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Starting a Band in LA
Late Feb-March I spent the next
few weeks exploring LA and Orange County doing tourist type stuff that I won't
waste your time with. Ben arrived via jetliner at LAX about a week after I got
there. We hugged and caught up a bit. The very first thing we did was to go to
Spaceland to promote a show. An Australian band called The Vines headlined. They
were really good and I was a bit intimidated to think that all the bands in LA
were like that. The singer did a weird thing with his mouth the whole time. It's
hard to describe but he sort of stuck the fat part of his tongue out while keeping
the tip under his lip. Many months later I recognized the band on MTV by his tongue.
Ben stayed with me and my family at my sister-in-law's house in Brea. We all made
some extra cash by tagging blue jeans at a glove warehouse, and that's about when
Chris Fisher (our producer) suggested that we call the drummer Chris Snykus. His
band, Perfect Thyroid, had just broken up and he was on his way to LA to find
a new one. His goal was to find a rocking band that was willing to work as hard
as he was. His amazing second option was to drum for Jessical Simpson. He was
glad we called. Chris arrived in LA three days later just in time to see Ben and
I perform a show in Hollywood at a place called The Tempest. Count the Stars played
that show too. There were about 5 people besides the bands. The next day Ben and
I attempted to play a show in southern Orange county at some unnamed bar. It proved
to be one of the stranger shows we (almost) played. All was going well at first.
This was the second of three shows that we were playing with Count the Stars so
we were on familiar ground. There was a healthy little crowd. Friends and fans
were arriving slowly but steadily. The first band called Ashton was excellent.
Spirits were up. Then...things began to take a turn for the weird. The second
band on stage was psychadelic rock with tons of gear. After taking a tremendous
time getting set up and getting high they took the stage to do their thing. The
lead singer had really long dirty hair, a big beard, and he was painfully skinny.
His clothes were a little ragged, torn, and loose. His eyes were bloodshot and
missing. This is an important visual to retain. Sonically they sounded just fine,
but for some reason they quickly spent the patience of the audience. It wasn't
long before people began to shift and murmer. Some left. The singer apparently
sensed this and decided to step it up a bit. He took his shirt off. Bad move.
Not only was he hard to look at, but his pants hung so low that you could see
half his butt and an uncomfortable amount of pelvic area. More people left. And
then it got a little nasty. A group of drunk locals started heckling him, screaming
out "you suck", "cut your hair". One woman in particular fondly remarked, "get
off the stage, Jesus!" So being the collected front man that he was he retorted
with how she deserved to be raped and other horrible things. At this point we
all left. It was ugly. Outside we waited patiently until they finished their set,
and then to our total shock, in a bizarre turn of events, the owner asked the
band to go on for a few more songs! So it all started over again. By the time
the smoke cleared, and I mean that literally because it was the only smoking bar
in all of California, Ben and I decided to skip our set so that Count the Stars
could go on before it got too late. For the few people who remained CTS were a
welcomed relief and we all had a great time. The other band was overheard complimenting
themselves on a great show. I was also told that one of them overdosed behind
a dumpster later that night. Take this as a lesson kids. Drugs are baddddd! At
least to the people that have to watch you...So that was almost our first gig
in Orange County, but...it wasn't. The next day we played at Spaceland in Hollywood.
Chris was in attendance and a few days later he officially joined the band. We
rehearsed three times in my sister-in-law's living room, got yelled at by the
landlady, and then played a show at the Knitting Factory with SnMnMnM and the
B-Sides. SnMnMnM uses a tuba as their bass and mixes in a little accordian. It's
brilliant. In hindsight, however, it was rediculous for us to play so soon with
a new drummer. Over the next couple of weeks I negotiated a contract with our
new managers Ryan Rosoff and Paul Holbrook. They had offered me a management deal
back when I was still an acoustic act. I had sent Ryan the record in hopes he
would hook up a show for me in his town, but he offered to do a lot more than
that. We talked periodically over the next two months and we decided that it was
the right thing to do. He's an idealist just like everyone in the band, so it
just felt right. We met him for the first time in Arizona at our second show as
a three piece. It was Bisbee, a cooky little mining town with lots of funny hippys.
Pulling into town was like driving straight into a model railroad set. The town
is wedged among dry Arizona mountains rich with copper. Our performance was poor
at best. Ben was trying to use a baritone guitar to fill in the missing low end,
and like a bunch of desperate monkeys we actually thought it was a good idea.
When we first saw that beast in the store we said "hey we don't even need a bass
player!" Bad idea. Somehow Ryan saw past it all and signed us anyway. Two cool
guys named Ethan and David also saw through it and asked to set up our next show
in Bisbee. Therefore, as has become the theme of Jupiter Sunrise, things worked
out well despite ourselves. Under Ryan's suggestion we returned to LA determined
to find a bass player. Our search didn't last long because a little earlier in
the month we had met Aaron while we were buying Ben's amp at Guitar Center. He
approached Ben on the sidewalk while he was waiting for me to bring the van around
and asked a few friendly question. That struck Ben as a particularly nice thing
to do so he asked him if he played an instrument. Bass. hmmm...Aaron was originally
from Alaska and had come to LA for school. A biology major. A fellow nerd? hmm...He
told me he was a Belle and Sebastian fan. Hmmm...We gave him a cd, told him what
songs to learn, and then jammed a couple of time. He learned the songs fast, was
a really nice guy, and had cool hair, so he was in. Over the next month we rehearsed
for 200 more hours in our practice space at the musician's union in Hollywood.
We drilled with a metronome like it was the military. I felt so blessed to be
around dedicated musicians. By April we had finally created Jupiter Sunrise, The
Rock Band. |
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