Octopus Repellant

Mon., June 12, 2000

Jake Farley, Mead

The garage band Octopus Repellant is, in a word, gigantic.

The horn section includes Julia Barcelo, Chris Parkin, Ben Hopkins, Lars Olson and Erik Botcheck. The two singers are Tyler Polumsky and Analise Johnson. The rhythm section is Mike Fredrick, Josh Simon, Kevin Gaunt, Chris Teal and Matt Chitwood.

That was 12 people, for those who had trouble counting.

All the band members but one attend Mt. Spokane High School. Johnson goes to Ferris High School.

The group took its name from an old episode of “The Critic” where David Hasselhoff had to retrieve a woman’s stolen bathing suit from an octopus.

Naturally, Hasselhoff had to put on octopus repellant before performing the heroic task.

“Oh, that’s good octopus repellant,” Hasselhoff remarked.

“We were just looking for something that would catch the eye,” Fredrick said.

The group describes its music as a fusion of rock and jazz. Fredrick and Simon write most of the material for the group, which has been an official band for about a month.

After BOBfest, Octopus Repellant in its current form will end as its senior members go off to college.

“That’ll be it for this incarnation,” Fredrick said.

Fans of the band can look forward to a new version, perhaps with new members.

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