Representative Albums: "This Will Be Laughing Week," "Open up and Say Awesome," "Electric Kissing Parties"
Biography
Playing with perky rock riffs similar to the likes of Eve 6 and Matchbox Twenty, Ultimate Fakebook has touched upon the ever so popular three chords. Hailing from Manhattan, Kansas, Ultimate Fakebook is another alternative pop/rock band mixing old school rock music in the face of their successors such as Green Day. Coming together in 1994, third cousins Bill McShane (vocals/guitar) and Nick Colby (bass) created the first stint of Ultimate Fakebook, with Eric Melin (drums) joining a few months later. They grew up worshipping the hard-rock glam sounds of KISS, Metallica, and Slayer. Later on, their tastes leaned toward bands like Soul Asylum and the Replacements while their sound went from alternative metal to original indie-pop. They are also road junkies, playing over 140 shows in 1999. Ultimate Fakebook released their first full-length, Electric Kissing Parties, in 1998, and their follow up, This Will Be Laughing Week, was re-released by Epic/550 Music in summer 2000. Two years later, the trio hooked up with Ed Rose (Get Up Kids, Reggie and the Full Effect) to produce a third album, Open Up and Say Awesome. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
Carrier
The Dead Girls (formerly Dead Girls Ruin Everything)
Members
Bill McShane
Nick Colby
Eric Melin
J.D. Warnock
Ultimate Fakebook was a 3-piece power popband from Manhattan, KS. They released three full-length albums -- Electric Kissing Parties (1997 - Noisome Records), This Will Be Laughing Week (1999 - Noisome Records), and Open up and Say Awesome (2002 -Initial Records). Shortly after releasing their EP Before We Spark (2003 - Initial Records), they broke up.
Colby has been a part of indie supergroup Carrier, and both Colby and Melin are currently members of The Dead Girls (formerly known as Dead Girls Ruin Everything). Waldmann, who played drums with the group on and off until 1998 and performs on several songs for Electric Kissing Parties, now drums for a heavy metal/thrash band in Baltimore, MD. Bill McShane now works for Craig Murray Productions in Burbank, CA.[citation needed]
In 2007 Melin and Warnock both appeared on VH1'sWorld Series of Pop Culture on the team, "Westerberg High." They advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by "Three Men & A Little Lazy." Together, they now run a popular movie review and film pop culture website, scene-stealers.com.
On Thursday, Feb. 5, Ultimate Fakebook played a reunion show at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, a benefit for the JayDoc free clinic, where licensed volunteer physicians supervise University of Kansas School of Medicine students who provide care to the area’s under-served populations. The clinic operates on a volunteer basis,with supplies and medicines purchased through grants and donations.
