DIVER is:
Antony Mussell - vocals
Tony Calderisi - guitar, vocals
Avi Kopernik - bass, vocals
Chris Costello - drums, no vocals

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Diver grew out of the Tuesday night Vaughan's Open Jam house band. Tony and Anto had been hosting that gig for about five years, and there had been a couple of false starts. The idea had been tossed around a few more times since I started hitting Vaughan's in late 2001, but finally gained traction in the fall of 2003 when guitarist Tony Calderisi decided it was a go. Avi, who has played bass with Tony extensively in the past, joined us, and the whole thing got started.

The first gig was billed as Curtains, which I wasn't particularly crazy about. Then there was the space of about two days where we were The Sheffield Exiles, but Anto didn't like that name at all. I still think it's because he's from Liverpool and didn't want anyone to think he's from Sheffield, even though I was trying to refer to Sheffield Avenue. One Tuesday, between songs, we quickly debated some of the possible double entendres behind Curtains, and we came up with Diver. I'll let you fill in the blanks.

With the kinds of stuff we would play from the Vaughan's stage, the basic idea is that we're a Britpop cover band. Primarily, anyway, with some excursions into power pop of various stripes and nationalities. What's cool about it is that nobody else seems to be doing what we're doing. You've got U2 tribute bands, and Beatles tribute bands, but noone hitting all the spots in between. There's a definite niche we can fill, and we intend to do just that.

You can see the mostly up-to-date songlist, along with the full gig schedule and other goodies, on the "official" Diver website.