MUSIC IS LIFE!
I was so pumped up after meeting one of my musical heroes. I got a new perspective on christian music and those that play it. Really no different than the non christian bands, the message is what separates. I swung back and forth between christian and non for most of my teens. Meeting Ian Richwine really helped open my eyes. (more later)
Equilibrium turned into Euphoria and we started practicing even more. It’s at this time that we bought all our gear including the e-drums. Nate was writing some really catchy and heavy riffs. We even had a song called “Kill Barney”. So rock n Roll!
Now we wanted to do a show! And because of Nate’s dad, we had a perfect venue, the church. The cool thing about being in a religious band is the instant fan base. The whole youth group turned up and even some parents. The luxury was so wasted on us lol. We had a “backstage” area and everything. Thank you Dan for all the support back then. You are truly a musical legend in my eyes.
The show was off the chain! We played all of our songs, even “Kill Barney”. We had planned to buy a Barney doll, fill it with candy blood and guts, and throw it into the audience for them to tear apart. However at the time a Barney doll was like $200 so we decided to just lead the crowd in a chant of “Kill Barney”. It was awesome!!!
We were all about involving the crowd. From chanting to singing lyrics back. One time, in church camp, we did the same thing but with Oreos.
When I was a kid, summer camps were a thing. Every summer you’d get shuffled off to what was propertied to be a week or two of fun but what usually turned out to be a bunch of young kids sneaking off to get into mischief. Church camp was no exception. I’ve done things with preachers kids when I was young that I can’t tell my kids. lol
The foursquare church we practiced and played in had a summer camp up in Occidental, CA, near Chico for all my Normal hommies. This particular year, we were the house band for the camp, sort of. They had a worship team but we were the ones that most of the camp were talking about. Nate and I would bring out the acoustics and noodle around so as to bring a crowd. The whole camp culminated with a dedicated show in the camps amphitheater. We played a song called “nothing but net” which was written for the camp. We played a few more songs, but when it came time to do “kill Barney” I decided to involve the audience. Right before we took the stage someone had won a bag of Oreos.
WHO WANTS OREO’S?!! I shouted into the mic. Of course everyone screamed. I began taking handfuls of cookies out of the bag and throwing them at the crowd. Ok I didn’t huck them at their faces, lol, more of a fly ball popup. They went CRAZY!! The staff and parents that had to clean it up after, not so much.
I was on top of the world! I had everything a young boy could want, except, when it came to girls. You know how you join a band thinking you’ll get girls? For some reason, my luck with the fairer sex has always been a struggle. Too much class clown maybe? Who know’s? It wasn’t for lack of trying though. I would sing and play my heart out however it always ended up the same way when I would approach a girl after a show…”is the -fill in the blank of another member of the band-single?” It was never me they were wanting.
So to my surprise I found someone at church camp and, like most summer camper experiences, I had my first kiss. I was 17 at the time. An age I still feel is too old to have to wait for a first kiss but I am happy it happened. I had a crush on a girl I knew through Nate. She went to a church in Napa, CA and I had seen her a few times before camp. Danielle. It was the only other time I experienced love at first sight. BTW, I’m married to the other one. I probably followed her around like a puppy. Unfortunately, she wasn’t open to “dating” at camp. I was crushed. Then I met Marrisol. She was beautiful and funny with long black hair. We snuck off after the concert and I had my first kiss. Marrisol and I kept in touch for about a year after that summer. We met up at a conference in Oakland once but it was very brief and I never saw her again. Wonder what happened to her.
Next time:
Those riffs sound familiar…