I’ve been thinking about posting this for some time…ever since Domino sent me the CD, actually. You see, it’s a 20-year-old tape of Revolver (the garage band I was in, for you newbies).
I know. I know. How vain is that? Who wants to listen to a scratchy old pile of noise from a bunch of punk kids in a long-dead band? Part of me wants to erase it.
But part of me listens to it almost every night and remembers how much damn fun it was. This was before we lost our drummer and lead guitar player to the real world. Before we got professional and started making money with guys we didn’t know and had to audition. Before it stopped being just plain joy.
I lied on one of this week’s Monday Mission questions. This is when I’d go back to, if I could.
If you feel so inclined, listen to this and picture four guys, friends from high school, in the basement of the bass player’s girlfriend’s deaf grandparent’s house, banging away with the abandon and “screw the neighbors” attitude of youth. Domino was there to record it. Thank heaven.
I think the two best parts are the screwed up beginning and the oh-my-God-they’re-gonna-explode dueling guitars.
Hey, you guys were great! I would have gone to a bar to see you, back in my bar band groupie days.
As good as that tape/CD is I wish we had gotten a good recording of you guys at your peak. When we did the “basement” recording you guys still hadn’t played out at clubs too much. A few months later and a few gigs later you guys sounded a lot better. My favorite gig was the Vinalhaven one, just because it was a HUGE party. Other ones that I recall… the JR high dance (don’t remember which school) where the little girls screamed like you were the Beatles. The Hampden dance where the crowd was hostile and it seemed to spark a weird energy in you guys, promting W. to do a 15-20 minute guitar solo during “Cocaine”. The Barstans gig where the punk group “Zero Mentality” showed up and tried to mosh (back then it was called slam dancing) during “Turning Japanese” and J. nearly belted a guy in the teeth with his bass. Oh ya, and early on that party you played at a McD’s coworkers garage, and the cops showed up to shut it down (Solonor, you add just bought that new Peavy amp and it was the first gig using it).
I also remember the way you guys would jam back in J.’s basement. You where pretty good by then and some of those jams where rockin’. Too bad those didn’t get on tape (sigh).
So “Shakin’ All Over” is good, I also like the inspired version of “My Generation/White Wedding”, (despite the shaky transition) too bad you guys didn’t continue to play it that way.
Ah yes, to be 18 again.
Oh yeah! I remember that garage party. As the cops drove down the driveway, we started playing the Clash’s “Police On My Back.” What a buncha delinquents.
Actually, I believe the term was “TEENAGE MENACE”
(GAK, flashbacks to a certain car ride down railroad tracks, and later that same evening going from Suzanne Pratts house, down past Walters, all the way to Leevant Village in a VERY short period of time….in the fog… but I digress.)
The school dance was Bucksport High school (wonder why there? chuckle) and I clearly remember the young guy waving his fist in a very Billy Idol-like manner, rockin out…. That really was fun. And I agree, that Vinalhaven probably was the best all-around performance. The whole Island was there, and it rocked. Oh yeah, Barstans was great, getting these surprised looks from the barflys when we’d play Blue Oyster Cult stuff… like “wow, nobody plays Blue Oyster Cult”…
And how about the Showring, with all 12 people!!!!It still was cool, actually playing at the Showring. And of course there was the Teddy Bear Picnic… gak. And the McDonalds party out at Jim Cowans trailer…. sheesh. And Hotel-Motel time, in Skowhegan. What was the name of that dump? And let’s not forget the practices in the Norton garage… Sure Jim’s basement was where it probably started to gel, and Barb’s Grandparents basement was where it was at it’s best, but we did a lot of learning out there on Union Street, with back up vocals by Sparky!
Yup, those were some times. I, too, would go back to that period, Solonor. I really would. I miss it. A lot.
BTW, I still can’t make my scanner work with Windows ME. So I’ll either hook up the scanner to Jacobs machine (the one with 98) or I’ll go and get that bootleg copy of XP that someone has offered me, and see if I can really screw up this machine! Then those photo’s will get digitized… of course, if I go and do that, I might end up seeing some of them here, and that could be scary. Do I really want to do this? 🙂
Yes, you do!
Ric, “The school dance was Bucksport High school”, was that the one where we couldn’t set up because the basketball team was praticing? Then they were giving us crap because we didn’t start on time? I was thinking it was Hampden High, but my memory is very fuzzy on this.
PS. I remember the at ride too! Rob was (is?) a very scary driver.
The ride I seem to remember was in a big Ford (?) and Rob was riding shotgun…. and I was in the backseat… 🙂 That was the night before we went to Canada on the band trip. Funny, I saw Suzanne last year, 1st time since school. Her kids take karate from the same guy that mine does.
I don’t remember playing in Hampden. I’m trying to remember the specifics about Bucksport, and it might have happened there, (the basketball team stopping setup) but I don’t recall. We did use the gym there, and set up on their stage, and used the locker room before and between sets. Other than that, I’m fuzzy, too.