Andrew McNally, drums/vocals
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THE STORY SO FAR
Internationally unsigned recording artists Rookie Card are off to quite a start. Ever heard of a band's first demo getting nominated for an award? Neither have I. They play rock music but have been called alt-country, indiepop and "damn catchy". The emphasis is always on good songwriting, smart lyrics, and stick-in-yer-head hooks, which means the band can knock 'em dead at an indie snob convention OR a San Diego Padres game. The Rookie Card tale started when, after 10 years of noodling and one-off bands, Adam Gimbel decided to get slightly more serious about rock stardom. After a few solo acoustic shows to get warmed up, John Andrews (ex-Contra Guerra) answered an ad for guitarist that Gimbel had placed in a local weekly. The two hit it off and found a rhythm section in local basher Eric Casas on drums and Tim Peacock on bass. Casas left after a couple of shows and was replaced by Nasrallah "Animal" Helewa. With Andrews and Gimbel switching off on lead vocals, the band played a handful of shows with alt-rock legends galore, performed on local radio stations, charted high on mp3.com charts, were scheduled to be on a UK compilation and seemed well on their way to...something. With Andrews' status as a San Diego area resident in question, the band refrained from recording and played their last show in August 2001. Peacock had already left to concentrate on his own band, Like Swimming (and later joined Waterline Drift), while Andrews moved to the LA area and continues to shape young minds to this day.

Gimbel spent the next few months doing solo gigs, trying to sing classic British blues songs with a North County band and doing a show with side project Cover Me Badd. Helewa played a lot of video games. Jason Hee joined the band full-time and, finally, Gabe showed up with his guitar (no guitar case, though) to stop the power trio insanity. Their debut demo EP, First Day Of Class, was nominated for Best Local Recording at the 2003 San Diego Music Awards, a feat unheard of for a mostly self-produced debut demo. They appeared on the 2003 SDMA CD and were asked to organize and headline one of the pre-Awards Show concerts. After a fantastic year of guitarin', trumpetin' and keyboardin', Gabe was too busy to carry the Rookie torch. Old friend Dylan Martinez showed up, dangling keys to a plush tourvan and after a few shows as their "temporary" guitarist, he won their hearts and minds. Then Jason Hee shrugged one last time and left, making room for Rookie phenom, Kevin Gossett, who was let into the band after being strung along for a month so he'd REALLY appreciate getting the job.

In 2004, they released their first full length album, Near Mint on their own Blanco Nino Records. It doesn't sound like a debut album. But it is. The band's energy and kitchen sink influences were perfectly captured by producer Mike Kamoo at San Diego recording hotspot Earthling Studios. The album immediately received a ton of local radio airplay and glowing press (including a coverstory for SD Music Matters Magazine that showed them eating KFC with the world-famous San Diego Chicken). Within 3 weeks of its release, the band was nominated for TWO 2004 SDMA's & invited to play at the awards ceremony, where they took home the award for Best Pop Act. To celebrate its release, Rookie Card played San Diego's legendary Casbah to a near capacity crowd. For a truly memorable encore, they pulled the entire audience outside onto the street for one last song. Being conveniently located in the San Diego Airport flightpath, it wasn't long before a plane flew over and the band broke into the Beatles' "Back In The USSR" without missing a beat. Two minutes and 43 seconds later, another plane flew over. Just like on the White Album.

In the years following the release of Near Mint, RC played countless shows, recorded a second record, and Dylan had a son. The long awaited second record, What's On Second? has managed to surpass the band's San Diego Music Award winning debut, Near Mint. Preview tracks got over 5000 plays on the band's website and the album has already been picked as local release of the month by 94.9FM and got them on the cover of the San Diego Union-Tribune's Night & Day section. The album's twelve tracks include a slew of new instant classics plus two re-recorded versions of early demos, including the ultra-catchy "Green Glo" which is still one of the highest ranking songs of all-time on GarageBand.com. Once again, the band combines a ton of musical influences with country stompers, singalong pop nuggets, 50's style prom themes, and epic rockers that fade into organ lullabies.

Producer Mike Kamoo once again makes it all sound great together, even with a wide variety of guest stars like Joanie Mendenhall on Wurlitzer, Unsteady's John Roy on saxophone, Kite Flying Society's Kelly Duley on piano and Johnny Eager Band's Doug Camphuis on harmonica. Sarcasm and self-deprication rules on songs railing on namedropping, cellphones, possessive breakups and fake country rockstars but the album also includes the dark piano tune "U Put The C" and a tear jerkin' boy/girl duet with songstress Angela Correa. Per usual, pop culture references run throughout the album (Ferris Bueller, Price Is Right, Elliott Smith, Flashdance) and even the album's artwork and secret bonus track are some of the most memorable in recent years. Following the release of the album, the band regrouped with a new lineup that includes Andrew McNally on drums.

The band manage to do something fun and newsworthy more often than not, whether it's plugging into a Judas Priest guitar on the wall during a rawk set at the Hard Rock Cafe, doing a Halloween show in Star Wars outfits as Wookie Card, becoming the first band to ever play with the world's largest outdoor instrument (the 90 year old Spreckles Organ in Balboa Park). In their first couple of years, they've got more local press and shows opening for their heroes than most bands ever will. Plus, they're humble enough not to brag about it.

BRAG