The Remnants

Bay Weekly
Annapolis, MD
February 14, 2000

Remnants At Crossroads
To be or not to be. That is the question.
For The Remnants. As one of Annapolis’ hottest bands, Tom Fridrich, Tom Boynton and Tristan Lentz enjoy the spotlight. But now at a crossroads, The Remnants contemplate their future and reminisce over their five year history. “We feel less emphasis on playing every little smoky bar now. We can be appreciated for what we do – whether performing, writing songs for other people or focusing on publishing deals”, Fridrich says.
Maybe they’ll move to Nashville. The Remnants’ dreams are unfolding, but they must reach even higher and work even harder to make them come true. Will that mean emigrating to the country music capital? “In Annapolis, there are any number of talented musicians who don’t have to leave. But we want a bigger slice of the pie”, Boynton says.
After releasing their third album, Songs For Sale, The Remnants ask themselves what’s it all about? The struggle for radio airplay: They’ve gotten this wish from WRNR-FM 103.1, a constant supporter of local musicians. The chance to perform with national acts: They’ve gotten this wish, opening for Pete Droge, Fastball, NRBQ and Southern Culture On The Skids. The rocky road of musical ageism: Boynton and Fridrich laugh across the distance between them and Ricky Martin, shaking his bon-bon. The struggle against the industry’s fadism: That’s the theme of their new single, “The King Is Dead”: We’re all burned out on this month flavor. Make us feel part of something BIG. If this is the revolution bring back The King. Can’t anybody here play or sing? The Remnants think they can. “We’re a great band. I’ve been in plenty of bands where I wasn’t sure I would have bought a CD with our songs on it. But not now. The Remnants still put a grin on my face”, Boynton says. Music courses through their veins. They got hooked on the Stones and Beatles when kids listened to transistor radios. But they’re getting tired, Boynton says, “of standing in the coldest part of Parole Plaza unloading our equipment at three in the morning”. They’re not getting their share of the glamorous life of rock music. Fridrich spends his day as a theatre manager for Maryland Hall. Boynton restores old houses. Lentz works on boats. The times they are a changing, and these men , now in their 30’s, wonder what place the millennium holds for them and their “roots rock”. They’re waiting for their turn to come. They’re getting impatient. Find The Remnants at www.theremnants.com

- Mary Catherine Ball
- Bay Weekly

REMNANTS
“Double-Wide”
Slow Summer

The Remnants open their second album with “Give It Back”, sounding as if they just spent the night hanging out in a bar listening to Elvis Costello or maybe Graham Parker, with frontman Tom Boynton turning in a typically loose and likeable performance. It’s merely the first of several tracks on the album to suggest these Annapolis boys know that serious rock ‘n’ roll shouldn’t be treated all that seriously. Next comes “Nobody Home”, a bar band’s report from the road, set to a shuffling boogie beat older than John Lee Hooker himself: “Two in the morning, three thousand pounds of gear, smell like cigarettes and watery beer, I got
nothin’ goin, left it all on the stage, some drunk grabbed a girl and goes, “play some Buffett babe” – yeah, whatever”. No, Boynton certainly hasn’t lost his sense of humor – or his sense of the absurd, for that matter. Just listen to him shamelessly pitch the band’s sloppy appeal on “Rock And Roll Life”: “I rock, I roll, I dance like an idiot…stand here, beside me, you can do the same…come on, let’s go, we’ll party up again, the Remnants will be your best friend”. If that’s not invitation enough, the trio backs up the boast by lacing the album with lots of cool guitar riffs, catchy choruses and a surreal slice of honky-tonk called “Marching Cowboy”. Besides, it’s hard to resist a band that sounds like it’s having as much fun as the Remnants are when they’re playing at full tilt on “Ain’t Got A Lot” and other tracks.
- Mike Joyce
- Washington Post