History of the Band

Seth Timbs had been writing his own songs on both guitar and piano for years. He had already accumulated a rather large back catalog when he was faced with the sudden break-up of his band, Ella Minopy. Not to be put down, he joined with Ella’s bassist, Ben Morton, as well as Elijah Shaw and local music legend Sam Baker (of the band Speake, among others) on drums to form a new band. His long-time collaborator, Brian “Tha B” Rogers briefly joined Self, the new band with Ella’s drummer Matt Mahaffey, but it turned out he fit better playing guitar with Seth. The new band called itself Fl. Oz. (going by “Fluid Ounces” would come later when people didn’t get the band name in its abbreviated form) and began playing and recording in 1996 in Murfreesboro and Nashville, TN on the newly formed Spongebath Records.

Their sound was catchy piano pop, influenced by the likes of Elton Jon and Randy Newman, and with their combined love of jazz, they created a very energetic sound with (mostly) upbeat tempos and complicated chord progressions. With this line-up, they recorded their first two releases, Big Notebook for Easy Piano and The Vegetable Kingdom EP. Their following in and around Nashville grew, and the band began touring around the country, especially after scoring a minor radio hit with “Vegetable Kingdom.” In 1999, just before the release of the band’s second record, In the New Old-Fashioned Way, drummer Sam Baker left the band and was replaced by Justin Meyer. This line-up began working on the third record.

Brian and Ben then left in 1999 around the time the band parted ways with Spongebath Records. They were succeeded by Doug Payne (on guitar) and Jason Dietz (on bass). Justin moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2000, and Elliott Currie took his place on the drum throne. This line-up continued working on the third release, called Foreign Legion, which was completed sometime around January of 2001.

Trev Wooten took over the bass duties in March of 2001, and Sam Baker re-joined the following May as the band prepared to promote the release of the new record. The band was then signed to Cutti Records in Japan and began scoring success overseas. Seth Timbs made several trips to Japan in order to promote the music, and he took the whole band with him in February of 2002.

After that, the band essentially broke up as Seth moved to Los Angeles and the other members went on to other projects. Seth recorded the fourth album, The Whole Shebang, with Spike and Mallets drummer Kyle Walsh in hopes of releasing it in Japan. Instead, the album was released nationwide by Murfreesboro-based Vacant Cage Records as Seth returned to Middle Tennessee. Upon his return, Seth re-formed Fluid Ounces with Brian Rogers back on guitar, Brian G. Pitts on bass, and Kyle Walsh on drums.

Fluid Ounces continue to perform locally and doing some promotion for the limited release of their fifth full-length record, Instant Nostalgia.