by Blair Lovern

Real people with real jobs and real stuff to do in the daytime scratch a musical itch at night.

DALLAS — Who is Independent George? That's the band you know, the band you grew up with: The Ramones George, Billy Idol George, Rolling Stones George, Bawdy George, Biker Bar George.

Man, I love that George.

But if Relationship George walks through that door, he will kill Independent George. A George divided against itself cannot play live music in the garage!

Ah, never mind. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then get a lot of snacks or a pizza, wait for this Seinfeld episode to come out on DVD, or hold out until it cycles back in syndication and then continue reading.

Texas Rangers play-by-play man Josh Lewin is one of five members of the non-Seinfeld Independent George – a band based in Southlake, composed of real people with real jobs and real stuff to do all day long. But at night, that’s when the band Independent George has fun like the good old days.

"We call it essentially a 50-prong midlife crisis that’s intersected at just the right point," Lewin says of the band. "We’re just five Southlake dads searching for their inner Steve Perrys."

About a year ago, Independent George began when lawyers Scott Dyche (guitar) and Steve Roberts (bass) decided to start a band. They found Marty Hanan (drums) and during their first gig at a private party some guy jumped on stage and sang with them. Bob Zimmerman, who once made a living as a professional musician, was that guy and was so impressive he was asked to take lead vocals. Lewin was a friend of Hanan’s and then joined as keyboard player and occasional singer.

Lewin played a little piano in bars to help pay bills while in college. Once his broadcasting career became serious, though, those musical pursuits stopped.

"Collectively, we found that we were missing music being in our lives," Lewin says. "I can’t even claim I'm the busiest out of all of us. We're all pretty busy with our day jobs, and we just find this a real good way to blow off steam. But we all really try to make it worth our while. We want the band to sound pretty good. From the word go we wanted to make sure it wasn’t some random garage band. We practice a couple times a week, we mold, we sweat, we work hard.

"But even so – basically, we can’t hide it: We’re balding suburbanites. It's not like we can quit our jobs and chase our dreams. But we have fun."

Independent George plays a lot of 80s rock, although they’re throwing some of the newer material in their set, which can be as long as 70-80 songs.

"Some guys favor wimp rock: Journey and that type of stuff. My guilty pleasure song is 'Goody Two Shoes' by Adam Ant. I played a lot of Billy Joel and Elton John in college, so I go back to that. We also play Cheap Trick, The Rolling Stones, U2, Nickelback. I’ve come to really like Green Day a lot."

So what kind of fan shows up at an Independent George show?

"We’ve kind of discovered our niche market and found out that we're very Southlake soccer mommy," Lewin says. “We’ve got a lot of 30- and 40-something women who like us and who I think just miss jumping around to live music. But then we've also found out that we also appeal to the biker crowd. It’s kind of a weird mix."

Even though he could promote an Independent George show as a Rangers broadcaster, Lewin says it's not that easy to get on the bill somewhere.

"At first we thought for a while that this was really unique, that we're just ordinary guys who also play in a cover band that sounds pretty good. But you’ve got cover bands all over, from bands like Petty Theft on down, who are really very good. You can't just pick up the phone and say we’re halfway decent and get into the clubs we want. Now, if it's after a (Dallas) Stars game or post game with the Rangers, that kind of stuff I can muscle. But to pick up the phone and call a biker bar and say you want to play is not that simple, and that has kind of been a little humbling. But honestly, when we are out there playing we’ve been thrilled people have taken to us as they have. I didn’t think much would happen, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised that it’s gone so well so far."

Independent George plays two or three times a month year-round, so during baseball season Lewin misses some gigs. But if they’re booked during a Rangers homestand, he’ll throw on some jeans after the game and hustle over to the club in time for the second half of the set. It makes for a long day, but Lewin says it's fun.

"I've noticed that the midlife crisis is almost a cottage industry in this town. When you get to be 35 or 40 or north of that, like we all are, you realize that life’s too short. And if you’re going to have a hobby you might as well do it right. The band has been fun. Nobody’s thrown anything at us yet, we’ve been very well received, there have been minimal technical issues or problems that come up during a show. At this point it is almost embarrassing it's gone as well as it has."