Best Rock Band/Originals

17.68% Rosemary Gates* (tie) 17.68% Wailhounds* (tie) 14.15% Blue Moon Boys* 13.18% homeless j* 6.75% The Chronics*, Might As Well* 2.09% Northern Kind 1.93% Blame It On Rio 1.77% Strut Train, Gold Room 1.45% Sfumato (Black Tooth Grin), Point of Departure 1.29% The Beautys 1.13% Shelly Dixon Band .80% Fawn Liebowitz, Jettingham, Unkyl Dadday .64% David Todoran & The Mobile Homewreckers .48% Go Dog Go, Industrial Strength, The Rupert Bomb Others with Votes: The Agency, Chris and Paul, Einstein Savage, The Humanity, Klubber Lang, Rule Seven, Tempest, Third Frame, Black Jack Shellac, Cloud Nine, Corporate Circus, Crosstown, Diamond Lil & The Tall Dogs, Dr. Suess, Fat Ass, Generations, Ghost Galleon, Heavy Step, Little Johnny Hugo, Matthew Street Band, Misfit Toys, Pop ‘N’ Fresh, Red Out, Sad Boy Trouble, Sarin, Soul Mine, Sunny Taylor Band, Surface, Tito Discovery, Todd Harrold Band, Tri State Killing Spree 2000 Winner: Blue Moon Boys 1999 Winner: Blue Moon Boys 1998 Winner: Blue Moon Boys 1997 Winner: Senator Dillwilly (now Jackie Fly) * On the ballot

Rosemary Gates guitarist James Stocks was on his way home from a vacation in Florida when the long arm of whatzup reached him by mobile phone and informed him of the band’s Whammy victory for Best Original Rock Band. “That’s great. I’m glad to hear it,” Stocks said, managing to keep the car on the road. Rosemary Gates — now minus long-time guitar player Michael Archbold — plays a lot of shows and although they were recognized by readers for their original material, it’s not all they play. “It depends on the show. When we play Legends, it’s predominantly original songs,” Stocks said. “At Columbia Street West and frat parties, the majority are covers. We love to play our originals every chance we get, but unfortunately, we don’t get the opportunity every time out.” When they have the chance, the band plays songs from their 2000 debut CD, Shine. Favorites include “Horses” and “Shining Rain.” They’ve also been polishing a new tune, “Home Again.” That list will grow soon. Rosemary Gates has taken the last three months off to work on new material at Soundmill Studios for another release. “With the departure of Mike, we’ve just been trying to find ourselves and regroup. Things are going well,” Stocks said. Archbold’s departure is the second personnel change in less than a year for the band; Charley Shirmeyer (pictured), former drummer for Rushville Whig and The Humanity, replaced original drummer Jerry Foust in mid-2001. The changes haven’t dampened the band’s enthusiasm or slowed its momentum, however, as evidenced by the voting in this year’s whatzup Readers Poll. Rosemary Gates finished second in voting for Performer of the Year after finishing fourth last year. They moved up to third from eighth place in the Best Live Band voting and to second from seventh in the Best Rock Cover Band category. Their tie with The Wailhounds in the Best Original Rock Band voting gave them their first-ever Whammy after finishing a distant fourth in 2000. Now lead singer Christian Schult has added the electric guitar to his repertoire and the result, Stocks said, may surprise some Rosemary Gates fans. “A lot of our new stuff is different. Some of it is heavier. At least the first six were heavier. We’ll see how people react to it. It’s exciting,” Stocks said. The next opportunities to hear Rosemary Gates will be March 16 at Sneaky Pete’s and March 17 at Legends. Shine is available at area record stores and on Amazon.com.

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