ABE Promo

The Auto Body Experience is a horn-driven rock band from St. Paul, Minnesota. They play off-kilter songs written by bandleader Scott Yoho. The lyrics are often humorous and cover unusual topics, whether they're exploring the tunnels under Disneyland or discovering that your childhood companions were all employed by your dad. Stylistically, the music ranges from cartoon jazz to ska, Latin to guitar-driven pop, and reggae to gospel - often all within the course of one song.

The band formed in 1989. Since then they've shared the stage with such swell artists as Adrian Belew, Brave Combo, Dread Zeppelin, Moxy Fruvous, and Something Fierce. They've been interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and their songs have been played on national radio shows like Dr. Demento, Car Talk, and The Splendid Table. They were once heard on CNBC, but no one is sure why. Michael Feldman's What D'Ya Know has featured Auto Body Experience CDs as booby prizes. Glowing reviews have appeared in such prestigious magazines as Keyboard and Vintage Guitar. The band has toured across three states, been featured on nearly every Twin Cities radio station, and performed at most local venues. Some places have even had them back a second time.

In '89 the band was a quartet. Now it's a septet. There are two prevailing theories about this growth. The first is that it's an attempt to have the number of current members remain higher than the number of members who have quit over the years, maintaining a positive turn-over ratio, thus de-emphasizing the fact that the bandleader is a tyrannical megalomaniac and impossible to work with. The second theory has to do with the continual expansion of the universe, and is just plain silly. Their initial plan of world-wide pop domination has been continually revised over the years. Today they aspire to earn enough at each gig to cover the cost of sending out their promotional postcards.