The Strange World of Davidh - Chapter 5

The Strange World of Davidh - Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE (Originally Written and Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006)

 "Four Friends and a Band"

     Jay's friend Tony had mentioned if we were still looking for a bass player he was available, meanwhile i had expressed interest to my friend Marc Peterson about acquiring him for this new band as the vocalist. One extra thing Marc would bring to the band is that he also played guitar, this allowed me to get better at playing leads in a live situation and to get better at improving leads. Back in December of 1997 i had the chance to meet Tony at a party, me and Brance were taking full 12oz shots of Bacardi and i was wasted out of my mind when i met Tony and told him we were destined to play together, i was just drunk being crazy but the words i spoke that night turned out to be the truth and would change the course of my life as i knew it.

    Me, Marc and Jay go way back, as previously stated in other blogs. We have always been around each other creating, be it a song, a movie, or even a wrestling match back in the 6th grade...we were always putting something together. I asked Jay to call up Tony and we all met up at Jay's house to feel each other out musically. Tony was a guitar player who had decided to play bass so his style was that of a guitar player, he used a pick and played the most basic of bass lines which was perfect for us, one of the odd things was that Marc played acoustic guitar. This was something we (Jay and I) weren't used to, in hindsight i am rather glad he did because it gave us a more unique sound and keep us in the habit of writing softer music with melodies as opposed to just thrashing around in distortion, it helped me grow as a musician and a writer.

    Not to long after we formed the band we were asked to play at one of our friend's house, Josh Michie, we set up in his garage and played what we knew and improvised the rest, i believe at the time we only had about 4 songs written. One of the songs we improvised in the set would become a Bliss standard, "Josh Michie", a song that was basically used to raise the spirits of the audience and name check anyone we knew who was there watching us at any given moment, the song was performed at almost every single show in 1998 and 1999, by 2000 i think we had more than enough material to play full shows and it was just phased out for that reason. Another thing to go on in the early days of Bliss was the use of three vocal mics, this wasn't done at shows but rather at practice, (in my opinion, in the early days it was way more entertaining to see a practice then a show) we recorded many improv songs featuring myself, Jay, and Marc on vocals, songs ranged from lyrics about South Park (which was just becoming popular at the time) to Jay's neighbors use of tanning oil. Just as a note, two things, one fun thing we used to do was talk smack to the neighbors on the mic which could be easily heard outside, they would eventually knock at the door, we'd still talk smack...good times, another thing is that Jay didn't work so he would just practice on the drums all day (he knew the way to get good) and when we would get off work we would go over there while he was practicing, you always had to wait until he paused so you could knock and he would hear you...you'd knock three times, he'd hit the snare three times and keep playing or hit the bass drum three times and keep playing, it would keep you in stitches.

    Meanwhile, when Marc couldn't make it to practice (which was rare) me, Jay and Tony started to riff on some metal and decided to start the side band The BomB, all instrumentals...although for a few short practices me and Tony shared vocal duties on a few songs. We officially only wrote 4 songs but had many loose jams we could improvise at the drop of a hat, this was my first venture into what i dubbed "heavy metal Jam Band" music, it was definitely some of the heaviest stuff i have been a part of and most rewarding to play.

    We had moved up to Jay's old bedroom by this time and practice was close quarters but it was good for us because it kept us close personally as well, during this time we recorded the only official Bliss song to be sung by someone other than Marc, Jay sang the lyrics to a song i had written that Jay latter titled "Guns", this also marked the only song Marc played drums on.

    On June 28th, 1998 we played our first club show at the now defunct Wipeout Eddies, it was a solid first show, good sound, the band was tight...it was a good night to introduce Bliss to the masses, funny enough, we ran into Mike Bright that night at the show but had know idea at the time that he would save this band from ending. During the summer Jay had found himself getting involved in things that were taking more and more of his time away from the band and eventually had to leave the group. Bliss would continue but the Bomb was over. Jay was my best friend and it was one of the roughest times of my life going on without him, we had played together for the last five years together and it didn't seem right playing with someone else, i have had chemistry with other drummers before and after but never at the level i had with Jay...he is the only musician i have ever felt a chemical connection to. Siamese Twins connected at the thought.

    Without a drummer it looked like it was all but over for us, we continued practicing with myself as the drummer but it just wasn't the same. We decided to call upon the services of our longtime friend and drummer Chad Cleaver, he stayed in for about 2 weeks but just couldn't commit to being in the band full time which was a shame because he definitely fit in and was more than qualified to handle the job. He brought new ideas to the band that definitely lit a fire underneath us.

    So, without a drummer again we decided to waste no time and try to get another one quickly, Mike Bright had been in and out of our lives since high school and he just so happened to be in our lives at this point in time as he was dating a friend of ours...luckily he was a drummer. One thing i forgot to mention in an earlier blog was that Mike actually had a short stint in Ultraviolet Dawn playing keyboards in the summer of 1991. We had moved everything to Tony's because near the end of Jays run with the band the neighbors had eventually forced us out because of how loud it was, one of the neighbors got Jay's phone number and left threating messages on his answering machine, one of those messages wound up as a sound byte in one of our BomB recordings. Within minutes of jamming with Mike we knew we wanted him in the band, his style was more akin to Chad's so we felt it was a natural progression into the direction we were heading, weeks were spent fine tuning the songs we already had and working on new songs. Our first show with Mike was a Halloween party at Josh Michie's house in 1998, most notable for playing an early version of "Give it Back" and the rarely heard cover of Radiohead's "High and Dry".

