Twenty Years – Part 5

Sometime after Rise Again, when things were at their peak for us (“peak” meaning at least a dozen people were coming to shows and we’d break even on gas money) we had an unfortunate falling out with Jim. In retrospect, the reasoning was pretty dumb, but sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. We pressed forward. We played a bunch of shows with our friend Dan and eventually we found a permanent drummer named Dustin, who was hungry to play. He’d drive an hour from Longview for practice twice a week, which showed amazing dedication. He was rock solid, had great timing and wouldn’t settle for boring. With Dustin behind the drums we were progressing musically, making new fans and getting to play some amazing shows. The highlight of them all was definitely opening for Tiger Army at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Playing that stage was a spectacular moment. Dues = Paid.

The lead up to Requiem took a long time. We got rid of our practice space in Portland and started practicing at Dave’s garage out in Scappoose. Because it was now an hour long drive for everyone except Dave, the frequency of practice dropped and songwriting slowed. The last two albums had only taken 1-2 years to write. When we finally recorded Requiem we were going on 3-4 years. In 2008 we finally had enough songs for an album, so we went back to Egg Studios and knocked out the whole batch of them. Tracking went really well and we finished our entire wish list of songs. In the past we aimed for 14 or 15 tracks and settled on 12 or 13. This go round we recorded 20 and put 19 of them on the album. The biggest problem was we couldn’t decide what songs to cut, so we just included almost everything. Personally, I think the album is a bit unfocused because of it, but like most decisions, it seemed like the right call at the time. It was nice to have that period documented and most importantly, it was nice to have Dustin, who had been in the band 3 years at that point, finally on an album.

Right after we recorded, real life started to happen. Dave was already married and soon had two kids and a full household. He was also busy with a job where he traveled almost weekly, often internationally. Justin also got married during this time and decided to pursue a 4 year degree and a career change. Dustin was keeping busy with music and playing in 2-3 other active bands, most of which with their own shows, recording and other things happening. I too got married, had kids and kept busy with work. With all this stuff going on, practice was proving difficult to coordinate. Shows were even harder to pull together and one year we actually cancelled more shows than we played. Thankfully, we were still playing really well, despite being considerably older than many of the bands we played with. When we did play it was still a blast and we’d sit around and wonder how come we don’t do this more often.

So, where are we at now?

Well, it’s complicated. Justin has graduated, Dave now has a non-traveling job and all of our kids are getting to a place that allows for more freedom. We’re getting the itch to play more regularly, especially with the 20 year milestone at hand. Unfortunately, after 9 years Dustin quit the band in July. If your goal is to play music full time, you’d be wise to stick with the bands that are actually playing as much as possible. A few shows and practices a year wasn’t cutting it for him. It’s a bummer, but we get it. We’ve discussed calling it quits, but it always comes down to one question… “why?” We have fun playing music and when we do get to play live it still seems to leave a mark on a few people.

At this point who knows if we’ll find another drummer. If it does work out we’ll see you around. If not, then maybe that’s a sign to call it a day. I don’t know what’s going to happen. In either case I certainly didn’t think writing songs at that crappy garage in Boone all those years ago would have turned into 5 albums, hundreds of shows, seeing the country, meeting many of our favorite bands and making so many good friends along the way. We’ve known lots of bands that have gotten much farther and burned much brighter, but few have had the luxury of longevity. It’s been an amazing experience so far and something we’re very grateful for.

I hope we can keep it going, but only time will tell.

-Eric

Twenty Years – Part 4

We recorded The Kelvis on a rainy weekend in either October or November of 1998 with Mike Lastra. We had played every song live numerous times so recording went really quickly. Lastra was great, he really got us used to the idea of accepting things as they happened. Scratchy noise or a missed note? Who cares. If it sounds cool then leave it. My only regret is that the album went un-mastered, which is why it sounds so flat unless played loudly. I sure wish we could get a do-over on that decision. We also embarked on our first tour during this time frame. It was only two weeks long, but it was an amazing experience bolting to the East coast in record time. Things were going relatively well but despite it all, Bryan left in 1999. The pace of independent music, i.e. – no money, no fans, no glory, isn’t for everyone. He needed a change and although we were sad to see him go there wasn’t any bad blood between us for his decision.

Very soon after Bryan left we enlisted Jim, who we knew from Bomf! and Underhand. Jim was a different sort of drummer. He played fast and was often just on the edge of out of control. With the slightly more raw sound Jim brought, I knew I wasn’t going to cut it as a solo guitarist for much longer. We started shopping around and after a brief stint with our friend Lyle (also from Bomf!), we got referred to Justin. I remember he made a point to jump during his audition. It was pretty ridiculous to witness, but the enthusiasm is what we wanted. We didn’t even try anyone else out. He was the guy and Justin became official in 2000. This was the lineup where we finally found our sound.

