I mentioned yesterday that I played the drums. I have always appreciated that instrument even before knowing Kevin. When I was in college, I finally saved up some money and bought my own set.
After a couple of years, I had been a part of a bunch of different groups and playing different genres. This entry is about a specific band of which I had so much hope. I don't mind sharing the name, which is Distane. Yes, that's what we ended up calling ourselves. Sometimes people would ask what it meant, and we would tell them it didn't mean anything. Then they would say, doesn't it mean being far away? I would say, no, you're thinking of "distance". This name was picked out of the blue because it was supposedly unique and sounded like "disdain" and people would be curious about it and remember it.
As for the actual members, I will give them fake names. I don't even actually remember their last names. I don't think any of us knew each other's last names actually.
On lead vocals, here is Mick Jagoff. On guitar is Keith Bitchhard. On bass is Ron Wouldifhecouldbuthecant. And me, I'm on drums.
One name I suggested to call ourselves was Grand Exit. I think it's lame now, but it might have been a good starting point for other options. Mick, Keith and Ron lived in Bayonne, and when they took the turnpike to practice at my place, they would exit at Grand Street. So I thought, Grand Exit would kind of cover where we were from. They didn't like it, but that was my logic as far as our band name, not picking out a random word in the dictionary and spelling it different.
We never played any covers. Everything had to be original because we were gonna make a demo and sell it. Somebody always had a friend who would help with recording or packaging or setting up an online shop. Never mind that playing known songs would have been great for us to get on the same page and just feel good about performing together.
We practiced in my little basement. Now that I think back on those days, I feel guilty about what I put my neighbors through. They hardly complained, and I just assumed they were okay with it. They were very nice to put up with it, but I'm sure they must have hated it.
Mick was always on time. Sometimes he'd get there early. He used to work at school, and one day I pass by his desk with heavy metal blasting from my headphones. He asked me what I was listening to, and I said Ministry. Or was it Megadeth? Something with an M. It could have been Metallica but probably not.
He said he was into heavy stull also and asked if I played any instruments. I said drums. He said he sings. We talked about maybe getting together someday.
One day I pass by his desk again and he tells me he met a guitar player who had just recently broken up from his band. We will call his previous band The Previous Band. We arrange to meet, and we jammed at my house. One thing I'll say about Keith is that he was seemed positive. The thing with him though, and I guess with all of them, is that this was because they always kept the negative hidden from you.
We wrote a few songs, and things were going well for three people just starting out together. Keith decided to bring in Ron, who was in The Previous Band with him. We auditioned him, and he seemed fine to us. We welcomed him to the band right away.
After that, Keith and Ron kept playing riffs and lines that were taken from songs they had made with The Previous Band. I didn't really have a problem with it because they sounded good with Mick's lyrics and vocals, and, I hope, my beats. After a few weeks, we had five solid good songs, and another handful of raw ones. Everything had to have a loud part and a soft part. Mick would always sing for a while and then scream, or vice versa. It was all very formulaic, but the songs were pretty decent so I put up with him. Also, now that I think about it, I kind of wanted to show my previous band mates how successful I could be without them.
As a whole, those guys were really no fun to be with. They were not happy with anything. Here are some examples. They made fun of my Sevendust poster because they said they looked like a boy band in the picture. They made fun of my musical taste because I listened to lighter stuff like the Goo Goo Dolls. They made fun of my musical taste because I listened to heavier stuff like Iced Earth and Shadows Fall. They said every Slayer song is the same. They would just nitpick about every little thing.
They asked why I had a spare tire on my bass drum. I said because we are in a basement and there is a spare tire being stored in this basement, and it fits on the bass drum. So I put it up against the bass drum.
They wanted me to show more energy as the drummer. I refused. Drummers have different styles, and I liked to conserve my energy if I could. There are plenty of heavy metal drummers who don't necessarily flail around when they play.
At one point they also wanted me to add beer kegs to my set. They said Slipknot has guys pounding on beer kegs when they play. They knew somebody who worked at a bar who could get it for us. They always knew somebody. I hesitated but I told them I would give it a shot. They never got the beer keg.
One night, Mick came to practice with a Jets hat on. It was one of those green ones with just "NY" in the front. I saw it and got excited. "You're a Jets fan?!" I asked. He said no. "I just like the hat." That was disappointing. The guy was always working out but never played sports. I don't understand that.
After only being together for a couple of months, Ron was able to get us a gig to play at this college spring fair. (His mother worked there.) It wasn't a competition and there was no pay, but at least we'd be in front of an audience. Earlier that day, Ron introduced me to his brother, Charlie Whatsupyourass, who was the drummer for The Previous Band. Charlie volunteered to help me with setting up the drum kit, and the whole time we played, he stood dead center in front of the stage staring at me.
We only performed five songs, because as I said that was all the solid stuff we had. We kicked ass. We received a huge applause, and Mick thanked everyone. Then the audience demanded more. We were all flattered. But now that I think about it, we were the last act and they just probably didn't want to go home. Also, we were only on for about twenty minutes, really. We played one more song, a raw one, and it turned out okay, I suppose.
A couple of days later, Ron told us that we were so good the college decided to give us something for our efforts. But get this. Apparently, Keith and Ron had this friend who was dying or something, or maybe they just really liked him, and everyone decided to buy him a Playstation or Xbox or something. And so everybody put their money into it, including my part even though I don't even know the guy and they assumed I would be okay with it. I guess I was, but it would have been nice to see that money first. Or the game console. Or were made aware of the plan beforehand.
Later on we played another gig at this VFW in the Heights. The acoustics were crap. Why? Because we were playing at some VFW in the Heights. It didn't turn out so great for us. One of the guys working there said I was playing too loud. How else are you supposed to play heavy metal?
We were supposed to practice the next week, and all three of them came to my place in one car. They decided to find another drummer. They were very careful about telling me, but I took it well. I just said okay. I was relieved, to be honest. It's not fun being in a band with people you don't really like. It was more of a business arrangement, but the business partners were bad at business.
It did hurt though. It sucks to be turned down anytime. But in the end, it was for the best. I can only assume Charlie Whatsupyourass took my place. I don't know if they changed their name, but I never heard anything about Distane again since then. Maybe they changed their name to The As-a-wholes. That's what I would have called them.
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