Discover The Origin Of 'Billy's Live Bait' By Gear Daddies

Ever heard the Zamboni song? A follow-up question for you, who performs that song? If you knew the answer was the Minnesota band the Gear Daddies, great job! The band, which is fronted by Matin Zellar, had intermediate success, but one of their albums always had me wondering about its name, and now we know the story behind that album.

The album I'm referencing is Billy's Live Bait.

This is the machine that inspired the album title, Billy's Live Bait. I always hesitate to explain the stories behind either Gear Daddies album title as they are usually less interesting than one has imagined. But here it goes:

We were playing our way east for our first-ever East Coast tour and discussing what we would do about parking our van in NYC with all of our gear inside. We stopped for gas, and after seeing this machine, I jokingly suggested that we paint Billy's Live Bait on the side of our van, my logic being no one would break into a vehicle carrying live bait. The bottom line is that we didn't do it, and our van didn't get broken into because our A&R guy knew of a 24-hour parking garage owned and operated by the New York chapter of the Hell's Angels.

The album Billy's Live Bait came out in 1990 and one of its hidden tracks was The Zamboni song, according to the band's Wikipedia page the song:

Became one of their best-known songs as it often was played during intermissions at hockey games throughout North America. It later was featured in the movies D2: The Mighty Ducks and Mystery, Alaska as well as on the television program Malcolm in the Middle.

If you aren't familiar with the band, they hail from SPAM-town USA, Austin Minnesota, and had some regional success.

They released singles and albums between 1986 and 1992 and became an important part of the Twin Cities music scene.