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The Specs
 
 
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The Specs was a New Wave
New Wave music

New Wave is a genre of rock music which originated from the late 1970s. It emerged from punk rock as a reaction against the popular music of the 1970s....
 cover band
Cover band

A cover band is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover version. Other common terms are wedding band, party band and function band....
 from Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska

The City of Lincoln is the Capital and the Nebraska#Important cities and towns of the United States U.S. state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County, Nebraska and the home of the University of Nebraska....
, Nebraska
Nebraska

Nebraska is a U.S. state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States.Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Chiwere language words ?? Br?sge or the Omaha-Ponca language N? Bth?ska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state....
, featuring a teenage Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet

Sidney Matthew Sweet is an United States alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Music of Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s....
, that played together from 1978–1980.

t grew up in Lincoln in a musical family, and as a child he learned to play multiple instruments; by his early teens he was already a very proficient bass
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
 player, having practiced the complicated bass lines of Yes
Yes (band)

Yes are an England progressive rock band that formed in London in 1968 in music. Their music is marked by sharp dynamic contrasts, extended song lengths, abstract lyrics, and a general showcasing of instrumental prowess....
 records for hours every day. When he was in the eighth or ninth grade, he met some of the Specs' other band members, who were all college students, at a music store.






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Encyclopedia


The Specs was a New Wave
New Wave music

New Wave is a genre of rock music which originated from the late 1970s. It emerged from punk rock as a reaction against the popular music of the 1970s....
 cover band
Cover band

A cover band is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover version. Other common terms are wedding band, party band and function band....
 from Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska

The City of Lincoln is the Capital and the Nebraska#Important cities and towns of the United States U.S. state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County, Nebraska and the home of the University of Nebraska....
, Nebraska
Nebraska

Nebraska is a U.S. state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States.Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Chiwere language words ?? Br?sge or the Omaha-Ponca language N? Bth?ska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state....
, featuring a teenage Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet

Sidney Matthew Sweet is an United States alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Music of Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s....
, that played together from 1978–1980.

History

Sweet grew up in Lincoln in a musical family, and as a child he learned to play multiple instruments; by his early teens he was already a very proficient bass
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
 player, having practiced the complicated bass lines of Yes
Yes (band)

Yes are an England progressive rock band that formed in London in 1968 in music. Their music is marked by sharp dynamic contrasts, extended song lengths, abstract lyrics, and a general showcasing of instrumental prowess....
 records for hours every day. When he was in the eighth or ninth grade, he met some of the Specs' other band members, who were all college students, at a music store. The band had previously been called Spectrum and had been covering
Cover version

In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song.In its current use, it can sometimes have a pejorative meaning — implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all...
 Top 40 songs. As the Specs, they started performing more New Wave and 1960s music, by bands such as the Jam
The Jam

The Jam were an English Rock music band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore neatly tailored suits rather than ripped clothes and incorporated a number of mainstream 1960s rock influences rather than rejecting them, placing...
, the Vibrators
The Vibrators

The Vibrators are a long-lived British punk rock band that formed in 1976 in music....
, the Yardbirds
The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds are an England Rock music band, noted for starting the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page....
 and the Who
The Who

The Who are an England Rock music band formed in 1964. The primary lineup was guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon....
.

Although they were a cover band, in 1980 they did release one original song, written by Sweet, called "Look Out Girl (You Need a Direction)," on the compilation The KFMQ Homegrown Album.

Members

  • Rick Morris – guitar
    Guitar

    The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
  • Sara Kovanda – vocals
    Singing

    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the human voice, which is often contrasted with regular speech. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist....
    , keyboards
    Keyboard instrument

    A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
  • Matthew Sweet
    Matthew Sweet

    Sidney Matthew Sweet is an United States alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Music of Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s....
     – bass guitar
    Bass guitar

    The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
  • Don Holmquist – drums
    Drum kit

    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
  • Jeff Runnings – keyboards (final line-up)
  • John Link – bass guitar
  • Dave Snider


After the Specs

The Specs broke up in 1980. Rick Morris and Sara Kovanda went on to join the band Dick Tracy, which would later become the Click, and which became a popular, influential New Wave band in the Lincoln music scene. Kovanda now works as a painter in Lincoln. Jeff Runnings became a member of Hymn to Joy; since 1984 he has been in For Against
For Against

OverviewFor Against are a United States post-punk/proto-shoegaze Rock music Musical ensemble from Lincoln, Nebraska. Despite numerous lineup shuffles and some periods of dormancy, the band has produced material steadily from its 1984 inception to the present....
. Matthew Sweet joined the Dial Tones, as well as doing Hymn to Joy's early recordings. In 1983, Sweet left Lincoln to be part of the Athens, Georgia music scene
Music of Athens, Georgia

The music of Athens, Georgia includes a wide variety of popular music, and was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and New Wave music....
 and became a member of Oh-OK
Oh-OK

Oh-OK was an American musical group, based around Linda Hopper and Lynda Stipe. Other members included drummers David McNair , David Pierce and guitarist Matthew Sweet....
, Community Trolls
Community Trolls

In 1983, in the blossoming Music of Athens, Georgia, future rock stars Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and Matthew Sweet crossed paths and collaborated on a short-lived project known as Community Trolls....
 and the Buzz of Delight, before going on to have a successful solo career. Don Holmquist currently plays in the Lincoln-based Blues Orchestra.

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