John Croslin

Before he formed The Reivers, Croslin was the co-founder (along with Paul Swift, later of The Wild Seeds) of a new wave band called The Make. Among their songs were a couple of novelty-oriented tunes called “Baby Makes Me Sick” and “Cream In My Jeans” (Austin Chronicle writer Ken Lieck says that John always made clear that he wrote “less than 10% of that song”). I don’t believe The Make ever released any singles/albums, but here’s some interesting trivia: for their first appearance in Texas in 7/81, R.E.M. drove to Austin, and played second on the bill with The Judys, with The Make opening, at the now defunct Club Foot.
After the 1991 breakup of the Reivers, he was a very prolific producer, as you can see below. In early 2005 the first album by his new band, The Fire Marshals of Bethlehem, was released. Called “Songs For Housework”, there are definite echoes of The Reivers’ sound, but it’s got it’s own sound, too. You may even have heard two of the songs in the TV show “Veronica Mars”, which was created by Rob Thomas (writer of the “Saturday” reissue liner notes and long-time Reivers fan). Since the Fire Marshals were created as a “continually-changing cast of players”, he left the group amicably in late 2005.

Other projects: