The Life of a Shitty Metal Band Pt.1

We always used to hang out at Amadon's house after school.  We'd spend hours there, listening to music, cuddling with girlfriends, watching Amadon get baked on Ritalin.  Kevin was in a band at that time, called Catalyst or Toy Army, I forget which.  He had practice every week, and every week seemed to grow more frustrated with the band's leader. 

One night, we were hanging out at Amadon's as was our routine, and Kevin had to leave for band practice.  I joked with him as he was leaving, saying we'd steal him and make our own band.  After he left, I turned to Amadon and confessed that I wasn't really joking.  I had been thinking about it for some time now, and wanted to start a band.  Amadon in turn confessed he wanted to learn guitar for that same reason.  My original intention was just to sing, but Amadon suggested I learn guitar with him.

I had a couple songs written by that point, and decided to sing for him, after which he demanded I learn guitar as well.  We brought it up to Kevin the next night, and I sang for him and April.  What a humbling experience that was!  April replied, "That was...interesting".  No joke, she said those very words, and I knew exactly what they meant. Kevin, however, was on board with the idea and soon joined us.

Amadon bought his first guitar about a month later from a classmate who was in another band called Alien Underground.  It was a Dean Firecrackle with a stained wood finish, standard body.  Every time Amadon got up to go to the bathroom, I grabbed the guitar and fooled around with it.  Soon after, he bought a black Epiphone SG and let me use the Dean. 

Trying to think up a name was not very easy.  Amadon and I, both goths to varying degrees, agreed on Dark Harvest.  Kevin did not.  He thought it sounded like and evil loaf of bread.  Looking back, he was right.  We eventually settled on Dusk.  Not terribly original, but dark and brooding nonetheless, so we liked it. 

Finding a bassist was, and would continue to be, the most daunting task we've ever faced.  Our first bassist was Adam, a skater who got me into The Misfits.  He and I would jam at his house every now and then, though we never played the same song at the same time.  He broke his leg skating, and for about 2-3 months, I drove him about.  He had a lot of spirit and always seemed happy (and high).  Once I came to his house to find him lying in the doorway.  I asked if he was ok, and he replied he fell off his crutch, but was so comfortable in the sunspot he fell asleep (to this day it makes me chuckle).

Adam moved to California before our senior year, before we ever had a chance to practice with him.  We cycled through about 3 or 4 prospects, including a Scottish kid with a glass eye who never told the truth, before finding another skater, about 3 years younger than me.  His name was Derek, and we met him on Halloween night my senior year.  He was with a friend of mine and was making fun of her the whole time.  The first time I saw him, his head was shaved and he was wearing an orange jumpsuit with an "X" on his forehead. 

Derek was also a skater kid who liked punk and metal, and was into cars and antique planes.  Though younger, he would turn out to be a huge musical influence on me, and not in a way I expected.  A few months later, Derek, Kevin and I had our first practice.  We had taken riffs that Amadon and I had written and managed to make them resemble a song.  I was very excited, and the next time we were able to practice, we showed Amadon what we had come up with.  Our band had actually begun to come together.

To be continued...