#52 With summer transitioning to fall, my bandmates and I were given an offer we could hardly refuse. We had been working hard both at practice and by shameless self promotion of the band. Our recently departed drummer, Tym, still hung out with us, and seeing that he was an artist, we utilized him to design a logo for us to use for stickers and flyers. Whenever we were given a show, Brent and I would head to the local Kinkos and put together a flyer for all the bands on the bill. Brent and I would then head out for several sessions of mass flyering around the areas where we would likely find punks, artists and other musicians: Hawthorne, Down Town, Old Town, and Belmont. After a summer of practice, shameless self promotion and shows on shitty bills, we were offered an opening slot at Satyricon for any show we wanted. Now, keep in mind, it wasnt because we were all that good; but, the booking guy at Satyricon liked us because we came down and supported other bands on a regular basis and pestered him non-stop for shows. We were in. We were given the blessing to choose any show we wanted as a reward for our hard work. At the time, Poison Idea was, quite literally, the biggest band in Portland. They were Portland Punk Rock legends and had a large turn out when they played in town. Brent and I both wanted to jump on that bill if it turned up at Satyricon. At our next practice, we showed up at The Palace ready to put in some serious work. If we were going to jump on a weekend bill at Satyricon, where some of the bigger national punk and alternative bands played, then we wanted to hone our chops and make sure we put on a show. Unfortunately, we had a drummer named Chris who liked to drink until he fell of his drum stool, and when he reached that point, he was about as surly as a cat soaked in water and put in a cage under a porch during an ice storm. On that particular evening, Chris was in a mood, and it wasnt the mood we were hoping for. As soon as practice started, the lid blew off and Brent and Chris were screaming at each other over the drum set. Keep in mind, Brent is one of the most mild mannered people I know. If anyone lost their cool, it was guaranteed to be me. I had a lot of patience... until I ran out. Then it wasnt all that uncommon to see me throwing something and cursing at the top of my lungs at whatever had offended me, which was usually something inanimate. Brent, on the other hand, was usually quite calm and collected, and even when he did get mad, he would usually just throw his hands up and stomp off. Apparently that day, Chris found all of the right buttons and pushed everyone of them, because both Michael and I had to pull our easy going bass player out of the room before he beat our drummer to death with his own kit. From there, it all went down hill. Our next practice, Chris was just as drunk and surly as before and was an immense pain in the ass for all of us. We were ready for him to make good on his promise and shove, not only his drum sticks up his ass, but also his cymbals, cymbal stands, tom toms, kick drum and snare. By the end of practice, he moved his drums out, piled it all in his car, and went on his merry way. We were bummed. Like the 1993 Buffalo Bills, we were given an opportunity and it was ripped out of our hands. Without a drummer, there was no way we were going to pull off a weekend slot. Even if we could find a replacement, it would be damn near impossible to get our shit together to play decent enough for people to want to see us again. Sitting at home on a Sunday night watching football with Mike, we were greeted by an extremely unhappy bass player. Brent came home from work and was in a foul mood. Not only had our drummer quit, but his girlfriend of 7 years had dumped him. To compound those two problems, he was working for Starbucks and it was sucking the life right out of him. He hated his job, he hated his life and he hated Portland. As he sat on the couch next to us, lamenting his life, he mistakenly said, I should just move to Sacramento... I have friends down there and theres a good music scene. Michael and I had heard enough. We said, ok. 5 days later, Brent was very surprised when we showed up with a moving van and told him to start packing his shit. I was just venting, guys..., said our slightly bewildered bass player. Yup. Now go pack your shit. Were moving, replied two very determined guitar players. I had nothing to hold me down. I wasnt really interested in having a girlfriend and to date, I knew nothing of real permanence, spare for my parents. By the following weekend, Brent and Michael had almost every bit of our collective stuff in a moving van and were bound for Northern California. I opted to stay behind for two more weeks to finish out my job and to make as much money as I could bartending. Tym showed up at the house with his drumset and a few supplies, and he and I were going to load the last of our gear in Brents old Ford pickup and make our way down to Sacto. On arrival, Brent and Michael would have either a house or, at least, know someone with a couch for us to crash on. We were banking on their ability to give us a place to lay our head. The rest of the details wed work out over our first week or two in that new city. I knew nothing of Sacramento but moving there seemed like a good idea. If we hated it, we could always move back. Unfortunately, we werent able to convince Andy and Carl to join us, so we did our best to pay ahead on the bills as to not totally screw them over once we were gone. Our old, kick ass, hip bachelor pad near Hawthorne was no longer our home. I didnt know what we were going to do, but I knew we were going to do something completely different than what we had done before. I was a long way away from my parents by this point. A move to an unknown town, in an unknown state, with unknown challenges was just a new chapter to uncover. The farther away from everything that I could get, the happier I figured Id be. I had my friends and I had my music, and that was really all that a 24 year old me could ask for. Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash https://youtube/watch?v=xMaE6toi4mk
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 11:15:01 +0000
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