They are favorites of Dr. Demento. After being frequent guests on the Bob and Tom show, they were invited to do a regular feature: a topical song of the week.
While they mainly perform live as a duo, they had the help of many guest musicians on their album Opening Band, including Mike Clem and Eddie Hartness of Eddie from Ohio and Valerie Vagoda, Brendon Milburn, and Gene Lewin from Groovelily. Groovelily performed as Paul and Storm's back-up band at the 2005 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
Before releasing an official debut album Paul and Storm released a demo EP of songs that would eventually be re-recorded for their debut album: Opening Band, as well as other songs that have yet to be re-recorded. The EP was titled "Shame and Cookie Dough".
In 2005 the duo released their debut album: Opening Band. The title of the album stems from the lead track off the album, an idea thought up by Storm after their experience as being the 'opening act'. While they mainly perform live as a duo, they had the help of many guest musicians on the album, including Mike Clem and Eddie Hartness of Eddie from Ohio and Valerie Vigoda, Brendon Milburn, and Gene Lewin from Groovelily. Groovelily performed as Paul and Storm's back-up band at the 2005 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. The album features a number of "Rejected Commercial Jingles" as well as a commentary track for two of the album's songs.
Their second album "News to Us" was recorded week by week for the Bob and Tom radio show as a featured weekly news segment. Many of the tracks on the album feature the radio hosts introducing each song, also there is the audible trademark Bob and Tom laughter on the tracks dubbed as the 'On-Air' versions, at the end of the album the duo placed the 'Studio version' of most of the tracks as well so that listeners could have a more traditional album experience. The song "Your Love Is" on the album was co-written by Jonathan Coulton.
In 2007 their 3rd full length studio album "Gumbo Pants" was released. This album features their fan favorite, and often live concert closing track: The Captain's Wife's Lament as well as other fan favorites such as Count to Ten and A Better Version of You. It also featured a number of very short tracks that were titled "One Sentence Songs", also there are more Rejected Commercial Jingles.
In 2010 after a three year lapse between albums, the duo released their fourth studio album "Do You Like Star Wars?". The album is a collection of songs that the duo had released one by one in the years following Gumbo Pants. It includes concert favorites such as "Nun Fight", "Cruel, Cruel Moon", and "Frogger! The Frogger Musical!". A number of the songs released on this album were written for Quick Stop Entertainment's Masters of Song Fu contest.
The duo has a weekly audio talk show podcast titled "Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average)". On the podcast the two will often talk about food, live shows, and upcoming projects.
In 2009, in conjunction with friends Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage, Paul and Storm organized a series of music and comedy shows called w00tstock, which began in late October of that year. The events take place around the United States and are billed as "3 hours(ish) of Geeks and Music".
In the summer of 2010 the duo created two separate internet memes via Twitter. Regarding the fact that both of them had come up with them Paul commented that they were considering changing the name of their act to "The Meme Brothers".
In late July, Storm started the popular internet meme of WookieeLeaks by using the hashtag #wookieeleaks on Twitter. The meme is a play on the then recent WikiLeaks publishing of secret government files. Within these tweets a person will mention a secret leaked from the Star Wars universe. Following the success of the hashtag Storm was interviewed by Wired and NPR.
Less than a week after the success of WookieeLeaks, Paul created the #kanyenewyorkertweets hashtag via Twitter. Within the tweets where this hashtag is used a person will link to a cartoon from The New Yorker with a tweet from Kanye West added as text below the image. Following its success the meme was picked up by The Onion, Paste Magazine, the Huffington Post, and The New Yorker itself.
In October 2010 they had acted as the musical guests on the online MMO, AQWorlds, in an event that celebrated the 2nd birthday of the game.
Paul and Storm are both ordained ministers of the Universal Life Church.
Epithets
Paul and Storm Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The hammer missed the nail, and hit his finger instead
The swelling started growin’
And the blood began a-flowin’
While Algernon let go with some
Epithets!
Bobby was the pitcher on his Little League team
He’d guzzle down the booze
And then when Bobby’s team was losin’
Daddy started to abuse ’em with
Epithets!
