Mattress Police reunite for fundraiser

It’s been nearly 28 years since Tim Crowe, Donnie Nichols, Dan Gilligan and Jeff Goldstein played music together as The Mattress Police. But when they get together on Saturday night, April 28, Nichols says he doesn’t expect any problems. Maybe.

“I play all the time and I know Dan and Tim play,” Nichols says. Goldstein’s drums are buried in the closet somewhere.

“It’s going to be interesting, but we played those 30 songs a zillion times, so it should all come back to us. The hardest part was figuring out what we used to play and what we will play. That took about a week. I was like, ‘Did we really play Van Halen’s “Let’s Talk About Love”?

“Jeff says, ‘Yeah and it was the greatest four minutes of your life.’”

The band will play at The Honest Pint on Patten Parkway as part of a fundraiser for Notre Dame High School’s annual fund. Back in the ’80s, the space was co-owned by Jack Berry and was called 2 Jacks. Berry, like Crowe, Nichols and Gilligan, is a NDHS alum. Goldstein is a Baylor School graduate.

“These guys played there a lot and it was always packed,” Berry says.

Lenox Hills, which features recent Notre Dame grads Luke and Packy Mullin, along with Cleveland High alums Kyle Swenson and Kameron Dunn, was added to the bill just last week.

The Mattress Police played together from 1986 to 1990, Nichols says, mostly playing local clubs and parties, though they did do some traveling. After the band broke up, Nichols, Gilligan and Goldstein moved to Nashville and formed a new group called One Mississippi.

Goldstein later founded Sticky Fingers and Nichols became an operating partner and still owns a restaurant in the Jacksonville, Fla., area. He has an office above the store and keeps a drum kit and sound system there.

“We have a Monday night thing here every week and sometimes have 10 guys in here jamming.”

He said it started mostly for fun, but a group of them actually recorded some songs at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

“When it was suggested, I thought that was hilarious to even think about,” Nichols says. “Might as well have suggested Abbey Road [where the Beatles did some of their recording work].”