The Ready Men

If everybody had indeed heard about the bird, nobody was more mightily turned to the roar than the Ready Men. Their sole release, a hare brained overdriven workout of the traditional Shortnin' Bread, stands proudly alongside that most hallowed magnum dopus opus Surfin Bird by fellow Minneapolis racketeers the Trashmen, as a beer bust stomp anthem of the highest order.

Comparisons to the bird dance beat of the Trashmen are certainly obvious, but Ready Men guitarist Kirk Ready admits, "Our biggest outside influence was probably the Astronauts from Colorado. We loved those guys! We were very much into that kinda guitar sound with a lotta reverb and all."

Kirk and fellow guitar pickin' pal Pence Potter first enrolled at the University of Minnesota for the fall '62 semester and after recruiting drummer John Briggs and bassist Bruce Benson (who were still attending Minnetonka High, the guitarists' alma mater), they seized a golden opportunity (free beer) to entertain frat party hoof shakers. "We mainly did Ventures songs at the frats 'cause they were pretty basic, but mainly it was that nobody in the group could sing! When we got out first 'real' job, we didn't have a band name. A friend suggested the Ready Men. I wasn't the group's leader, but the suggestion stuck."

When the Ready Men made their one and only trip to a bona fide recording studio, it was to one of the nation's finest, Minneapolis' fabled Kay Bank Studios, where hits like Mule Skinner Blues, Surfin Bird and Liar Liar were born. The Ready Men took Kay Bay up on their swinging package deal whereby for $500, the group could belt out four numbers and receive a tape plus 500 singles pressed on the Bangar label (co-run by the studio owner Vern Bank and Garret label owner George Garret), with an additional 500 manufactured for Bangar's use.

The Ready Men hammered their way into knucklehead immortality with Shortnin' Bread, their most rousing number, supremely iced by John Brigg's berserk vocals and Kirk Ready's blistering guitar solo.

More than three decades later, Shortnin Bread is still brutally maulin' all comers at tone arm wrestling matches worldwide. Lord knows the amount of beer guzzled, chips chomped, furniture damaged and eviction notices served as the Ready men's calling card has spun loudly outta control. We're proud to present this, their first album, so put on the skillet, put on the lead and let the high flyin Ready Men clobber your head!