An epithet’s a word or phrase that people can use
When ordinary words and phrases simply won’t do
To express frustration, pain, impatience, anger or scorn
To the ****heads and the ***holes in your way
The Mayor loved the women and he loved cocaine
He got himself a hooker to keep him entertained
But after he discovered
She was working undercover
Then Hizzoner started utterin’
Epithets!
Epithets
Show emotion
Impatience
Frustration
Pain and anger
Amen
In the song Epithets by Paul and Storm, the lyrics describe various scenarios where individuals are driven to use expletives or derogatory terms to express anger, frustration, pain or impatience. The first verse depicts Algernon, a person who, while attempting to hang a picture, inadvertently hit his finger with a hammer causing swelling and bleeding, resulting in Algernon letting out a string of epithets. The second verse tells the story of Bobby, a Little League pitcher whose father would belittle him with derogatory and hurtful terms whenever Bobby's team lost. The third verse is about the Mayor who was caught with a prostitute and proceeded to insult her when he found out she was working as an undercover agent.
The chorus of the song emphasizes that an epithet is a word or phrase utilized when ordinary words or phrases fall short to express strong emotions like anger and frustration. The use of expletives could be considered vulgar, but in certain situations, people are driven to use them to convey their intense feelings.
The song touches on the topic of how people use language to express themselves and how certain words or phrases can be used to express strong emotions. The lyrics of Epithets are reflective of the human tendency to use derogatory or hurtful language to express strong emotions like frustration, anger and pain.
Line by Line Meaning
Algernon was hanging pictures over his bed
Algernon was fixing his bedroom walls with new pictures to freshen up his living space
The hammer missed the nail, and hit his finger instead
Unfortunately, Algernon accidentally hit his finger with the hammer while trying to hammer a nail
The swelling started growin’
Algernon's finger immediately began to fill up with fluids, swelling rapidly
And the blood began a-flowin’
In addition to the swelling, Algernon's finger started pouring blood from the wound
While Algernon let go with some Epithets!
Algernon couldn't help but swear a few choice words out of frustration and pain caused by hammering his finger instead of nail
Bobby was the pitcher on his Little League team
Bobby played a crucial role for his team as a pitcher in the Little League tournament
His father would project on him his own broken dreams
Bobby's father transferred his own failed aspirations onto his son, burdening the young boy with his own baggage
He’d guzzle down the booze
Bobby's father would turn to alcohol whenever Bobby's team wasn't performing well, maybe as a coping mechanism
And then when Bobby’s team was losin’
If Bobby's team was dropping the ball, his father would become even more aggressive towards the boy
Daddy started to abuse ’em with Epithets!
When Bobby's team wasn't performing to expectations, the boy's father would verbally lash out at the children, offering up insults and words usually reserved for anger and threats
An epithet’s a word or phrase that people can use
The term 'epithet' is a way to describe a phrase that people sometimes use when their emotions take over
When ordinary words and phrases simply won’t do
Sometimes, ordinary phrases are just inadequate to express what people are feeling in some situations
To express frustration, pain, impatience, anger or scorn
Epithets are usually invoked when people feel any or all of these emotions at once
To the ****heads and the ***holes in your way
People use epithets to attack the unreasonable and annoying people that come in their way of peace
The Mayor loved the women and he loved cocaine
The Mayor was known to like two things very much: women and cocaine
He got himself a hooker to keep him entertained
To satisfy his needs, the Mayor went to hire a lady of the night
But after he discovered she was working undercover
Unfortunately, the Mayor found out that the prostitute was actually a police officer working undercover
Then Hizzoner started utterin’ Epithets!
Immediate frustration drove the Mayor to name-calling through his use of epithets
Epithets
Epithets are a way of expressing strong, frustrated emotions when words and temper fail.
Show emotion
Epithets demonstrate an individual's inner emotional landscape
Impatience
Epithets are often invoked when people get impatient about someone or something
Frustration
Epithets help people express deep frustration on an obscure situation
Pain and anger
Epithets are usually emanated when people are feeling immense pain and anger inside
Amen
Epithets are a cathartic way of releasing strong feelings in difficult situations.
Contributed by Maya R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.