Band Story Part II

Months before I left for college, I hastily attempted to put together a new band. Gathering a few friends we started a group that was free of some of the artistic restrictions that I found in my "ska band." Of course these restrictions were ridiculous/non-existent in reality, and we ended up spliting up a group of talented and dedicated musicians and splintered into far inferior bands. During this time I also had short stints in two other bands with musicians I had met over the years, which further dilluted the time that could be dedicated to this new group.

At this point it didn't really matter though because this band was more something to keep me busy before I went off to school and allow an outlet to release some creative energy(whatever the hell that means.) Anyways we played probably about 10-12 shows in the suburbs of Chicago, and recorded a full length album that was thrown together far too quickly; recorded on a 4 track in one of my buddy's bedrooms. Looking back on it and listening to the record, its kind of sloppy and the recording is a disaster, but there are still some good songs. It was basically me taking a stab at writing full songs without my past counterpart on second guitar and backup vocals, which proved to be a challenge, as there was definitely something missing. Before I went off to college that group disbanded making it one of my shortest lived musical projects.

College
When I left Illinois to go off to college in Wisconsin, I didn't know what to expect. I had pretty much planned to stop playing music once I got there, which worked out well because this was not a school for musicians. This was a college full of highly educated kids coming from moderate to very wealthy families, none of whose plans were to start a rock and roll band.

These were kids who planned on doing more "traditional" things with their lives; becoming engineers, accountants, computer programmers, health care professionals etc... There were a couple musicians that lived on the North Shore that I knew from the Chicago suburban punk scene that came to the school as well and they couldn't take it. They transferred at the end of the first semester. I personally loved it. Keg parties everywhere, very friendly people from similar backgrounds, and somewhere along the way you managed to study your ass off inbetween. There was also access to just about every concert that came through Chicago. I had no complaints.

My freshman year I was crammed into a little pie-shaped dorm room living with a country-boy from Southern Illinois. Nice enough guy, but we definitely had nothing in common. I don't think I picked up a guitar more than twice that year, but I met a number of people (as many do in college) that were heavily into music of all genres and opened me up to all kinds of music I never would have listened to in a million years. I was also introduced to a wonderful program being passed around word of mouth by college students called "Napster" giving me access to just about any artist or album you could think of.

That first year was a riot. Alot of drinking, alot of studying, and a lot of puking. I met a handful of great people that first year of school, bonding over our love of underage drinking, fake ids, and the pursuit of higher education(kind of). After a year of studying and partying, I headed back home to Illinois to take over a summer job as a cabana boy at a local country club, serving cocktails, flipping burgers, putting lime wedges into rich people's diet coke's and what have you.

Sometime during the beginning of the summer, my bandmates from our once semi successful ska band, came to me with the idea of "getting the band back together." I thought it was a great idea at the time and we started practicing again. I dusted off my songwriting skills and wrote a handful of new songs and within a month we started playing shows again. As anyone who is a musician knows, you can't practice with a group of musicians a few times and expect to sound like a professional group. We rushed into our "reunion shows" which tended to be a generally sloppy affair, but we made some old fans and friends happy and got to reminisce about the "good old days." Looking back on it, I probably wouldn't have done it again if I had the choice, but I have to admit I did enjoy playing with all those guys again.

Towards the end of the summer we had planned to head into the studio and record the 4 new songs we had put together. Due to scheduling conflicts, we ended up scrapping our studio time and in a last half assed attempt we had a good friend of mine attempt to record the songs in my parent's basement. The recording session ended up being a disaster and the rest of the band ended up walking out after we were not able to get the equipment running right. With everyone gone my buddy and I were left with an 8 track that we still had rented for the evening. Feeling like it was a waste of a recording opportunity, I pulled out an acoustic guitar and recorded two of the songs acoustic and then crafted a new song right on the spot. The new song was a total joke, something meant to make my buddies at college laugh. Little did I know what I had gotten myself into.

The Band Story

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago where after a short faze in junior high of listening to Vanilla Ice and wearing Zubaz from a variety of NHL teams, I got heavily into a band called Nirvana. They were like nothing I had ever heard and from then on I was hooked on rock music and determined to learn how to play guitar. From there I got into a new band at the time called Green Day which lead to my discovery of Chicago band Screeching Weasel which I heard of for the first time on a Sunday night music talk show called Sound Opinions hosted by Chicago rock journalist, Jim Derogatis.

