The Arm of Roger is a fake band created by

Jason Lytle Jason Lytle ( ; born March 26, 1969) is an American musician best known for his work in the indie rock group Grandaddy. The group split in 2005, and Lytle continued to release music as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians. Gra ...

and other members of American Rock band Grandaddy. The group released one album, 2002's ''

The Ham and Its Lily ''The Ham and Its Lily'' is the debut (and to date, only) album by Arm of Roger, an indie rock/comedy alias for the group '' Grandaddy''. ''The Ham and Its Lily'' has been described by Grandaddy as intentionally "horrible, a complete joke."''Chica ...

'' on Grandaddy's Sweat of the Alps record label.

History

Between 1993 and 1999, Grandaddy recorded a number of joke songs that they never intended to release to the public. As a prank, Lytle submitted the songs that would eventually comprise ''The Ham and Its Lily'' label V2 as if it were their completed second album. According to Grandaddy guitarist

Jim Fairchild Kirby James Fairchild is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the indie rock bands Grandaddy and Modest Mouse. Fairchild has released solo material under the pseudonym All Smiles. Biography Bo ...

, "...in November, 1999, asonmade cassettes of the fake album... oraround 7 of the key people at V2 worldwide. We

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

ed them so that they’d all arrive on a Thursday to offices in England, Benelux, France, US, and maybe Australia." After not hearing from anyone at the label for several days, the band's A&R representative at V2 called Fairchild the following Tuesday and told him: "I got the album…now will you send me the real one you fucking asshole?!" They then sent over ''The Sophtware Slump'', the real album.

Album release

Three years later, while creating ''

Sumday ''Sumday'' is the third studio album by American indie rock band Grandaddy, released on May 13, 2003 by record label V2. The album achieved commercial success in the UK, and was well received by music critics. Content Around about the time o ...

'', the band decided to make a "little label called Sweat of the Alps." One of the first releases on this label was ''The Ham and it's Lily'', a fake band and backstory was created to suit the album and it was sold at stalls during ''Sumday'' tours. The fake reality was that The Arm of Roger was an indie band from the 90's who had an album in plan to "change the world" called The Velvet Insides. In the story, a rival band called A Fight with Sticks burned down the composers home, taking the tapes with it. All but one of the tracks were destroyed, "Robot Escort" (The first track of the album). It was then said that the album was recorded in 1998 and released in 2002, including The Velvet Inside's version of "Robot Escort."

Shows

The Arm of Roger only ever played two shows, one in 2003 with

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

Built Like Alaska Built Like Alaska is an indie rock band from Oakdale, California, USA. Forming shortly after Jackson's return to Oakdale from Humboldt State University in 1996, the band began playing local dives, dumps and police bars as a three-piece outfit. S ...

, Earlimart and Pine Marten at the Derby in Los Feliz and two more in 2012 along with Granddaddy's reunion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arm of Roger American comedy musical groups