Me First & the Gimme Gimmes

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk rock cover band that formed in 1995 and they are touring Australia this month. Drawn together by a mutual love of 1960s and 1970s music, the Gimme Gimmes work exclusively as a cover band. They have covered show tunes, sixties classics and R&B greats, and most recently Love Their Country, where the Gimmes take a wrecking ball to songs originally done by Cash, Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Dolly, Kenny Rogers, Hank Sr., and more.. The band is named after a children's book of the same name by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione.

The band wasn't originally planning on releasing albums, appearing only on compilation albums for their first year. In 1995, however, the band began releasing singles named after the singer they had covered. They produced Billy, Diamond, Paul, Denver, Barry, Shannon, Stevens, and Elton in this manner. Their first album, Have a Ball, was released in 1997.

Each album by the band is themed differently: Have a Ball focuses on classic 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s songs by artists like Elton John, Neil Diamond, and John Denver; Are a Drag consists entirely of showtunes, Blow in the Wind consists of 60s classics, Take a Break consists entirely of contemporary R&B songs by artists such as Boyz 2 Men, Lionel Richie, and Vanessa L. Williams; their fifth album, Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah, was recorded live at an actual bar mitzvah and consists of pop music from the 1960s through the 1980s by artists such as REO Speedwagon, Styx and The Beatles, as well as traditional songs like Hava Nagila. Their latest record, Love Their Country, features a variety of country and western covers.

They entered the studio on April 3, 2006 to work on their sixth album, Love Their Country, which was released on October 17, 2006.[1] The theme of this album is country and western, and includes covers of tracks by Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Hank Williams, Sr. and Johnny Cash.[2]. Prior to the release of the album, Fat Wreck Chords released a digital label sampler iFloyd which included "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" by the band.

In late 2006, Fat Wreck Chords released another digital label sampler Christmas Bonus[3], containing a previously-unreleased cover of Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans". Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were scheduled to play three dates at PNC Park after Pirates games on August 26, 27, and 28, 2006, but after they got booed on the first night, the next two nights were canceled. They were to play along with fireworks during the post-game "Skyblast" shows.

December 5th, 2007, Fat Wreck Chords released a flash MP3 holiday bonus sampler called "Hanuk-Comp"[4] containing "The Boxer" which was originally released on the "Have a Ball" album (released in 1997). There is also a downloadable podcast [5] which features commentary from Fat Mike and Floyd during breaks between songs in which the next album is revealed. It will be named "Have Another Ball" and will contain all the B-sides from "Have a Ball". The album is due to release in March 2008.

Members

Vocalist Spike Slawson, of Swingin' Utters, Filthy Thievin' Bastards and Re-Volts
Bassist "Fat" Mike Burkett, of NOFX
Lead guitarist Chris Shiflett, of Foo Fighters (and formerly No Use for a Name)
Rhythm guitarist/vocalist Joey Cape, of Lagwagon, Bad Astronaut, Afterburner, and The Playing Favorites
Drummer Dave Raun, of Lagwagon.
Brian Baker (of Minor Threat and Bad Religion) filled in for Shiftlett in 2006.
Chris Shiftlett's brother, Scott Shiflett (of Face to Face and Viva Death) has been filling in for him on the band's most recent tours.
During the 2007 European tour and 2008 Australian tour, NOFX guitarist Eric Melvin filled in for Fat Mike on bass.

Australian Tour Dates