End of the Road, End of the Rods

They got hassled by the FBI. Todd Rundgren drank all their Foster's. And now they're breaking up. After teetering on the edge of big-time success for over a decade, 12 Rods remember what it's like to be a popular Twin Cities band--and what it's like to pa

A A A Comments By Lindsey Thomas Wednesday, Aug 11 2004

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I've had a really bad time with music for the past five years of my life. All the stuff I went through between '95 and '98 totally caught up with me. It fucking demoralized and defeated me. We should have been huge by now. I don't know. What am I supposed to do? I rejected my college education. I could have easily been a concert percussionist and made a sweet living being lead timpanist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. But I gave it up for rock 'n' roll and got screwed. I can either look at 12 Rods as a giant waste of time or a giant stepping-stone to something else. I've spent way too much time to have it be a failure.

Ev Olcott: I don't think your path is done.

David Fick

Are we famous yet? The beleaguered gentlemen of 12 Rods (L to R): George Marich, Jake Hansen, Ryan Olcott, Ev Olcott, and Bill Shaw

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Ryan Olcott: I fucking hope not.

Ev Olcott: You're far too talented to consider anything you've done a waste.

Ryan Olcott: Fucking rule number one in music school: Talent is relative. It's all about the fucking business. And I'm a terrible businessman. Every band should know right off the bat about the evil powers of the music industry. It fucking tears you apart and destroys your spirit. That's the hardest thing about it all: trying to stay motivated.

Ev Olcott: I'm just doing more studio stuff, working with bands, doing some film trailers, just paying the bills. I'll be in some bands here and there, but certainly nothing this serious. Just as long as I have music at some degree in my life so I can keep some kind of stability.

Hansen: I'll still play in Cowboy Curtis. I play drums in Superdanger. And I'm going to try out to be in Ryan's new band when he holds auditions for guitarists.

Shaw: I came from metal; I'm going to go back to metal. The group I was in long before 12 Rods was Post Mortem Grinner, and we've got George on drums. We're ready to go, but it's certainly not open to the same sort of criticism as the Rods. I just want to play and not worry about what anyone might think.

Marich: Playing metal should be fun because I come from a jazz background. Hopefully I'll get to play with Ryan again in the future and record with Ev.

Shaw: I can't wait to see what everybody does in the future. I know for a fact that anything that anybody at this table does I will like. Even if I don't like it, I'll love it. Even if it has nothing to do with anything I like, I'll know where it comes from.

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