The Mr. T Experience

          What do you do when your band outlives the cultural icon you named it after? As former bodyguard, ex A-Team member and previous nemesis of Rocky, Mr T's star has been fading to the point where he is now making appearences at comic book conventions. Meanwhile, the Mr T Experience's star is beginning to shine even brighter than ever. After releasing yet another fine record entitled Love Is Dead, the men of MTX find themselves embarking on a European tour with overnight teen sensation Green Day. I tracked down singer/guitar player/songwriter Dr Frank at the Lookout Records office to get to the bottom of exactly what's going on.

          When asked if he thought it was odd that kids at their shows may not even be aware of who Mr T is, Dr Frank said he wouldn't be surprised. "I once had a kid ask me who Adolph Hitler was. I asked the kid if he had ever seen Hogan's Heroes. It's funny now that people are hearing us for the first time. It completely puzzels people. I've heard some of the more cerebral kids out there who will say things like, 'Your band is the easiest way to confuse my parents'."

          Why you may ask? The Mr T Experience plays hook-filled punk rock, echelons above many of their fellow contemporary "pop-punk" musicians. Dr Frank describes their sound as "basically punk rock, in the original sense. Basically rock and roll music stripped down to the essential, minimal elements and played really loud."

          Having formed in or around 1986, the MTX are veterans of the now famous Bay Area scene, which produced classic bands like Crimpshrine and Operation Ivy, and current big-time acts like Green Day and Rancid. What has changed for the band since the earlier days? "People actually show up to the shows now, and they're younger," says Dr Frank. "What's changed for me personally, I think, is my songwriting's getting better. I've made the little improvements I need to make, and the current line-up of the band 'gets' the concept better than previous groups of people."

          The band seems as though they know how to have a good time. Although the early years always seem to be the leanest, the group played shows in places as odd as pizza parlors and even a laundromat. The weirdest place they ever played? "A teenage girl's slumber party. That was really cool!"

          Moving away from some of their self-help titled earlier releases (Our Bodies, Ourselves; Making Things With Light; and the recently re-issued LP, Everyone's Entitled to Their Own Opinion), The Mr T Experience have released their latest LP, Love Is Dead, a conceptual album that may shock a few people out there. The record was recorded while Dr Frank's girlfriend was in the process of dumping him, and he believes that's why he may sound "like more of a geek than I really am. It changed the way that the songs came out... Subsequently I got back together with that girl."

          The Mr T Experience's current line-up has been together for a couple of years and includes Jym on drums, Joel on bass and, or course, Dr Frank. Just what the hell kind of doctor is he anyway? "A doctor of dissapointment. I used to tell people that I was a dentist, but that back-fired, because people would call me up and try to schedule check-ups. I used to tell people that I'd set up a chair in between bands at Gilman, wear my Crimpshrine T-shirt and take appointments. People used to say, 'Its too bad there aren't more dentists like you out there.' Then I told people that my first name was Doctor and my last name was Frank, and some people actually believed that too."