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That RC is for RC Cola, a pillar of a shtick that has identified Banana Blender as much as its music has. Formed while its members were sophomores at St. John's School, a private bastion of proper dress and honor codes, the Bananas felt they were in no position to make music about teen angst. So they did something else instead: they created their own myth. For better or worse, the Bananas will forever be linked to RC, Moon Pies and other assorted foods that wreak havoc on the digestive system.
Last month, while cracking wise with his fellow Bananas at Lucky Burger, a dull, gray barrel of a fast-food joint that has become the band's spiritual/comic meeting place over the years, Beebe proudly displayed his encyclopedic knowledge of RC Cola. He reeled off facts about RC's manufacturer, its distributor, its availability within certain markets, its profit margins. The guy even admitted to reading trade journals on cola. Barker, who's served as the band's treasurer, said the Bananas spent $800 on RC last year alone.
Also last year, the Bananas wrote a promotional tune for RC's ad agency, hoping to make the link between band and cola even more prominent; the tune was ultimately rejected. Still, the RC emphasis has helped Banana Blender Surprise create a uniquely warped personality. The band has been all about humor, irony and Gulf Coast roots music (which the group molds and shapes with unfailing craft). Original tunes have included "Barbecue" ("Can't you see? / This plate in front of me / Is calling me?") as well as the band's theme song, "Royal Crown and a Moon Pie," the chorus of which Beebe sings with an ironic, exaggerated passion, as if he were making some grand statement on life.
You could argue that this wise-guy attitude has been nothing but a device to deflect criticism about the Bananas' pampered upbringing. After all, it's a bit difficult to pass judgment on a band that doesn't have anything serious to say. But the irony about this irony-heavy band has been that the Bananas' considerable intelligence was hidden within an organizational structure that should be the envy of every band in town. The Bananas created their own company to handle payroll, social security and sales taxes, among other things, and also created their own label, Secret Ingredient Records, which has released three Banana Blender CDs and two singles. All the band's earning have been funneled into the company, which in turn has forked out 50 percent of the proceeds for band members' salaries. The rest funded the group's recording projects, manufacturing costs, promotion expenses, transportation, insurance and, of course, RC Cola.
This organizational structure has afforded the Bananas a degree of independence that has been hard to surrender. Earlier this year, the band was approached by Atlantic Records about a potential deal, but the Bananas' interest was mostly theoretical. The guys knew a major-label deal wasn't in their best interests. "If you're not going to make any money when you're selling 500,000 copies [on a major label], why bother?" Beebe asks. "We figured, 'Why not be happy selling 2,000 copies and learning about what you're doing?'"