San Diego Reader

Jon Malcarney: Drums | Sean Lawson: Bass guitar | Mark Haskins: Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric) | Mike Eckhart: Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric), Vocals

Genre: Alternative, Punk

Sound description: Fuzzy-toned indie hard rock.

RIYL: Guided by Voices, New Pornographers, Pavement, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Placebo, Weezer

No shows scheduled | Post a show |

Related Links

• Website · July 18, 2007

• Musician Interviews · April 27, 2006

Synoposis

Inception: San Diego, 2002

Current Status: In June 2007, the band relocated to New Jersey. They're recording a new CD.

Influences: The Weakerthans, Guided by Voices, Neil Young, R.E.M., New Pornographers, Placebo, Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins, Supergrass, Built to Spill, Morphine, Cake, Elliott Smith, Stereolab, Flaming Lips, Trail of Dead, Weezer, Wilco, Elvis Costello, Superdrag, the Kinks, Replacements, Cheap Trick, the Beatles, Sloan, Jets to Brazil, Soul Asylum, Matthew Sweet, Texas Is the Reason, Mike Patton, Jason Falkner, Ben Folds, Archers of Loaf, the Lemonheads

Background:

Return of Mr. Blackshirt singer/guitarist Mike Eckhart explains the band's moniker. "The name came from a person I used to work with who only wore black shirts. Just a normal T-shirt, not a uniform or anything like that. He wore the same black shirt every day or he had a closet full of black shirts so he could wear a clean one every day. I never had the nerve to ask him, and the legend grew from there. So he left the company for a while, and after a few months he came back to work. Thus, the Return of Mr. Blackshirt."

Eckhart has also played with Revenge Club, Hell Yeah! and the Fading Captains.