There’s no higher praise than plagiarism. And in our book there’s no greater joy than being praised by other people. Oh, how we love to be praised! Here’s us begging you: send your covers of W.A.S. tunes to RipOffs@wearescientists.com. Do you think This Scene Is Dead should be a country song? You’re wrong, but we’d love to see you try. Do you think Can’t Lose would play better as a gregorian chant? You’re so goddamn stupid we almost can’t believe it, but we’d love, LOVE for you to show us what you’re talking about. Come on; go record something. It’ll take you two hours max. That’s how long it takes us.
Lexy Webb - The Great Escape
Liverpudlian Lexy Webb has eschewed all the instruments and sung The Great Escape backward, and the effect is more creepy than any horror movie ever made, even if you cheat and count Hell, the place, as a horror movie. The truly brave can also listen to Lexy’s backward-sung version played in reverse. Name an heir before doing so.
Gabriel Guerra - Cash Cow
Gabriel is a self-proclaimed “brazilian guy”, “punk-funk lover”, and “icon of the brazilian underground”. He is 14 years old, and “homeless, but with a home”, so it’s not really clear whether we ought to worry about him. Presumably it’s no big deal to be homeless as long as you, like, have a home and all. Needless to say, Gabriel’s take on Cash Cow has that distinctive Brazilian sound that’s all the rage right now.
Abby & Sevil - Inaction
Just a couple of gals sitting around very, very late on a Friday night. Hand claps, piano, plenty of room sound — if this is spare, why does it sound so damn full?
Manchego - Lousy Reputation
His name is Eric Piccirelli and he’s got a side project called Manchego — what his main project is, we are not told. It is the Manchego part of Eric, though, that needed the vocals on Lousy gone, gone, gone, and needed the danceability knob cranked. This and more he has accomplished! Tread lightly as you enter the lair of Manchego at myspace.com/manchegorock; then, once Manchego has grown accustomed to your scent, you can consider relaxing a little and having a seat somewhere.
J. Michael St. Clair - The Great Escape
Says Mike: “I figured that I’d do it in the style of the music from all those cheesy low-grade science and math instrucional videos we had to watch in high school. Just imagine that you’re learning about the digestive system and they’re covering the disposal of the bodies wastes at the moment on the t.v. screen,” which actually works.
Jim Smith - Inaction
Jim and the boys give Inaction the surfy swing we never were able to (we are too uptight).
Sam Finley - Nobody Move
Sam runs Norristown, PA. A 15-year old student at the Renaissance Adademy, he likes to whip ass and drop possibly the hardest-hitting kick on the entire Ripoffs page. Please be aware of Sam’s band Samurai, whose shows boast “a giant beer bottle dancing around and some gnarly mexican guy with a fu manchu shooting pistolas”.
Joel Sprigg - Inaction
If we were Australian, clinging as the Australians do to Earth’s underbelly, is this what Inaction would sound like? Joel’s band Schickel chronicles the antipodean life in music here.
Florence Vallières - Bouge Pas and Variation
Armed with a classical guitar and what is as near as we can tell a working knowledge of French, Florence has gypsified Nobody Move. She says that “in French, Nobody Move led to so many puns and double-entendres, I had a good time translating it”; our high school command of the language means we take her word for it.
Daniel Hough - The Great Escape
A sky-scraping landmark simultaneously to human endurance and ingenuity, this recording should be learned by our nation’s school children and performed each morning before class. This would teach teamwork and courage. Step into Daniel’s world here.
Ethan Fogus - No One Ever Gets Hurt
Same Sr. Fogus - Run Away
Atlanta’s favorite son, the man whose cover of NMNGH inspired this Ripoffs page, Ethan Fogus, is back with his two most ambitious arrangements to date. Ethan continues to stare obsessively into the blackness here, returning to ground he has walked in the past — NMNGH & Inaction — for a fresh examination. Your journey ends at Ethanfogus.com.
Tom Sharples - This Means War
How can we get This Means War onto The OC? Play it like this!
Will Savino - The Great Escape
8th grader Will Savino writes, “It’s not very good really, but whatever.” And yet we danced. Myspace/charleswants is Will’s band Charles Wants To Kiss You Goodbye.
Panel - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
Fucking amazing. Listen now to these two brothers (from Rochester and NYC) getting our message across better than we could ever have dreamt possible.
Matt Rabbit - Inaction
The members of Matt Rabbit assert that Inaction ranks shoulder to shoulder with Boston’s More Than a Feeling, Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, and The Fugees’ Killing Me Softly. Fair enough. Here lead singer Alex Grippo gives us the old solo acoustic rendition, which he dubiously claims “only New Jersians can do.”
Amy Evans - The Great Escape
“This is me, 14 year old Amy Evans trying to sing great escape.” Not only does she take it to a sky-high register, but Amy sings fast.
Ian Christopher Carlson - The Great Escape
A 17 year-old from Webster Groves MO, Mr. Carlson has created a karaoke version of TGE for bassists and drummers. Myspace/ianbear has more from Ian-bear.
Meredith Weill - This Scene Is Dead
Ms. Weill takes a filthy, gutterly song and sings it softly. Gaze upon the source.
Lee Tallon - The Great Escape
Mr. Tallon puts it perfectly (with luck, none of his gang of intense satan worshippers are reading this): “Hi im the necromancer and i worked bloody long and hard in the frozen necromountains of norway to transcribe this bloody awful song… well, not really… i transcribed it in 3 minutes in front of mtv2 in my nice cosy house, but ssssh, dont tell my gang of intense satan worshippers that.” Myspace/deadclownsociety continues the journey.
Padraig Ohagan - This Scene Is Dead
On his Myspace site, Mr. Ohagan says “I’m changing colour with the tooth of A Vampire!” Whether that’s true we don’t know, but it does seem to bear out in his cover. Myspace/padraigohagan has more by this electronic menace.
Sean Duffy - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
Columbia Neuroscience student Sean Duffy raised $20,000 for Pediatric AIDS by crawling 33 miles on his hands and knees (which gave him the world record in that fucked up category). The other big thing he’s done with his life is to record this version of Nobody Move, which will superheat your brain and then douse it in cold water, thus sending a web of cracks across the only thinking apparatus you possess. Seanduffymusic.com for the brave.
Ethan Fogus - Inaction
Ethan continues to work his way through the album, shedding large slabs of sanity as he goes. ethanfogus.com
Ethan Fogus - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
The first track Ethan ever sent us. Our intention was to include it as a b-side on the U.K. release of the Nobody Move single, so astounded were we by the calibre of his madness. Though that plan had to be abandoned for technical reasons, this track remains a needle in the side of our well-being. ethanfogus.com
Ethan Fogus - The Great Escape
Ethan is a 16 year old from Atlanta who has more insanity in his pinky finger than Dali had in his entire mustache. Ethanfogus.com for more from E.F.