Years ago during one of the many waves of Britpop Mania, I got this promotional book from some major label that was touting their hopeful Oasis Jr., "These Animal Men". The whole full-color, oversized deluxe booklet revolved around documenting what must have been a $100,000 press trip to New York to hype the band, who were dutifully trotted around town in their moptops and Adidas wear to pose Christlike on rooftops, pout at tourist traps, sneer at the baggage carousel at JFK Airport, reflect on their place in Rock & Roll via giant quotes, and of course do the prerequisite photo op brunch with Quentin Crisp who probably had no idea who they were (and likewise). If you are for some reason wistful for that era and that kind of behavior and Oasis' Wibbling Rivalry is your favorite CD in their catalog I invite you to enter the world of Baz and Reg Lumley, the brothers known to the world at large as the Special Moments.
I first saw these scrappy lads at the Cooler circa 1997, playing to screaming Suede fans with their masterful ditties that fell somewhere between Lonnie Donegan and Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Their debut vinyl EP in fact documented them live filling in for "Ned's" at a Glastonbury Festival to a less-than-adoring mob (Reg yelling "Ned's sucks a hairy c**k" to the crowd probably didn't help); they seemed poised to ascend to stardom in America though, but then they'd disappear as quickly as they took this town. No one knew anything about them. Some spiteful, jealous people insinuated that the band was a hoax, made up of Brooklyn rock guys that looked, okay, somewhat like two of the dudes in the Satin-Jacket-Hooters-circuit rock act the Low Down Dirty D.A.W.G.S., but there's no way that could have been, especially because their manager, Mick Keith, told me so. Thanks to him, I was able to lure the brothers to perform on WFMU's Stork Club, where they regaled all with their songs of whimsy, a somewhat racist play, and assurance that they were here to stay (in fact check out "the Brothers Is Back" (mp3 below) from a WFMU live compilation CD, where several DJs get name-checked, perhaps, uh, not so flatteringly to them).
