TCB

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Crunchy Frogs

In late 1985, in the dorms of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, a band that would define Austin power-pop for at least a decade was taking shape as a jibe at the pervasive Greek culture on campus. Undergrads Hunter Darby and Michael Comiskey, both looking for something more than a steady diet of Cars covers, booked themselves into an anti-nukes benefit called "Frog Follies" as the MadonnaWannabes, later shortened to just the Wannabes. "The main thing was to get back at this frat band called the Skam," says Comiskey, who now lives in Seattle but will rejoin the Wannabes Friday night at the Hole in the Wall for a double bill with also-reuniting Nineties alt-needlers Sincola. The Wannabes debuted with a hastily assembled set that included Tom Petty's "I Need to Know," a rewrite of Madonna's "Material Girl," and the cryptic tale of a giant beetle, "The Scarab." The early version of the band went through numerous personnel changes – including future Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, who was set to join before moving to San Marcos – and all sorts of alcohol-fueled debauchery before moving to Austin in 1987. Darby and Comiskey were both fans of local groups Doctor's Mob, Zeitgeist, and the True Believers, and it was the latter that got a rude awakening on his first night in town. "I went to a party at [Wild Seeds frontman and future Texas Monthly staffer] Mike Hall's house," says Darby, "and he told me, 'The scene's already dead.'" People have been saying that ever since.