    Tony was having problems with his neighbors about noise and with nowhere to go and practice we decided to rent a storage unit at Uncle Bobs Self Storage. I called them first and they said no bands were allowed, but i had heard there were bands in there and i was desperate to find us a place to practice, so i went up there and waved the cold hard cash in their face and in 5 minutes flat i was signing a contract to rent a storage unit. The first one we got was way too small so we upgraded and ended up with 2 units with the wall taken down, a 20x20 metal room for practicing and hanging out (no A.C. and no heat, that was the only disadvantage)and we did a lot of both. One cool thing about this place is that we had 24 hour access to our unit, we could go and come as we pleased. There was a guy who was always sitting on a couch watching tv in his unit across from us, i think he must have lived there or used it as a hang out. There was a chop shop in one unit, also an old couple who had 2 units and when they opened them up it looked like a bomb had gone off, papers, books, and random crap just falling out all over the place, there were also about 5 other bands in there as well. Our good friend and Mike's brother in law, Lobo, had a band in there at one time. Once we caught one of the bands trying to break into our unit, that eventually became so much of a problem all the bands in the end were all asked to leave, lucky for us the burden of the monthly bill got us out of there before we were asked to leave, we did spend a year there though. It was a cool setup we had in there, one 10x10 space was the chilling quarters, a sofa, a table, lots of stretching room, and the other 10x10 space was our band setup, you could easily come and enjoy a practice if you wanted to. I was always in fear we would lose the unit due to partying and if i remember correctly we were put on a midnight curfew for about a month one time for rowdiness, the woman who ran the place lived above the office so she was always keeping an eye on everything. I'm glad we got to be a part of the lost art of using a storage unit as a practice place.

    During our days at Uncle Bob's we started playing a place called Erlinda's, a part time karaoke bar / Asian eatery, a friend of Mike's ran the place and was more than happy to have us play there, the first night we played was very impromptu, we were actually just visiting and checking the place out, Tony wasn't with us so i played bass. We played there many times over the next year and a half but i think towards the end we had worn out our welcome, we weren't drawing new people because we played there to much and so we just kinda stopped playing there. I will never forget the night Mike tricked me into eating squid, i was under the impression it was onion rings, quite drunk and hungry i started chowing down, needless to say, after that i ate rice only when playing there. Erlinda's was a place where we would always try new material for 2 reasons, one, it was a party atmosphere so we were comfortable and 2, we would sit behind the building and just get trashed before we would go on so we just didn't care, i remember one show where Tony just passed out on stage after we were done playing. Also, i think bars should ply you with free alcohol when you play, unfortunately this is not the case, we would sneak beers into Erlinda's all the time but got caught when we started bringing in longnecks and they didn't sell them at the bar...fun times

    We needed somewhere to go and the only place left for us to go was Mike's house, this turned out to be the best thing we ever did because in the 5 years and many bands that played there the cops were never called, neighbors never complained, infact they embraced it. We started playing parties at Mark Haynes house around this time as well, funny thing is we never recorded these shows except for one and i wish that we had recorded them all, they were some of the best shows we ever played. Mike threw a lot of parties at his house as well which we would always play at, the nights would always end with all of us in drunken shambles playing the wrong instruments. A few shows that stick out in my mind from this time are the New Years Eve party we played to start the year of 1999 at the American Legion, a fun drunken new years party with no one we knew, the Bethel Park gig we played in a light drizzle of rain which was perfect for the mood and the music, the YMCA gig we played where no one showed up and the last ever Marc Haynes party we ever played, a very good show and the last show we would play before we broke up.

    In August of 1999 we headed into Wintersound Studio in Gloucester, Va. to record our debut cd, we spent a lot of money for us (about 900 dollars) and a lot of time (2 weeks)and the end result was very rewarding, we put all we had into the recordings and it shows. We recorded 11 songs, 9 originals and 2 covers, layers and layers of guitars and vocals, we definitely made the record how we heard it in our heads for all those years.

    Unfortunately there is always an end and towards the end i had kinda lost interest in the direction the band was going, i was looking to get back into the heavier side of myself and it looked like it was the right time to do it. During the last few weeks we were together, Marc had gone out of town with his girlfriend and we were expected to play on New Years Eve at Mike's House, with Marc gone we didn't know what we going to do so we called Andy and with a weeks time left before the show we rehearsed about 10 songs, wrote a new one and played a fantastic show. A great feeling yet a guilty one as well. It's hard when you want to do something new and a friends feelings hang in the balance, deep down inside i knew he was growing restless too...things were sketchy for awhile with Marc after this but true friendship prevailed and i'm glad, i grew up with Marc and to not have him around to talk to, create with and laugh with would just be no fun. Just a note, during this time i recorded very few solo works as i was entirely focused on the band.

    The Spirit of 6ft Ghoul was alive and well, but it wasn't quite ghoulish without Jay, and it wasn't quite the same without the comradeship of Marc, but we forged on with a new direction, a new attitude, and a new name.......