What? Formed when keyboardist James Dewees’ former band Coalesce took a brief break, Reggie and the Full Effect have offered a steady supply of genre-mixing hooks for the past decade. And the project’s just released LP, Last Stop: Crappy Town,is no exception, reintroducing musical cognates pop-punk, emo, hardcore, and metal with urgency, while taking its inspiration from Brooklyn’s subway system, with songs named and ordered according to how train lines cross.
Who? As the tale goes, a mythical bluesman named Reggie recorded a number of tapes of material, all of which were lost in a studio fire in the 1980s, only to reappear on the doorstep of Vagrant records in 2000. The true story is that of cheeky multi-instrumentalist James Dewees, a core player in the post-hardcore American punk scene, who was once a member of Coalesce and the Get Up Kids as well as in the touring bands of New Found Glory and My Chemical Romance.
Dewees has created personas to correspond to the varied styles he employs, from “Klaus,” the leader of Finish metal outfit “Common Denominator,” to new wave pop idol “Fluxation.” The common thread through it all is Dewees’ throat-grabbing punk sensibility, instrumental prowess, and die-hard sense of humor.
Fun Fact: During his Warped Tour performance in 2005, a shirtless, short-shorts clad, baby-oil soaked Dewees gave a surprise lap dance to SPIN.com’s Peter Gaston.
More on SPIN.com:
The Full Effect: A Warped Diary
Hellogoodbye, Reggie and the Full Effect, The Format Kick Off CMJ