During those years we practiced a lot, wrote a lot and played a lot. The high water mark was 2002-2004 when we averaged about 4-5 shows a month. For a touring band that’s not very impressive, but we were doing it ourselves while holding down real jobs and practicing twice a week. We’d drive out of town on the weekend, return home, work, practice, work, play in town, work some more and then play out of town again. As we got more offers we were driving farther and farther for weekend shows. Eugene, Ashland, Redding and many regions beyond. Once we drove to Salt Lake City for one show where about ten people watched us. Another time we played in San Francisco on a Sunday and rushed home afterwards to be at work on Monday morning. Justin rolled out the van and went straight to work at 6am, possibly without a shower. The farthest one night stand was a trip to Los Angeles to play on a weeknight where we performed to arm-crossed apathy from a legion of bored bros.

The van had rules, especially around music. Album selections must rotate fairly, roadies included. The exception is the drive home where the driver chooses all of the music. If you are playing a game or watching a movie you forfeit your musical selection. Never play the same CD twice or forever be mocked. If you don’t like a CD, shut up since it’s not your turn. If two of you don’t like the music you may complain, but you can’t veto. If three of you hate the music then Dave is likely driving and he will tell all of you to go to Hell. If Justin is driving then pay attention as each song may be your last. Seating also had rules. Equal time is given to the passenger seat, which is the most comfortable and least odorous seat. Whoever had to work the earliest got to sleep on the bench seat. Second due at work got the floor. Next got the passenger seat and he-who-started-work-last had to drive. That was usually me and I spent countless hours watching the miles pass by while everyone dozed off in peace. It was usually ok though since everything I cared about was in that van.

During that time we flipped 100,000 miles on the van, added a roof extension and embarked on a few more tours and extended outings. We recorded a few times, most notably The Return and Rise Again with Conrad Uno at Egg Studios in Seattle. It was surreal getting wisdom from someone who recorded so many bands that were influential to us. I’m really pleased with how those albums turned out and they are usually my go to if someone asks what we sound like.

We were also lucky that we got to play with a ton of huge bands: Face To Face, Guttermouth, Saves The Day, Sum 41, Bigwig, Strung Out, H2O, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, GWAR, The Misfits, The Living End, Tiger Army, TSOL, Agent Orange, Paint It Black, The Loved Ones, Zeke, UK Subs, No Use For A Name, The Deviates, Zebrahead, All, Only Crime and three slots on the Warped Tour. For a perpetually unsigned and DIY we did pretty well.

Eventually real life starts to catch up though.

Twenty Years – Part 3

How did we wind up moving to Portland? There was a lot of small talk about moving during 1996, but eventually we sat down at a restaurant with Dave’s trucker atlas and started pointing at places. Chapel Hill? No, let’s leave North Carolina. Chicago? Too big. New York or Pennsylvania? Too cold. West Coast? Sounds good. L.A.? Too many bands. San Francisco? Too expensive. Seattle? Still fresh off of grunge. Portland? Hmmm. All I knew about Portland was that you could get to the ocean in an hour one way or be on top of a mountain an hour the other way. I flew out here to check it out, took some pictures, grabbed some local zines and reported back. Dave and Bryan were in. Sadly, Paul was not. We packed up and in the late months of 1996 and moved to Portland.

Moving was easy. Dealing with the fact that we were suddenly going to be a three piece is what caused me stress. I had only been playing guitar for two years. I could barely tune by ear and could not (and still can’t) play a lead to save my life. I could play loud though so I eventually bought a second Marshall cabinet. We always joke with people “if you can’t play good, play loud.” There was some truth in that. After securing a variety of jobs we eventually found a place that rented storage units off of Cornell and 26 and started to practice. We played three times a week with Sundays being “the long practice” of several hours. Hot, cold, rain, snow. Sometimes two of us would go out and play an extra day. Often we would write in our apartments. If not writing, we were working on merch ideas. For me, almost all down time was spent working on the web page. It was 800 Octane 24-7.

We quickly found ourselves with a whole new set of songs that catered to the reduced lineup pretty. That summer we started playing shows wherever we could. I feel like we played a lot, but in retrospect it was only a few shows a month at best. We started paying our dues at the local clubs, primarily EJ’s, the Satyricon, the Paris Theater and the Ash Street. Most shows were on weekday nights, playing only to the sound guy and bartenders, because even the other bands had bailed. We didn’t care. We were stoked to play. Early on we did something a lot of other bands in the area did not do, which was play any small, off the radar town that we got invited to. Coming from a tiny place like Boone, places like Longview, Bend and Tri-Cities seemed well worth our effort. A lot of bands only played Portland and Seattle. We said we would play every place in between that would take us. Want to play in my living room in Springfield? Yes. Want to play in my garage in Kelso? Yes. Want to play outside in a park near Tacoma? Yes.

During this time we also moved into a house Dave purchased off of 51st and Hawthorne. It was a total bachelor pad with a pool, hot tub and foosball. Songwriting came easily once we all lived together. We made a lot of friends with other local bands during this time including Bomf!, The Leeches, Elmer, Tenpin, The Secludes and dozens more that I am forgetting to mention. A lot of these connections helped define us musically and personally. It was a blur of late nights, driving back and forth across the Northwest and going to shows. In other words, it was perfect.