Deep Blue Something
When I say “Deep Blue Something” I’m pretty sure that the first thing that comes to mind is their song, Breakfast At Tiffanys… which, to be honest, made them a bit of a one-hit-wonder in the UK… but where are they now?
The Early Years
Deep Blue Something were founded in 1993 in Denton, Texas by students Todd and Toby Pipes, Clay Bergus and John Kirtland, however, Bergus left the band before Tiffany's became a hit and was replaced by guitarist Kirk Tatom.
Interestingly, the band were originally called Leper Messiah, however, they had to change this after it attracted fans of heavy metal music, due to the Metallica song of the same name.
When they had finally settled on Deep Blue Something, they released their first record, 11th Song in 1993, but it wasn’t until their second album, Home in 1994 and the accompanying single Breakfast at Tiffany's, was released, that they reaped worldwide success.
The song reached the top five in the United States and number one in the United Kingdom, mainly due to the connection to Audrey Hepburn's performance in Roman Holiday, despite the fact that the title of another Audrey film was chosen as the title… because it sounded better.
It seems this success meant the band needed a break though, and they took much time off between Home and their 2001 album Deep Blue Something, in order to fight US centred copyright issues related to their initial album, 11th Song.
It is due to this 7-year hiatus between albums that their failure to succeed in the US with their self-titled release, "Deep Blue Something" is based on, despite producing four singles, She Is, Hell in Itself, Military Man, and Parkbench.
Where are they now?
Although they made a brief attempt at a comeback in 2007, band members Todd and Toby Pipes have become successful producers in their own right; doing production for the likes of Drowning Pool, Flickerstick, Demp, Calhoun, the Greater Good, Coma Rally, Moonshot Radio, and porter Block.
Not only that, but they bagged themselves Best Producer gongs from the Fort Worth Weekly a whopping three years in a row and Todd even has a job as a high school English teacher for a small private school in the Dallas area, on top of the solo album he released on Authentic Records, titled Taurus Petals, on November 25, 2008.
John Kirtland now runs a successful independent record label called Kirtland Records which is based in Dallas, Texas and Los Angeles, California.
The success of his businesses have led to him acquiring ownership of the back-catalogue of Bush and royalty rights on the sales of certain albums by No Doubt, yet after selling off his rights to the No Doubt material, Bush remains on the Kirtland label along with indie bands such as Bril and the Burden Brothers.
Whilst elsewhere, Clay Bergus has been the General Manager of Perry's, which is an upscale restaurant in Dallas, TX, since it opened in 2002. Well, you can’t win ‘em all now can you Clay…
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison