like the best baked goods. The flyer artwork was hand done and stapled to actual telephone poles. Other than the many great shows, there were also several good used record and book stores, so heavy trade in important musical concepts.
Eric Stoess, Lemonade Hayride: Dumber haircuts, and you got called names or threatened more often for having them. Otherwise, same as any other Louisville scene – great bands and some shitty bands, clique-y drama, legendary parties, and the couple of dive bars everybody played – Uncle Pleasants, Dutch’s Tavern.
Ben, Fanci Pantz: There was a nexus – Tewligans Tavern – and it was a hub for creatives and weirdos to congregate and feel less alone in the world, much less Louisville. Every band was unique and wasn’t trying to fit in with a genre or style. It was inspiring and fun to see what your fellow freaks were getting up to, and sometimes it was literally astounding.
Byron, Folks on Fire: Lots of “Gobsmacked” moments – any night of the week. Jim James said it best: “I snuck in the back door of this little place, looked up at Hula Hoop on stage, looked at that dance floor, and in that moment knew what I wanted to do with my life.”
Steve, Folks on Fire: It was thrilling. The first wave of Louisville punk bands had largely dispersed—Tim and Tara of the Babylon Dance Band had gone to New York, and Rick and Janet of Eleventh Dream Day were in Chicago. Suddenly, a space opened for new bands at Tewligans. A wildly eclectic range of bands thrived there, like Poor Girls and Diatribe.
Fritz, Led Pelvis: Tewligans was the heart of it. Maybe compared to what came later, the music was more innocent, wacky, not too rigid, or refined, or serious sounding – it was danceable and fun. Indie rock was not really established yet. We might have fed the younger people who were in the process of creating it.
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Rachel, Lemonade Hayride: I loved being able to hear all this great music. The scene was incredibly unique and creative, and the bands had such an array of styles and flavors. Bars were lax, so as a teenager I could get into shows just by waltzing in with my older friends.
Tim Barnett, Lemonade Hayride: I remember at Tewligans when that guy from the David Lovitt Experience deadlifted an Ampeg SVT610 over his head and both his legs snapped at the knees. Wild times.
Byron, Fanci Pantz/Folks on Fire: I remember one Fanci Pantz entrance– driving my motorcycle through the backdoor of Tewligans with Ben on the back side-saddle in full tuxedo, martini and lit cigarette holder, parking on the middle of the dance floor and jumping on stage. Gal pals loved it but later told me, “I burned my calf twice on your exhaust pipe!”
Bruce, Folks on Fire: Folks On Fire and the music scene at Tewligans were exactly the kind of thing I thought would be impossible when I started high school – finding a place in the world that rewarded audacity, creativity, irreverence, and originality. It was particularly rewarding for someone like me, who had little musical training. I got to make it up. As long as it was interesting for me, the band, and the audience, no one cared about my technical skills or my lack of musical literacy. Bands at the time like the B-52s, Talking Heads, and DEVO showed me that laughter is a clue you’re opening up new perspectives. The combination of innovative material and laughter was something people were seeking when we started to hit our stride. The live shows were both arty and a party.
Q: What can people expect from your band on Derby Eve?
Rachel, Lemonade Hayride: Jangly-pop tunes to get the night rolling.
Ben, Fanci Pantz: The most exciting, entertaining, erotically-charged 30 minutes they will have ever experienced in their entire lives. Or… four old guys figuring out, live on stage, what they thought they were doing 35 years ago.
Rich, Led Pelvis: Sweat!
Byron, Fanci Pantz/Folks on Fire: We always fed off the crowd, and will do the same that night. High energy, but thoughtful repose on the tunes that require it. Good times on that reconstituted Tewlie’s dance floor.
Fritz, Led Pelvis: You can expect us to sound a lot better than the cassette we naively produced in the late ‘80s. We were and are, first and foremost, a live band. Because we care so much about the experience that every person in the room is having, and because our music is so high energy, there is quite a bit of mojo – or whatever it is – that is summoned. We expect it to show up on Derby Eve, same as ever.
Steve, Folks on Fire: We’ll do our damnedest to recreate music we wrote when we were 21 as 61-year-olds—not as carbon copies, but as grown-up, reflective versions of what we did then. You can dance if you want to, but regardless, it will be worth hearing.
Bruce, Folks on Fire: I’m curious to see the audience. As a front man, I’ve always benefited from preparing, and then being open to the opportunities of the moment. I do best when I see how entertaining it will be to see you, and play with some things that speak to me or make me laugh while I have your attention. And for those who were there back in the day, expect a big hug, if I still can recognize you. You opened up possibilities and perspectives for me that changed my life.
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Q: Who are you personally looking forward to hearing play that night?
Rich, Led Pelvis: Fanci Pantz.
Tim Barnett, Lemonade Hayride: Equally intrigued by what they all bring on Derby Eve. The originality and tremendous variety is what I liked then and appreciate even more now.
Byron, Folks on Fire/Fanci Pantz: Want to hear what the Hayride will do with all that energetic crowd response, hoping Tim and the gang will drop one for the ages – all the bands, actually.
Steve, Folks on Fire: I’m looking forward to hearing all the bands, but for purely selfish reasons, Folks on Fire. I never believed we’d reunite, and I won’t entirely believe it until we play our set on May 2nd.
Fritz, Led Pelvis: I’m personally looking forward to hearing the audience.
Ben, Fanci Pantz: OMG, all of them. They’re my friends and cohorts, and I love and value all of them as humans and as creators.
Bruce, Folks on Fire: Musically speaking, I’m looking forward to seeing Rachel. She has a modest role in Lemonade Hayride, but over the years, I’ve seen her perform in places like Chicago and Los Angeles. Some of her recordings are among my favorites. So, while the full extent of her talents might not be center stage on Derby Eve, she will be the best reminder to me of how a scene can help open up a wide range of possibilities and nourish talent. She’s phenomenal.
Rachel, Lemonade Hayride: EVERYONE! And there will be some dance floor moves for Fanci Pantz and the Pelvis.
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This article appears in Apr 11-24, 2025.