Cropduster

New Jersey's Cropduster attracted national attention in 2001 for its sophomore CD, Drunk Uncle, which found the alt-rock quartet segueing from crunchy power pop and twangy country rock to distorted guitar sound effects and distinctive goofball eccentricity. Fans of the Rolling Stones, the Who, Ween, the Velvet Underground, Pavement, and the Flaming Lips swarmed to Cropduster, which derived its band name from John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. The group was the brainchild of songwriters Marc Maurizi (guitar, vocals) and Tom Gerke (guitar, vocals), who were joined by bassist Lee Estes and drummer Scott Kopitskie. The album peaked at No. 22 on the College Music Journal charts in April, 2001, and included nine songs, featuring "Nothin's Gonna Change," which won the 2000 Musician's Atlas Independent Music Award for Best Rock Act. The celebrity panel of judges included Pat DiNizio, Aimee Mann, and Ben Folds. Maurizi and Gerke wrote the core songs in 2000, prior to recording for We Put Out Records in Weehawken, NJ, but other songs dated back to the mid-'90s. The idea for the song "Milkman" came from Maurizi's dream about a milkman, a stewardess, and a policeman. "Indestructo," the group's signature song that borders on punk and has a guitar riff like the Batman theme, told a story about the group's touring van. Maurizi took a bittersweet view of the world on the award-winning "Nothin's Gonna Change." Cropduster debuted in the mid-'90s at the Melody Bar in New Brunswick, NJ, after Maurizi and Gerke began writing songs together. Pete Novembre was the original bassist, but their second bassist Fred Gurnot appeared on their self-titled debut CD in 1998. Maurizi and Gerke were friends long before teaming up to form Cropduster. They met through their parents. Both...