Gleaming Amoebas
Words: Aubrey Bramble
Photos: Aubrey Bramble

Alright, class. Pop quiz. Remove everything from your desk. Take out a piece of paper and something to write with. No talking... Ready? OK.

Gleaming Amoebas: Are they a hippie jam band? A silly electro act? An experimental noise group? None of the above? Discuss.

If you're anything like me, you may not have even known that this little gem of a band existed until now. Tucked away in the sleepy avenues of downtown St. Petersburg, Gleaming Amoebas are a bunch of levelheaded guys who simply love to play music. And that music just so happens to be pretty fantastic.

Comprised of lead guitarist/songwriter Jonathan Douglas, drummer Erik Doren, and bassist Dustin Pogan, the band has been together nearly five years. They've done their time at The Brass Mug, The Orpheum, and The Emerald and have recently been looking to branch out to larger venues like The State Theatre and Jannus Landing.

If these guys were looking for a place to rest their trays in the cafeteria at Music High, they'd probably take a seat at the Early 90s Indie Rock table alongside such seminal acts as Dinosaur Jr., Belly, and The Flaming Lips.  This fact is not exactly obvious from looking at their name. In that way, Gleaming Amoebas is a little bit like a brightly wrapped Christmas present in a nondescript box; only after you tear all the wrapping off and open it up do you discover the wonder inside.

REAX:  How do you come up with the ideas for your songs?
Jonathan Douglas:  Everyday life, I guess. Simplicity... it's real free form.
Dustin Pogan:  We jam on a lot of things.
JD:  It seems like we thrive on spontaneity, and then you can kind of structure something out of that.
DP:  I always see him writing down stuff on a piece of paper.

REAX:  What have some of your shows been like over the years, and where would you like to play that maybe you haven't?
JD:  Our first gig was The Brass Mug. It's a rite of passage. It was November of 2002.
DP:  We like to play The Emerald. That's a nice little place down the street from where we live.
JD:  We really want to play The State Theatre. It's like "The Mecca."
Erik Doren:  Anywhere we can get exposure.

REAX:  When can we expect some recorded material from you guys?
JD:  We have plans to record this month. We've had other recordings, but this first one we want to solidify - get it out, just get the songs done.
DP:  We're very secluded almost. It's like, we go out, we play shows, we tell all our friends... this recording is kind of going to be "our album," and we're going to promote it the best we can.

REAX:  How often are you guys able to fit in a practice?
JD:  Once a week.
ED:  Sometimes several times a week. Pretty much as often as we can, which can be hard with our schedules. I have three day jobs.

REAX:  Ok, here's the important question: Do you guys prefer Tampa or St. Pete?
JD:  We prefer St. Pete. They're nicer here. People have more of an attention span. Tampa's riddled with the bar scene.
ED:  We started in Tampa, but over there we get booked with a lot of hardcore stuff, which obviously we are not. That crowd will come in and kind of look at us like, "huh?" We need something more conducive to our music.

REAX:  Future plans?
JD:  What we want to do is make a living out of this.
DP:  Getting out, playing our music. It's just the greatest thing. Go on tour. Money's not the important thing. If you can go out there and do it and make it back, that's what counts.

REAX:  Final words?
JD:  We're going to be updating our MySpace page with new songs and we're working on a real website. So be sure to check that out.
ED:  Come out and see us!

Gleaming Amoebas will be playing around Tampa Bay all summer, and can be found on the World Wide Web at myspace.com/gleamingamoebas .