When we were a college band at Tufts in the 1990’s we were actually a part of a thriving on-campus music scene. There were bands playing school parties and festivals that served as major inspirations to us when we were just freshmen writing songs in our dorm room. I recall being rejected for a slot in the Tufts Battle of the Bands because we were up against bands like Milltex 1000, Thumper, Groove This, and Thank God For Frank, who were upperclassmen.
But by the time we were seniors, there were really two bands at Tufts that were had national profiles and planned to stick with it. Gus (we added the “ter” in 1995) and Papas Fritas. On the surface, two college pop bands from Tufts couldn’t have been more different. Papas Fritas were a trio, like us, but where our brand of pop leaned shiny and happy, theirs had a lo-fi attitude that reflected record collections we still hadn’t been exposed to. Papas Fritas was doing things we weren’t — using the studio as an actual artistic tool, embracing the sugary part of three-part harmony, and hiding their genius beneath electric guitar solos that sounded like they were plugged directly into the board. There weren’t a lot of people on campus who liked *both* Guster and Papas Fritas. You liked one or the other, and your identity went along with it. There was one guy who was above that fray however, always willing to talk music and show interest in what we were doing even though he was the lead singer of Papas Fritas. His name is Tony Goddess. In 2002, Tony co-wrote “Amsterdam” with us.
So when I came across this article in the Boston Herald the other day as a part of “Boston 101″… a pretty random countdown that digs deeper into Boston bands than the obvious Aerosmiths and Cars’… it was no wonder that the writing was pitch perfect — the tone seems to carry the gravitas of someone who’s witnessed our band from the beginning, and the knowledge of a walking musical encyclopedia. Thanks Tony! It’s an honor that you penned this. Ramona’s groove was just a half-baked attempt to ripoff Papas Fritas’ “TV Movies” — always was and always will be!
Some Tufts era Papas Fritas:
Guster Road Journal 
I loved you both back then and both still today! Whether hanging out at Electric Avenue or the basement of Wilson House, I could never hear enough.
Andy Samberg on bass, eh?! He’s aged fairly well.
Doing my once-every-six-months-to-three-years-depending-on-when-I-remember-it check on the Guster road journal, and I just came across this.
In 2011 at a local music store in Virginia I got a used copy of a Papas Fritas CD in a $5 6-disc grab bag – what a gem! Further digging revealed the connection, and I have always felt a little bit special for having that experience.