[article] bands to which I have belonged
EZ Walk. A Christian parody group created by two of my best friends when they were in seventh grade. They were sick into Weird Al (being seventh graders and geeks, it was impossible to resist the siren song of Al). Steven Curtis Chapman's "Lord of the Dance" became "Boardwalk and Chance". Jars of Clay's "Flood" became "Loud", an anti-yelling screed. It was all great fun, and our youth pastor allowed my friends (the two of them and whoever else they could rope into singing) to perform in front the youth group a couple times. One day, my friend Sean had to drop out, so they enlisted me to take his place. I lasted one practice. While the idea of being involved with my friends' grand schemes excited me, the thought of having to actually do the songs in front of people terrified me to my core. I remember sitting on Peter's bed, singing printed lyrics with ice cream clogging my throat. At least, that was the excuse they gave me for why my voice sounded so off...
The Amazing Skasmonauts. You have to understand this about my younger brother. When he wants to do something, he will do it or die trying. From the guinea pig to booking shows downtown, he has a force of will and determination I only wish I had. I first started noticing this a couple years ago, in the midst of my brother's love affair with ska music. He had bought a guitar from his friend and he was churning out the barre chords. It was inevitable he would begin a band.
side note: until very very recently, I used to pronounce "inevitable" as "in-ee-VIT-uh-bul", rather than the correct "in-EH-vit-a-bul". I have no explanation for the lateness of the discovery, other than prehaps I read so much on my own when I was younger that I just assumed I knew how to pronounce the word.
Moving on. Jeff had jammed with a kid named Joey, who was a budding guitarist. I forget their name, the Milkmen or the Lettermans or something. Anyway, Jeff was fishing for a new name for his band. Since it's almost a rule that if you're a ska band, "ska" must be in your name, I tried to come up with a winning combination. Finally, I did it: I married my obsission to his. I came up with "Skasmonauts". Jeff added "Amazing" sfter seeing the "One Week" video by Barenaked Ladies, where a BMXer passes by a banner reading "The Amazing Barenaked Ladies". He was on his way. He soon got our next-door neighbor, a thirteen-year-old, to play trombone. Sean was on guitar with Jeff, Vincent was bass, and Andrew, a classmate, was on drums. Soon, I joined as "auxiliary percussionist" (I hit whatever I felt like). We played an infamous gig at our youth group, culminating in people aerially returning muffins which we had distributed as an act of goodwill. Actually, it did go rather well, and there was a good reception. We still have an audiotape of the show, where you can hear Jeff exclaiming in wonderment, "Are you throwing them back?
The next step was to book shows. Jeff got on this immediately. We traveled as far as New Braunfels, 45 minutes south of us. The shows were fun, but the band wasn't cohesive at all. Jeff's a super loyal fellow, and he gave band roles to people who weren't that talented and needed to be coaxed into adequacy: e.g., me. At its peak, there were probably 10 Skasmonauts. We made a cheap little demo, posted a couple songs on mp3.com, and prepared for the next step. A nicer demo. Hey, we thought big but acted small. It was the smart thing to do. The beginning of the end occured at the house of Joel, a new friend of Jeff's who had replaced the too-busy Andrew on drums. We were in the garage, working on new tunes, but it wasn't there. Some guys were working but other guys considered this a goof. A couple of them got a paintball gun and started spraying the house next door, which was still being constructed. A neighbor saw them, came across the street, and gave them a major chewing-out. It was great to watch. A month of two later, Jeff and Sean got together and decided that it would be best for the Skasmonauts to bow out. Those two added a drummer and became Casual Friday, and they've long since surpassed any modest heights of his high school band.
The White Noises.This is the band I'm in with Caitlin, one of my best friends. She, her boyfriend Jeremy (another of my best friends), and I were catching a Swearing At Motorists/Western Keys/Devics/Okkervil River/Lift to Experience bill when we just started talking about we could put on a better show. Typical rock critic snobbery, I guess. But then Catilin got very excited and said that she and I should form a band, perform one song, and retire. It was a great idea. We pondered a suitable band name, and came up with "Brad. and Caitlin (sic)". After the show, I was driving home when it hit me. I called Jeremy's cell, gave him the idea of calling the band the White Noises, and they loved it. Since that show, I've written some lyrics and she's continuing to learn the guitar. Whether we will actually play is hard to say. We go to different colleges in different cities. But for us, the idea is what's important.
Why White Noises? Three reasons:
1. A tribute to one of our favorite books, Don DeLillo's "White Noise".
2. Because we are a non-involved guy/girl duo with a gimmick, not unlike those two kids from Detroit.
3. We are Caucasian, and what we play may end up resembling nothing other than noise.
that's the rundown.
