When it rains and shines

Game Theory's 1988 Two Steps tour gave them the highest profile they'd had, headlining national venues with the album riding atop the college charts. But as things got brighter, there was VH1 "Behind The Music" narrator lurking in the shadows waiting for things to go wrong.

The band actually made a video of the tour, which shows the band especially breaking up as they kept getting better onstage. The personal relationship between Scott Miller and Donnette Thayer was breaking up as Game Theory went on tour, which caused a lot of "tension" within the band, and to cut the BTM episode down to thirty minutes, by the end of the tour the band had essentially dissolved.

Game Theory soldiered on for awhile as a four piece after Donnette left (I remember one show at the Berkeley Square where they headlined for Poi Dog Pondering), but gradually faded away, only to be resuscitated a few months later with a new lineup. Actually a rearranged lineup, with longtime drummer Gil Ray on second guitar, and a new rhythm section of Michael Quercio (formerly of the Three O'Clock, who'd just experienced their own band drama) on bass and Joe Becker on drums (then late of Thin White Rope, True West, and Scott's original ALRN).

BAM magazine called this lineup a "paisley supergroup", and I've always liked to call it Game Theory's MRBQ (Miller, Ray, Becker, Quercio) lineup. They were only together for six months or so, but played a few local Bay Area shows and one Northwest tour in 1989/90.

Here's GT's MRBQ lineup covering a famous Beatles' B-side in Vancouver.



This song appears to have Joe on bass, Michael on drums, and Gil on maraccas. Their setlists also included old Game Theory songs, a couple of Three O'Clock songs, more covers (Brian Eno, Roxy Music), and a batch of new Scott Miller songs that were to remain unreleased through George HW Bush's entire term. This lineup fell apart, but Scott Miller and Joe Becker carried on with a new lineup and eventually a new band name.