Listening to their records was the first time I was able to convince myself that I was actually capable of starting a band. The lead singer and guitar player Ben Weasel had done a short stint at my high school back in the early 80's which kind of inspired me, but most of all their albums were full of simple catchy three chord songs played in a way that made it seem obtainable.

Ben was also a very prolific writer with his own fanzine called "Panic Button." I had ordered every copy I could get my hands on from some mail order catalog and read them cover to cover over and over again. I was fascinated with his writings discussing the local Chicago punk rock scene from years before, his journey starting out in a band, and ridiculous stories about working different crappy summer jobs at places near my town.

From then on I was determined to start my own punk band. My parents bought me an amp and an electric guitar and I rallied kids from around my town to start up our own band in my parent's basement. We began playing Screeching Weasel, Green Day and Ramones covers and after a few months or so I started writing my own songs.

That lead to playing shows with other groups from the around the area at local Knights of Columbus halls and VFW halls. As I began to become a better songwriter, I started playing with other musicians from around the area and talking about music and bouncing ideas off of each other.

Some kids from a nearby high school that I knew through mutual friends were playing in a band that I really liked and over time we learned that we were into a lot of the same bands and starting hanging out more. They were a little older and knew about all these really good bands that I had never heard of and eventually introduced me to ska punk music. It was brilliant! punk rock with a horn section, I loved every minute of it. They got me into bands like Slapstick and Less than Jake and I was immediately hooked.

From then on it was my mission to round up horn players from my high school and get them to play in my band. It was kind of difficult to find high school band kids interested in punk rock, but eventually I befriended a trumpet player who I convinced to come in and practice with my band.

Around the same time my other friend’s band started incorporating ska into their music as well and I immediately soaked up everything they were doing. They were a little more organized and started playing more shows around town. My band had good songs but was a disaster with a revolving door of different musicians, and me the only constant member.

After a few months, my band had broken up and I was asked to join their group as singer/guitar player. They switched their lineup around a bit, I brought the trumpet player along with me and next thing I know we had put together a powerhouse punk rock ska band. We had a lead singer two guitar players/singers, a bass player, drummer, trumpet, trombone, and saxophone players.

Right around this time The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish had brought “SKA” to mainstream radio. As Ska hit big on the radio, we started playing shows at any All Ages venue we could find around Chicago.

At the same time we also recorded a 5 song demo cassette tape in the basement of a 60 year old guy who was really into punk music and used to do the sound for all of the local shows in the area. He didn’t charge us a penny to record, and next thing we know our demo tape is getting passed around like wildfire. We were getting play on all of the late night punk rock radio shows, and our concerts began getting more and more packed with people.

We continued aggressively playing around the Chicagoland area and as SKA became to pick up steam on mainstream radio we became a popular group around the area.

Soon enough we were asked to open up for Eve 6 at the metro in Chicago. I was 16 years old and playing at a major rock venue, opening up for a top 40 act. It still is pretty amazing when I look back on it.

From there were kept regularly playing at the Metro and the Fireside Bowl and went back to the studio to record a full length album strung together from our repertoire of songs we had built up and played shows with a lot of “big” punk/ska bands at the time. By this time I had become the primary singer for the band. We self released a full length tape and continued playing around the Chicago and Indiana area and continued to fill all ages venues.

Toward the end of high school our lineup changed a few times, but we were still riding on the “SKA wave.” A combination of internal disagreements within the band, the declining popularity of ska and the fact that we were all going off to college in a few months, the band decided that it was best to break up.

Months later I left the state for college.

The Update

These personal websites are a funny thing.

Sometimes I feel like I've run out of things that are interesting or exciting to write about.

I get older, I become more mature(yikes!) I get what some would call boring.

But what is wrong with boring? Nothing Really.

I have an amazing girlfriend

I have a great family

I have what appears to be a flourishing career

I have a nice apartment in a great neighborhood

I have a small group of friends that I see as much as possible

I have hobbies and interests that keep me occupied

And I'm excited about the future and what it will bring