Almost every rock fan in Detroit knows that the Muggs were one of the 12 finalists on Fox-TV’s The Next Great American Band TV show. Alas, the Muggs didn’t make it to the final finals (the judges especially had a difficult time with the lead vocals, but then they had the same problem with the all-female Rocket from L.A.), but given the quality of most of the bands that did make it beyond that point, that’s probably a good thing.
What you might not know is that there were actually two rock bands from Detroit that were involved in the competition. The second Motor City unit was Simplysick, a hard rockin’ quintet of young teens and the brainchild of 14-year-old guitarist Jacob “Snakedawg” Burdock, who leads the group of nightmarish “fictional” characters (shades of KISS, GWAR and Slipknot) including vocalist Dolemite 3000, bassist the Boom, drummer Smashin’ Jack, and electronic wiz C.D. Smooth.
The band didn’t make the final cut but they did travel to Lake Las Vegas to audition, part of which was telecast during the intro episode of the series. Guess only one young teen band was able to make the final cut – and that role was filled by dreadful Iron Maiden impersonators Light of Doom – but the opportunity only helped with Simplysick’s online popularity, including their MySpace page, where they presently have more than 11,200 friends.
By the way, it's 11 p.m.; do you know where your children are?
