West Side Story Inspires Punk Rock Adventure (PART II)
CONTINUED…
Two of my good friends were forming an all original, post-punk band, and were looking for a bass player. I had always wanted to play in an original band. Dreamed about it. A chance to write my own songs. Play live in front of a crowd of people. I just thought it would be the coolest thing…
The problem? I had no experience doing it, didn’t own an instrument, didn’t particularly like crowds & at the time… definitely wasn’t punk rock. Add to that, my four horsemen showed up in force (fears & doubts double time) and I wondered, “can I even do this? This isn’t my scene, will I even fit in? Despite all of that, I persuaded them that I could do it, and that is how I became the original bass player of Blair’s Carriage.
Now, writing original songs is an interesting experience. The songs don’t exist prior to you writing them. I know that sounds simple, but when you’re doing it, you go through this whole process to bring a song to life. In the early days, I wasn’t the song writer, I was the bass player. I had to come up with parts. But now later in life, given that I am a song writer, I understand more clearly what Scott was talking about when he talked about the “process” of songwriting. The inspiration, the emotions tied to it, then, putting it out there… will people like them. How will people react to them? To you? Expressing yourself in any form is wildly vulnerable… and incredibly liberating all at the same time. I believe it’s one way to really “feel alive.” Everyone should experience this at least once in their lifetime: Bringing an original idea to life.
That first show was wild. After months of practice, we got a gig at local bar on Sunday’s “Metal/Hardcore” night. Every other band was either a Metallic cover band or a serious hardcore band and here we were… a melodic, post punk band (think early Green Day BEFORE Green Day was known, let alone popular). Talk about a surreal moment for me… Here I was on stage, wearing jeans & a flannel shirt, looking out at a sea of kids seriously moshing in Doc Marten’s & Misfits tee-shirts. I never had been up close to anything like it. Let alone on stage, in front of it! And, given that it was the first show I had ever played in an original band, I was really nervous. Would I remember my parts? Would my gear work… I thought it was wild. Absolutely WILD.
We played fast (to a degree, and loud), and once we started, I never looked back. The audience, didn’t know what to do or how to react. We really didn’t sound like anyone else on the bill that night…
You can listen to two of the songs from that first show setlist here:
But we got through it. And a few people actually LIKED IT.
After that, I was hooked. It was a such an an amazing experience, playing original music live. From then on, we were determined to do whatever it took to “make it.” At the time, I don’t think it was clear what “making it” was, other than perhaps getting a record deal or doing music for a living. We had no idea what it would take. Regardless, we quickly adopted an Us against… whatever kind of adversity would come our way. We quickly become a close-knit family. I am still friends with my bandmates to this day.
We practiced twice a week religiously. RELIGIOUSLY. I think for the entire duration of the band, we cancelled less than five rehearsals in four years.
Think of that: 5 out of 400+ times. That is a lot of time together, focused on one thing, with rehearsals running 2 - 3 hours at a time. In that time, we kept writing songs.
Early on, we booked shows wherever we could get them… in our hometown, at local colleges, at house parties, with bands we met along the way, in Providence, in Boston, in Northampton and anywhere in between… it didn’t matter.
When we could, we would go into recording studios and record our songs, so we had cassettes to sell to people at shows. Listen to a few of the songs here:
We made our own t-shirts, by designing, screen printing and baking them ourselves in our own ovens. Here is one of the earlier designs:
Over time, we created a mailing list and personally wrote notes on every monthly shows card, every month, to every person we had met. As the list grew into the 100’s, we still did our best to personally connect with as many of our supporters as we could, writing personalized messages to them. In the end, it would take a couple of hours to complete each mailer. We would put our friends and supporters on our guest lists, give them drink tickets and get them backstage to meet the musicians from the popular national touring bands when we could. We were unrelenting… and determined. And slowly but surely we got better… and more popular.
They say, “timing is everything… and luck is the outcome of hard work + being at the right place at the right time.” For us it was a bit of both.
Grunge/alternative music was just starting to break. We had become a “local” favorite in Providence and as national touring bands came through, they were looking for solid, up & coming, local bands to open for them.
We benefited and ended up opening for a number of alt-rock favorites at the time, including: Blind Melon (From “No Rain” fame, see video below), Guster, The Soup Dragons, The Smithereens, Material Girl, Morphine, Letters to Cleo, Buffalo Tom, The Wedding Present, Luna, Helium, Polvo, dig, The Edgar Winter Band, The Guess Who & Jim Carroll. The whole experience was wild…
In a span of about four years, Blair’s Carriage released a total of 20 original songs, had the opportunity to play 100’s of shows, was invited to do live radio interviews, had songs played on WBRU, the alt-rock radio station in Rhode Island, along with several regional college stations in New England and had an indie label from San Francisco, CA, Subcorridor Records release a limited edition 7" single on red vinyl. See the artwork and listen to the songs here:
It was an incredibly rewarding, lucky to be in the moment, adventure. I am still, eternally grateful to Scott & Jim for giving me an opportunity to join the band. I never could imagined all of the people I would go on to meet or the experiences that I would have. And, that experience, and the local success we had, continued to play a significant role on my life, encouraging me to keep doing it.
I continue to write original songs, sing, play & publish music to this day.
And we all continued to have success… After Blair’s ended, the guitarist and I, eventually went on to get a record deal with an independent label from London for 5 years. Our singer went on to get a series of record deals, eventually landing a major label deal. More stories to come at later points throughout the year…
I tell my story of Blair’s Carriage, in hopes of demonstrating what can happen when you take the time to understand, express an interest in YOUR creative passions and then take steps to start doing it. You never know where your actions of good intentions will lead.
So, I will re-iterate what I said in an earlier post. Pick ONE of the creative ideas from your response to this question: What are your creative passions, unique talents, or what do you love to do? Do the first 3- 5 things you need to do to get started.
You just read the outcome of what happened when I decided to do my first few things:
I had written down that I wanted to be a musician
Then, I expressed interest and asked my friends if I could join a band
I made an investment in my passion, buying an instrument
I expressed my interest by practicing & showing up to rehearsal
Imagine what could happen to you when you take YOUR first steps?
OK, GET STARTED. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?