Music Style Punk Rock with a tasty bit of Ska

Musical Influences Green Day, Operation Ivy, The Suicide Machines, Rancid, Lagwagon, Less Than Jake, Blink 182, The Beatles, punk and ska bands in general

Similar Artists Enrique Iglesias/Shakira/Boyz II Men

Artist History Hold onto you pants, here's the story of The Green Bikes: It was a fateful day in 1999 when Norm I were assigned to the same dorm. Hart Hall, on the campus of the University of Maine, would be our home for the next 4 years (or however long we decided to live there. I suppose it was up to us). I was known to wake sleeping neighbors with my loud, three chord punk cds that I would crank from my dorm room. Norm lived down the hall and was straight up ska and liked to groove to some rap now and again. A plan was hatched by none other than Big Pat McGonagle to start a band on that 4th Floor of Hart Hall. The only problem was that Norm was the only one who had any musical experience. You see, I had always dreamed of being a rock star and sleeping with random girls that Norm picked up for me with his boyish charm. Freshman year of college passed for we two, and a band was still just an idea. Norm and I spent our summer apart. Normie lives in Augusta, Maine and I went back to Beverly Hills, Michigan. We both made our ways to plenty of punk shows and the inclings to start a band grew stronger. At the end of the summer, I bought an electric guitar on a whim to which my mom asked, "What are you going to do with that?" When Norm and I returned to Orono (that's where our school is) in the fall of 2000, we were greeted on the 4th floor by an incoming freshman proficient in the milking of cows and drumming. Yup, it was Lee. The year went by, and I went from absolutely horrible on my guitar to just bareable for human ears. That was good enough for me. As we split again for the summer (Lee to his dairy farm in Unity, Maine), the plan to start a punk rock band became a reality. Norm, Lee and I formed what would become The Green Bikes. When we three returned to Orono in the fall of 2001, the lineup was set: I would do up guitar and vocals, Normie on bass, and Lee on drums. I grabbed a drum set from a Mr. Monty Rand and practices began in 403 Hart Hall. Norm practiced bass lines on an electric guitar that was given to him by a stalker, and I jammed away on my sticker-laden fender strat. Norm bought a real bass and that meant he meant business. We decided we needed a name and settled on The Green Bikes to honor a UMaine project that entailed the sharing of hideously painted green bikes by campus dwellers to get from here to there. We continued to practice while attending numerous UMaine hockey games and working the local scene for loose women. Gigs were landed beginning in December 2001 and continue through the present. If you're ever in Orono, ask one of The Green Bikes for a ride.

Group Members Erik Schwab Contribution: Guitar and Vocals Hometown: Beverly Hills, Michigan Relationship Status: woah! taken big time. Norm "Hot Stuff" Charest Contribution: Bass Hometown: Augusta, Maine Relationship Status: Call me, dammit! Lee Hunter Contribution: Drums Hometown: Unity, Maine Relationship Status: devoted to cows, but is willing to share.

Instruments Guitar, bass, and drums. Norm also plays the sexaphone, just not for The Green Bikes. We've had numerous offers to play skin flute, but nothing concrete.

Albums Live & Fully Clothed

Press Reviews Norm says: "We haven't had anything but good things written about us. We've had progressively more people at our shows and we get a lot of support from everyone we know. Our campus newspaper, at the University of Maine, quoted us as an up and coming new talent--'The Green Bikes don't screw around, they can play their instruments and they're funny!'"

Additional Info Thanks to Big Pat, Greg, Nick, Matt, Brian, Dustin, Ryan, Becky, and Burger for putting up with us and to all who come to shows and support The Green Bikes.

Location Orono, Maine - USA

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