88 Sundays

For 15 years writers Jeff Cole and Joe Robinson have been writing and performing their unique style of original music that was cultured not only by their Philadelphian suburban up bringing but all their influences as well.

Playing the blues or heavy metal, Alternative/punk is the norm in your local Philadelphia club scene. It is also the common genre of music for people looking to unwind sipping expensive coffee drinks to the acoustic stereotypes of folk pop in your average coffee houses. That’s fine but they wanted more than the usual pallets local music had to offer.

The challenge:
To make lyrically conscientious music to the standard of which rock was once the classic form of rock.

88 Sunday’s influences have been everything from British rock of the 60’s and 70’s to the progressive eras in between. Lyrically they express the longings of the human spirit in our own inner personal struggles and make music that captures the complex yet simple drive of the individual spirit.

Jeff explains how Joe and himself were finally inspired to break rank from the average bar scene expectations of just another club band,” In the spring of 1985 driving north on Highway 95 the unusually warm night air was humid as we all sat in the car in silence. We had just come from the Spectrum in Philadelphia where we had just seen U2.Now I had long been fascinated with the works of The Beatles on Magical Mystery Tour, Revolver and Sergeant Pepper. The idea of unlimited boundaries for music to be pushed into incredible areas not just Lyrically but just as important musically as well was a belief I always wanted to aspire. The first time I heard Led Zeppelin I could not have imagined an overdriven ultra blues creation of word melodies and guitar riff with such power. After seeing U2 the same could now be said with my impression to what would be the next dominating rock force for the next 20 years. I was right.”

Jeff & Joe were changed from that night on for one reason. The band that Joe and himself were both members of at the time did not feed the incredible hunger for something more than the partying bar band experience that they had enjoyed for the last few years. The next day Jeff sat down with Joe to express his ideas about a band that would write not only musically but lyrically as well a music that would communicate the mystery of life’s experiences without the usual blatant shallow hooks and pop trends. Their first band Octover was born.

Octover put together a power trio and toured the Philadelphia area with its new blend of music. From the smallest of tap rooms where you wondered how anyone but a trio could possibly fit on the stage to much larger venues that catered to local bands and encouraged original music, Joe & Jeff played with the passion that was in them all along now finally being able to express it. Lugging drums and guitar amps in and out of the garage and basements and sitting in Denny’s at 3am going over the set and how they thought it went became a very regular routine.

Soon Octover had released it’s first cassette release “Looking for America” which now is on the CD compilation “Peace in the Spider Empire”. By 2000 Octover headed back to the studio to record the CD release of “Green Lightning” which is available at CD baby.com. It can be found on the LINK page at www.88sundays.com. Now after writing for the last year Jeff & Joe decided to embark on a new project “88 Sundays”.
Although the meaning behind the band’s name is a mystery the music becomes clear to the listener that these writers are seasoned. Engineer Joe Stout who also worked on Octover’s Green Lightning and the owner of Digital Dog Studios in Philadelphia was approached with the 88 Sundays project in the spring of ’05. By June the first drum takes of the latest CD by 88 Sundays, “California” began.

The album takes cynical but intellectual pokes at a pop and political culture society out of control. The inner struggles of love, peace and everyday stress take center stage set to music by their many influences.