Debutants – Thanks for Asking!

Debutants – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: Love is a big part of music. We’re talking first loves here. Lots of cool stories about first loves and the things we do for those loves. Can you (or, in the case of a band, one member) talk about your first love, especially if you did something cool to express that love? (No names needed.).

Lauren: When I was 15, I met my first love. We started hanging out and talking as two people interested in eachother do. One night I snuck out of my house and walked over to his house since he lived close by. A storm was rolling in, as the lightning was lighting up the dark streets. I arrived and he was on his front porch strumming his guitar. I walked up and sat next to him as he strummed and soon enough conversation began, but for reason this time it was in british accents. As we began to sing together and harmonize, it began to sprinkle and that was the moment I knew this relationship would last a lifetime, even if we moved on romantically. Fast forward to today, we still perform together on occassion.

RRX: What was the very first reaction to your music, from the first person to ever hear so much as a practice jam or the demo of your first song?

Sean: As a teenager, just graduated from high school, I took my first trip to Ireland. I had been playing Irish music for a very short while at that point and only knew a few tunes.  I also hadn’t been drinking for very long and didn’t have a good sense of restraint or much of a tolerance for it.  In a small coastal town, known for the high quality of traditional music, I wormed my way into the session in the local pub.  After several pints, I was attempting (very badly) to play along with a song I didn’t know.  I thought it sounded great, but I guess maybe I was the only one who thought so.  After several minutes of this, a woman sitting close by leaned in and said, “Can you stop?  I’m trying to hear the music.”  I wanted to disappear.  I left quicky, but that has always stuck with me.  Listen first!!

RRX: “The best laid plans of mice and men…” I don’t really know the quote, but I know this one; sh*t happens. When we least expect it, calamity befalls us. Sometimes just comic inconvenience. Please tell us a story about some comic inconvenience that happened to you whilst performing?

Sean: We were playing in Vermont one rainy night and loading out our gear at 1am into the aging Volkswagon Vanagon that we were traveling in.  I took the key out to open the back hatch and proceeded to break off our one and only key in the lock.  Somehow we found a locksmith who was willing to come out to cut us a new key.  We couldn’t get the key out of the lock, but somehow he had made enough keys for that type of van that he was able to cut us a key from memory.  I’m not totally sure how that worked, but the key worked for the rest of the tour and we got ourselves down the road.  I remember standing with him in the rain, holding the umbrella while he worked on the key.

RRX: My singer punched my drummer out. Memorable moment, though nothing to brag about. But we have these things that, when summing up your endeavor, an incident comes to mind. What do you got?

Sean: One time, the band was split into two different vans.  One van had broken down and someone’s girlfriend had driven another van down to rescue us, so now there were two vans and a couple of extra people.  To pass the time, we decided to play a joke on the other van and called our buddy who was driving to say that the Republican party wanted to hire the band for a gig.  We knew that our buddy was a die hard Democrat so we decided to see how much of a price tag he would put on his convictions….bad idea if you are trying to keep a

RRX: We have to play somewhere, and sometimes those places have more going for them than a stage and a power outlet. What is a memorable place you played, and bonus points if it’s not a well-known place.

Jon: One time we were playing this homegrown festival in central Indiana.  Super nice folks and very hospitable on some private land, but sometimes, the weather doesn’t cooperate. It was a really hot and muggy summer night in August.  We were supposed to be the late night band, but then a thunder storm rolled in and we got delayed until the lightning cleared out.  So to pass the time, we were hanging backstage and drinking whiskey.  There might have been another lightning delay after the first one.  Needless to say, by the time we got onstage we were well intoxicated and really sweaty.  The sound crew was also feeling no pain and struggling to deal with a 7 piece band with acoustic instruments.  I think by this time it might have been around 1 or 2 am.  Finally, we decided to go for it and the MC announced from the stage that the music was about to start again.  I’m not sure of the temperature, but it was still ridiculously hot!  About halfway through the set, we all looked around and realized that our bass player wasn’t wearing anything but his boxers and the banjo player was missing his pants! After the set, we jammed pretty late and I finally stumbled off to where I thought my car was…I got lost in the woods.  Finally getting to the car about 4am, I put my bug net on the window and then rolled down the window…the wrong one!  When the sun came up, I was hung over and covered in mosquito bites.  Best festival ever!

RRX: You sing or you rap, you play guitar, play drums, what have you, you have no doubt struggled to learn music. Something probably tripped you up. What was it for each of you? What did you have to overcome (bands, pick a member)?

Ellen: When I was 10, I was on my way to my very first gig.  Our sibling band had been hired to play Pomp and Circumstance for the local homeschool co-op graduation ceremony.   I didn’t have a case for my cello, but so far it hadn’t been a problem…mostly because I had never taken it out of the house!  My sister helped me load it into the back of the van and we took off down the road.  My sister had been driving about a year at this point and could not have been accused of driving too slowly.  Halfway to the gig, we crossed a set of railroad tracks.  She didn’t slow down for the crossing.  As you might expect from an extended 15 passenger van going 60, the back end of the van got a little bouncy and actually may have gotten some air as we crossed the tracks.  When we arrived at the gig, my cello was in two pieces.  So I sat in the audience listening to the rest of my family play what would have been my first gig!

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