Tag: band

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”

Wayne Gretzky

My current band, Sunset Hollow, is usually how strangers know me. Now let’s not make this sound like I am famous or anything, but I have had some great experiences that would have never came to fruition without me having been noticed by fans or followers. However, most of my stories of crazy happenings come from a band I was in when I was much younger.

When I was 16 I found myself not in a band for the first time since 13 years old. High school was coming to an end so we had members in my current band looking in to college. That band was called Fair View. The name was derived from the cemetery where most of my paternal family are buried. When I was slightly younger than this I watched a family member die in front of me and let’s just say I was already emo enough but I had a goth mindset when it came to band names and songs at the time. Oddly enough, my father would go to a small restaurant in Atglen, PA and made friends everywhere he went. The staff would talk to him about all kinds of events or issues going on in their lives as well as family matters. Ended up being that Cheryl’s son was in a band looking for a bassist.

My dad has always liked to bring me opportunities to capitalize on. I never realized how much he looked for pathways for me until I was older. Well, actually I never saw it until I started this blog. Thanks Pops. I was 16 years old with all this experience and talent and no outlet. This was 2007 so everyone and their mom weren’t producers yet so I was kind of lost. After my dad told me about the opportunity I quickly said “no.”

They were an older band playing hard rock style music. The name of the band was Swelter for God’s sake. What kind of loser would like that band name? Pops encouraged me to just go for a day and feel it out. If I wasn’t feeling the band, then he would never bring it up again.

So I reluctantly agreed and we packed up my gear. We drove out a little further than I was expecting but finally we arrived to a rancher with two cars out front. One was a mustang with a giant spider on the side of the car. I already regretted the decision. My dad noticed my face and told me we are already here. Just go in. I carried my shit to the back of the house as instructed and heard the music coming from the basement door. I lifted the handle to what would become one of the most important experiences in my life.

Jimmy, Cheryl’s son, was the first to greet me. This was no “Hey how are you?” situation like when you walk through a retail store. This guy honestly was excited to meet me. He embraced me like a long lost brother and immediately introduced me to the rest of the band. Craig was on the drum kit. The owner of the home and obviously the oldest of the group. This is my first time meeting the once Marine and now Cop who sat before me. He had a negative and judgmental face when I first approached him. As I stumbled out the words, “Hello, I’m Fuzz” he demanded to know if I drink underage with a fatherly approach. Not sure how to answer, I just shook my head side to side and shrugged my shoulders. Then he smiled and said, “there is beer in the fridge if you change your mind.” I was overtaken by how they seemed to have planned how to divide and conquer my emotions all in one meeting. Then there was Lester. Lester is not the kind of name I would associate with kindness or passion, more like what I saw before me. A tall skinny ginger with a cigarette gently balanced on his lip as he talked. A man with long hair and a face that screamed out “sleep is for the weak.” His shirt said “Don’t piss me off because I am running out of places to bury the bodies!” He looked at me with a sad face and then all of a sudden his whole demeanor changed. He was just a normal ass dude who liked Lord of the Rings books and video games. Not only did he become my closest friend of the bunch but he was the main song writer and booked all of the shows.

On the first night I just showed them some riffs I wrote and they showed me their songs. I watched Lester’s hands as I studied his playing style and general shapes of his scale patterns. I quickly followed the basic song structures with root notes and started to add in my pop punk/ jazz influence. It just kind of worked right a way. I honestly felt like I was destined to be in this group. A band that had a Godsmack meets Led Zeppelin feel was actually kind of fun. Soon after joining, we recorded an album at Evolved Studios in West Chester PA and we were gigging as much as we could.

We would play the Chameleon Club with bands like Jacobs Ladder and Twelve After. These bands later started the group today known as From Ashes to New. Lester some how would get us shows with Hurt, Adema, Halestorm, Tunnels to Holland, etc. I was so quick to brush of the best band opportunity I have still had to this day. I got to meet people that really pushed me to understand the world around me better. I was making money doing covers at bars and playing originals at clubs to grow our own fan base. I was 16 when this band really got the push it needed. We went from Craig’s basement, to Jimmy’s trailer, to Cheryl’s garage, and then later to a tattoo parlors basement that was also used to shoot pornographic photos. Don’t worry, this was after I was 18 years old. The stories and bonds I made in this band are memories that still rush to me when I am going to see a show or to perform in a show. I was 16 getting shots from venue owners because of how much they appreciated our drive, passion, music, and of course all the tickets we were selling. I played with Texas in July at the the Silo in Reading which has been closed for what seems like forever. I even got to drink with “the world’s greatest roadie.” I do not remember his name but this man was a legend. Not only touring with bands like Metallica and such but also the amount of shit in his bag… I was shown all the drugs and options of how to use it in a two small backpacks. This guy was prepared for anyone who needed help whether it was lifting or setting up gear or to get them “focused.”

After a while things happen. Kids are born, relationships fail, court dates happen, and record contracts lingering in the air are gently whisked away as our band became more stagnant. We hit a period where only Lester and I would show up to practice. All this comradery and brotherhood just fell to the wayside of broken homes and broken promises. So like any band hoping for the best, we took a hiatus. I don’t recall how long we took a break for but I keep thinking it was about 2-3 years. We still had people on our Myspace (yes, I said myspace) asking for more shows and music. We ended up getting back together and the good thing was now- I could drink legally. It never stopped me before having strong facial hair and a stocky football player build at my young age.

We were back at it. New experiences happened in between. I was in another band called Silence in Ruins which really was a great time for me. I had basically become the Lester of that band and we made mistakes, meaning I had learned a lot of what not to do. Swelter decides to come back with new music and shows in all the major places we killed before. A lot of the venues had either changed hands or closed down, but the tried and true spots were still our for the taking. My drummer from Silence in Ruins ended up recording us and I have to say, we were all impressed by how we were writing. The metal influence came through stronger with influenced from bands like Tool and Disturbed. The solos and cleans still balanced it out well but the groove was just always there. Now I will admit our drummer was not the most creative musician I have worked with. However, Craig was a solid drummer and a hell of a performer. I didn’t look back there much but I’ll take his word for the performing part.

We had old fans and new fans excited for our return. The next chapter for Swelter. I really think the name should have changed here but I lost that vote unfortunately. The band I had annoyed while talking in a horrible english accent for the whole ride to Philadelphia, the group that left our manager at a bar in bumble fuck town PA because he was too interested in a girl at the bar and had to pay over $200 in a taxi cab ride to get home, the brothers I woke up to fighting about getting stuck in someones yard with our gear trailer, the friends I had drank with and defended were back in the driver seat and moving towards great things. And then it just ended. Again, Lester and I were the only ones left at practice. The world forgot about us as quickly as we had seen so much progress and promise. This band taught me most of the things I currently know about band life. Overcoming adversity, the dedication needed by all of the member to succeed, and how much fun you can have while working with the right people. Most of them speak to me less than I would like. Those memories are reminders of a happier time for me that ended with sadness. A time where a diner would open up, after just closing, for us because they heard our band name and wanted to have “famous people” in their establishment for an hour or so. A time where I was asked for autographs at gas stations and bars was all gone and I had nothing but ticket stubs, some old pictures, and memories faded to remind me of many of the best moments in my life. I never thought I would miss the band Swelter and it was all because I listened to a man wiser than myself tell me to just give it a shot.