Nic and Zach's First Show
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This all started with an infatuation of mine that began when the OTW project went south, but it really picked up when Max formed his first garage
band, Pillory. Max, Keith, Ryan, and Joey formed it during my sophomore year (98/99). I remember hanging around with them in the garage and
sitting in on the drums when Keith couldn't make it to practice, although I absolutely suck ass as a drummer. It was there I began playing with
Joey's bass and not long after, I bought my own first bass, which is the one I still play now.
Well anyway Pillory broke up, but for the next two years I kept trying to get something together to play at the annual Fun Days Talent Show. Well,
things always went to shit and never worked out until this last summer (2001). After Nic took up guitar we jammed together from time to time and
I finally asked if he'd play the show. He agreed and we set out on the task of picking a good song. Something we liked, but the audience and
judges could handle too. Nic is huge into classic rock, I'm more of a metal guy, but I also listen to a lot of old rock. We finally settled on Thin
Lizzy's "Jailbreak". A classic rocker with a metallic edge on it, a song with attitude that was popular.
For the next 3 weeks we practiced that song at least 2 or 3 hours once or twice a week. We developed it into our own style, and Nic threw in one
hell of a solo in the middle featuring the main riffs "Black Dog", "Back In Black", "Cat Scratch Fever", "Purple Haze", and ending with "Whole Lotta
Love". I learned the background for some of these, but this was his time to shine. I just wanted to be the background man. Along with guitar
duties, Nic picked up the lead vocals, and during the last week, we figured I'd do backup on the choruses.
Well, time was rolling by and although we'd played the song a thousand times we were still nervous. The day came and he stopped by early so
we could set up early to adjust our volume and pedals and tones out on my front porch. Then the time came; went down and checked in... then
all we could do was wait.
We wound up playing 2nd to last in the adult division after some gay ass prep boy choir singer, a couple of dance routines, Andy playing a kick
ass folk tune on his guitar, and a band from Indiana called Sweet Bliss Double Zero (aka SB'00). It was interesting because SB'00 trashed the
stage during a talent show. It's just two guys, Ethan and Lee... Ethan is Keith's ex-brother in law. They weren't bad, and had a good time at it,
but the judges and older audience members didn't care for it too much. Andy's playing was very excellent; he had a nearly flawless
performance, but I don't think the judges liked him. Then it was time for us to take the stage.
We were announced, and much to my suprise we had applause as we climbed on stage and got our gear set up. I had enough butterflies in
my stomach to fill an aquarium, and I know Nic was more than a tad nervous. It was the first time either of us had played in front of more than
half a dozen people. We were quite the odd couple in appearance. Nic is lanky and has short black hair; he had a Doors shirt and baggy ass
jeans on with a pair of Airwalks. I on the other hand, was going for the total grunge look. I'm pretty thick built guy , and I have long blond hair. I
had on a Zeppelin shirt (borrowed from Nic... I still have it), a pair of grungy ass tore up jeans, and work boots.
Well anyway... Nic introduced us and we began banging out our 3 chord scorcher. With the exception of a few little screwups on my part, the
song was going pretty good until the solo. Nic backed up and stepped on his effects box, cutting himself out, and I compounded the problem
by standing there and watching like a moron. Although we were back to playing in a few seconds, it felt like an eternity. The rest of the song
went off without a hitch and I felt pretty damned good by the end. We left the stage to a large amount of cheering and clapping. I was pleased
with our performance, we played pretty well, aside from that one little problem.
After us came Keith's band, which was kind of a slap together affair consisting of him (bass), Ryan(guitar), a guy named Van(drums), and
some singer I'd never met (Corey, who I wound up working with in the die shop about 7 years later). The singer and Van had never practiced
with them before, the band's regular singer and drummer had bailed that day and they found these guys right before the show. They were
going to play Mudvayne's "Dig"... but considering thier personell problem, they chose Staind's "It's Been A While". They kicked ass, completely
and utterly!!! They played flawlessly, and the singer wasn't too bad either considering he learned the lyrics right there backstage.
Well, the gay ass singer guy won, and some dancers came in 2nd and 3rd, which was a crock... Keith's band came in 4th, Andy came in 5th, we
came in 6th, and SB'00 came in last at 7th. Doesn't it just suck how things go sometimes? The outcome should have been Keith's band 1st,
Andy 2nd, and SB'00 3rd (just because they put so much into the performance).
It was still a good time... Nic's cousin got it taped, and I've since seen the video. Looking back on it now (2009), we were pretty sucky, but I
suppose it wasn't too bad for a couple of high school kids who hadn't really been playing thier instruments for that long.