ed davis band

By 1975 they were jamming together, abusing controlled substances, and listening closely to Lee Perry, Pere Ubu, and the singles coming out of New York and London. A visit to a Bloomington, Indiana, basement to see MX-80 Sound was pivotal, as were debut LPs from The Ramones and The Patti Smith Group. In the winter of 1976, local guerilla art collective We’re Just Like You put on a show at the university and needed a band. With the addition of Mike’s high-school friend Bob Cotter on bass and a few weeks of rehearsals, Mike, Curt, and Byron formed Ed Davis, a name chosen because it meant nothing and revealed nothing. The group stayed together after the show and slowly built a following in Cincinnati clubs, eventually playing a series of legendary parties in their downtown loft. In ‘78 the band cut a single, played on WAIF-FM, opened for The Patti Smith Group at Bogart’s, and lost guitarist Byron, who moved to NYC. Ed soldiered on for another year with new vocalist and pianist Fran Slater; bassist Bob switched to guitar; and Mike picked up the bass. Their last show, at the 5th Street loft backed by the Shake It label’s legendary The Customs, was in June of 1979.