{"id":717227,"date":"2018-08-30T12:42:54","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T16:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=717227"},"modified":"2018-08-31T08:47:37","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T12:47:37","slug":"beto-orourke-band-foss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-news\/beto-orourke-band-foss-717227\/","title":{"rendered":"Beto O&#8217;Rourke Shares the Story of His Old Band, Foss \u2014 and a Single"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! -->\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"pmc-paywall\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is a well-established fact that as a high schooler in El Paso, Texas, Rep. Beto O\u2019Rourke (D-TX) was in a band, Foss \u2014\u00a0::pauses to take giant bong rip:: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s Icelandic for \u2018waterfall\u2019 <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014\u00a0with Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who would go on to considerable fame fronting the Mars Volta and At the Drive-In. On Tuesday, the @TexasGOP Twitter account tweeted what it believed was <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a sick burn<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of O\u2019Rourke about his pre-political days<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Maybe Beto can\u2019t debate Ted Cruz because he already had plans&#8230; <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LdqKTh3yK4\"  rel=\"nofollow\"  target=\"_blank\"  >pic.twitter.com\/LdqKTh3yK4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Texas GOP (@TexasGOP) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TexasGOP\/status\/1034580157707759621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"  rel=\"nofollow\"  target=\"_blank\"  >August 28, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The tweet featured the cover of Foss\u2019s EP, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The El Paso Pussycats<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with a scrawled note, \u201cSorry can&#8217;t debate. We have a gig.&#8221; It seemingly intended to imply that O\u2019Rourke \u2014\u00a0who was first to call for debates against the incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz back in April \u2014\u00a0was now avoiding them. Instead, the tweet mostly reminded people that O\u2019Rourke was and remains considerably cooler than Ted \u201c<\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Rschooley\/status\/1034809662812479490\"  rel=\"nofollow\"  target=\"_blank\"  ><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Care to see my new mime routine?<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d Cruz. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But it also reminded\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of a conversation we had with O\u2019Rourke when we joined him on the road early last year. On a stretch of highway between Tyler and Texarkana, O\u2019Rourke rhapsodized about the El Paso DIY scene in the early&#8217;90s, where he first encountered Bixler-Zavala. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">O\u2019Rourke, who used to quiz his sister about the Beatles as a child, fell in love with punk in eighth grade when he listened to the Clash&#8217;s\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">London Calling<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0for the first time. The record, he said, was \u201ca revelation.\u201d He\u00a0would go on to become a devoted fan, in high school, of Dischord Records \u2014 the D.C.-based indie labeled founded by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI was into Minor Threat, I was into the Rites of Spring,\u201d O\u2019Rourke recalls. But more than just the bands, it was Dischord\u2019s whole ethos that appealed to him, an angsty teen. \u201cThey started their own label, they pressed their own records, they wrote their own songs, they booked their own tours and they set conditions, like: you&#8217;re not gonna pay more than five bucks to come into this show. You&#8217;re not gonna pay more than 10 bucks for this record. Our shows are gonna be all ages, everybody can come in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">By that time, O&#8217;Rourke had secured a scholarship to an elite boarding school in Virginia, where he would hole up in his room with the latest issue of the punk zine <em>Maximum Rock &amp; Roll<\/em>\u00a0and the latest Dischord release. \u201cThe record would come in the mail and there would be a nice note from someone at Dischord Records, like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hope you enjoy it!<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d O&#8217;Rourke remembers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On breaks from school, he\u2019d return to El Paso, and its burgeoning DIY scene. Ed Ivey, bassist for the seminal El Paso punk band the Rhythm Pigs was producing shows at a venue called the Campus Queen. O\u2019Rourke remembers that Ivey, who he still thinks of as an &#8220;elder statesman&#8221; of punk rock, &#8220;would be at the door taking your five bucks, or three bucks, or whatever it was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Campus Queen was where O\u2019Rourke first encountered Bixler-Zavala, who was performing Misfits covers with his band, Phantasmagoria. \u201cI&#8217;m a junior in high school, and this guy is like a freshman, and he&#8217;s singing in this amazing band,\u201d O\u2019Rourke recalls. \u201cHe had long black hair and everybody wore the black wristbands.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He and Bixler-Zavala \u2014 together with two other band members, Arlo Klahr and Mike Stevens\u00a0\u2014 would go on to form Foss. They put out <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The El Paso Pussycats<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> while O\u2019Rourke was at Columbia University. On his summer break, the band toured the U.S. and Canada, where, O\u2019Rourke remembers, they met and befriended a young Leslie Feist (of future &#8220;1,2,3,4&#8221; fame) one night in Calgary as she was waiting in line outside the band\u2019s gig. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMy memory is [she] didn&#8217;t have any money to get in and so she traded, I believe, her brother&#8217;s lock-picking set and a T-shirt or a tape and then we traded her a ticket to get in,\u201d O\u2019Rourke says. \u201cAnd then when we came through next year, she had a band called Placebo that we played with.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The El Paso Pussycats<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is now a rarity, but O&#8217;Rourke gave\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> a digital version of one of the EP&#8217;s tracks\u2014 \u201cRise.\u201d It\u2019s lo-fi slacker rock, that owes a debt to bands like Fugazi and Guided By Voices. Take a listen.<\/span><\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist wp-audio-playlist wp-playlist-light\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-current-item\"><\/div>\n\t\t<audio controls=\"controls\" preload=\"none\" width=\"640\"\n\t\t\t><\/audio>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-next\"><\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-prev\"><\/div>\n\t<noscript>\n\t<ol>\n\t\t<li><a href='https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/02-Rise.mp3'>Rise<\/a><\/li>\t<\/ol>\n\t<\/noscript>\n\t<script type=\"application\/json\" class=\"wp-playlist-script\">{\"type\":\"audio\",\"tracklist\":true,\"tracknumbers\":true,\"images\":false,\"artists\":true,\"tracks\":[{\"src\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rollingstone.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/08\\\/02-Rise.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\\\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Rise\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Rise\\\" from The El Paso Pussycats by Foss. Released: 1994. Track 2 of 12.\",\"meta\":{\"artist\":\"Foss\",\"album\":\"The El Paso Pussycats\",\"year\":\"1994\",\"length_formatted\":\"5:36\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rollingstone.com\\\/wp-includes\\\/images\\\/media\\\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rollingstone.com\\\/wp-includes\\\/images\\\/media\\\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}}]}<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\t\n<p><em>Kory Grow and Suzy Exposito contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stream the lo-fi slacker punk song &#8220;Rise&#8221; from the Texas senate hopeful&#8217;s earlier days as a touring 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