Just Plain Bill?
Like the radio show…no. Like Bill Clinton…no. Just Plain Bill…and who’s Bill? Absolutely nobody. Really. Patrick Storedahl, Douglas Blum, and Ted Clark, playing guitar, bass, and drums, respectively, were the roots of a defunct Southwest Washington band, which sprang forth the budding flower that was to become Just Plain Bill. JPB formed in Olympia, Washington during the early 90’s. Patrick, Doug and Ted started playing original, quirky, pop-rock music (written by Storedahl and Blum) all around the Northwest. Having nothing in common with bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, or Soundgarden, and though they regularly played shows with grunge-styled bands, JPB was the antithesis of what was going on in the Northwest music scene at the time. Heavily influenced by bands like The Talking Heads, The Beatles, Warren Zevon, R.E.M. and The Kinks, the original songs of JPB are often an amalgamation of the plethora of influences by the individual members of the band.

Ethan Moreno, Ted’s neighbor, attended many JPB shows, and it wasn’t long before the band discovered that he played guitar. He attended a recording session and was asked if he wouldn’t mind laying down a guitar part at the end of a song. He promptly produced a cacophony of noisy feedback and was asked immediately if he’d like to join the fun. Ethan agreed that indeed it would be fun. Ethan brought his own influences to the table with the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, U2, and Joe Walsh.

Just Plain Bill has recorded several CD’s including Spoke, Some Horrendous Joke, The Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed, Bill and his Fabulous Organ, and Kalama Tea. Each CD has a different flavor, from the roughness of their out of print debut, Spoke, the pop flavors of Some Horrendous Joke, the multi-faceted sections of Hedonistic Rituals held together with strings and horns, to the drum loops and extended songs of Kalama Tea.

In late 2005 Ted made a sudden and unexpected departure from the band.  After that the rest of the band, along with Peter Jansen, continued work on the Eating Louisiana project.

In 2006 Peter joined the band, playing keyboards and guitar.  After practicing to drum loops and click tracks for a while the band invited Maria Joyner to play drums.  This led to the first live show in over a year in November.

In 2007, the band released Eating Louisiana, an album containing eight songs from the band’s first CD Spoke that were tweaked, remixed, and remastered, eight old songs that the band had never recorded before, and two brand new songs.

And then Ted came back...and the story continues...