A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ACTION SUITS (Or, "A Much Too Long History of the Action Suits", depending on your point of view.) The Action Suits will be, deservingly so or not, a curious footnote in somebody's history of late-20th Century bubblegum music because of the fact that world-famous cartoonist Peter Bagge sat on a picklebucket and banged the skins with 'em for awhile. Not on this song, though (sorry fans). Formed in Seattle in 1995 by roommates Eric Reynolds, Andy Schmidt and another cartoonist, Al Columbia, the three played all of one show together, a Halloween party held by the cartoonist Jim Woodring and his wife, Mary, on Oct. 31, 1995. The band also included during this time cartoonist and fellow-roommate Jeremy Eaton, who played absolutely no instruments and didn't even sing, but still played an inarticulably vital role in the whole gestalt, and must be mentioned because of it. With drums mounted on a sawhorse ("drums" being relative: they were technically spare drum parts, a coffee can, chopsticks, and some scrap metal), the guitar and bass plugged into one shitty amplifier, one mic affixed by a wire clotheshanger to the drums and another with a jerryrigged stand made from a broomstick and christmas tree base, and the aforementioned picklebucket, the three swapped instruments every song despite being cumulatively proficient in perhaps one and a half while Eaton, dressed as an extra from a late-60s era Jack Kirby comic, danced in dynamic bystander poses. Peter Bagge, who shared Reynolds' love for bubblegum pop, hadn't drummed in 18 years but was still Buddy Fucking Rich compared to the rest of the bunch and took pity on them, joining that very night. Al took pity on himself and moved to Massachusetts within weeks. They were on their way to fame and fortune. Well, almost, anyway. Before even playing a live gig together, the new lineup conned four labels to pay for three days of studio time and release one single each from the resulting session. This was easy to do because the band promised the labels that thousands of comic book fans would buy the records and that indie rock legend Steve Fisk (Halo Benders, Pigeonhead, Pell Mell) agreed to produce the sessions for free because he really is one of the nicest, coolest guys in the world. So, London's Wiija, San Francisco's Man's Ruin, Los Angeles' Cherry Smash, and Seattle's Fluffer all released 45s by the Action Suits in the Fall of 1996. The Fluffer single was initially going to be put out on SubPop, but the story goes that when SubPop owner Jonathan Poneman (who was being pressured by then-partner Bruce Pavitt to put the record out) played the tape of the sessions, he almost immediately ripped it out of the cassette deck and flung it against the wall. Needless to say, the boys got a real kick out of that one. Aside from that little bump, however, it was all remarkably effortless: get Bagge to draw a cover, put Fisk's name on the back, and ba-boom! A band that nobody's heard has sold over 10,000 units in a dying mode of expression for pop music (7-inch vinyl 45 rpm). So what if the critics didn't get it? Everett True, who is even a Close, Personal Friend of Reynolds and Bagge's, wrote a one-sentence review of the Wiiija single London's NME that read, "Cartoonists shouldn't make music -- especially cartoonists from Seattle." It Everett had understood why this didn't matter, he would have reviewed the cover art instead. Buoyed by a hapless enthusiasm, they went on to play a handful of gigs, including a standing room only record release party at Seattle's Lava Lounge on Bagge's birthday in Dec., 1996, set up by the Suits' very own Colonel Tom Parker, a local arts promoter named Larry Reid (who even got the band written up on Miller Beer's website). Rolling Stone sent a stringer to check the gig out (they didn't cover it), which marked the only time Steve Fisk ever played with the band on stage. The Who's Who guest list included members of the Posies, Mudhoney, the Fall-Outs, Gas Huffer, Chixdiggit, SubPop's Pavitt, Sideshow Barker Jim Rose,virtually every cartoonist in town, and even a lot of people the band didn't know; now that was something. The self-proclaimed "Kings of Pussy Rock" got an offer to open for the Bay City Rollers (but had to play for tickets which could then in turn be sold to their loved ones), played to over 500 people during a San Diego Comicon-related and Goldschlagger-sponsored party that also featured then-Geffen great white hopes Sugarplastic and cartoonist Jaime Hernandez's Ol' Prospectors, and were but one budget cut away from opening for the Fastbacks and Eddie Vedder in Park City, Utah during SubPop's star-studded Sundance Festival bash for the "Hype" documentary. They even snorted cocaine off of Eric Roberts' ass in the bathroom later that night. Okay, not really, but it was all very glamorous nonetheless. But honestly, not much else happened. After no major labels took the bait -- which actually was kind of surprising given how frivolously major labels were throwing money around in the early-1990s to indie rock and pop bands -- Bagge's wife, Joanne, reminded him that getting drunk all the time with a couple of dorks ten or fifteen years his junior while playing music that had thus far not made a penny and showed no signs of doing so was probably not a viable alternative to drawing his comic book for a living. His daughter, who really, really wanted a pony, didn't think so either. Bagge, pulling a Brian Wilson on the group (or was that Murray Wilson?) said if anybody wanted to put out a record by us, he'd want to be included, but otherwise he didn't want to play live gigs anymore. Enter: the Chris "Major Goodvibes" Jacobs-era Suits. Jacobs, a friend and fellow Fantagraphics employee (Bagge's publisher) of Reynolds & Schmidt's, lacked Bagge's finesse, but oh did he rock! They also added guitarist Demian Johnston, best know for his time with such seminal Seattle straight-edge hardcore bands as nineironspitfire and Undertow, making him the first member to not only know how to play a guitar, but could do so while sober. The new and suddenly media angle-less Suits continued to plow ahead through the end of the decade, eventually recording a single for the Seattle label Spot On!, which featured artwork by founding member and soulmate Al Columbia. Johnston left shortly thereafter to indulge his hardcore proclivities, and the remaining members decided put the "trio" back into "power trio" and not replace him. In late 1999, Schmidt moved to California, marking the end of the Suits for now, though Bagge and Reynolds continually threaten to get something going again if they can sweet-talk anybody into free studio time. 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