Here's another story from the Grimpths' early years. This story involves how Curtis and I met and decided to start a band.
We became neighbors when I moved to Draper, Utah in 1992. We lived only a few blocks away from each other, but we never actually met until some time in the early summer of 1999. This is probably because I first became friends with the kids that lived in my immediate neighborhood, and there were a LOT of them. Plus, Curtis and Scott didn't attend the same church or high school that I did and that's where I met most of my friends. In any case, I didn't know them at all until we met at a boy scout summer-camp that summer. By this time I had become less interested in my friends as they started pursuing sports and other hobbies that didn't appeal to me.
I was feeling more and more alone and it was very refreshing when I met Curtis. We happened to be sitting next to each other for the long drive to the camp ground, so we struck up a conversation about school and music. Curtis was not a Mormon, and yet I found that I had a lot more in common with him than I did with my old friends. At this time my favorite bands were They Might be Giants, the Aquabats, and probably Beck. But I was also starting to get into this old school funk genre that really spoke to me. Curtis let me listen to music I had never heard before; Primus, the Residents, and more. Hearing Les Claypool's bass technique was one of the most exciting moments of my life. I continually borrowed Frizzle Fry and the Brown Album from Curtis during the trip; playing the CD's with an old panasonic CD player that drained batteries like a beast. Curtis and I immediately became life-long friends. Within minutes we were laughing histerically at absurd jokes and ridiculous humour consisting primarily of goofy alliteration. It was just what I needed!
After the campout we loaded our gear and headed home. Curtis and I sat next to each other again and started a very important discussion. Curtis mentioned that he actually played bass guitar and that his brother played electric guitar. He mentioned that he had been wanting to start a band for a while now. I think that at this point I knew two chords on the guitar. My dad had tried desperately to teach me how to play since I was very young. But I had stubbornly refused, promising him that I would never play guitar... EVER. This is probably because my dad played almost exclusively bluegrass; a style of music that didn't really appeal to me at the time.
I told Curtis that I played guitar too, though that was definitely a lie. Immediately we started plotting and planning the future of the band. We would be on the radio in a few months. We were so naive. It soon became sharply apparent that this idealized plan would most certainly take years and years to come to fruition. That was 10 years ago. Hopefully now the Grimpths are at a point where success is possible.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Some stories from the Grimpths early years...
One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to read deeply into bands that I was passionate about. I used to study for hours about groups like the Aquabats, They Might Be Giants, the Beatles, Frank Zappa, The Residents, King Crimson, Parliament Funkadelic and more. This blog, therefore, is dedicated to our real fans; the kind of fans that will actually read this blog at 2am when they have school or work in the morning. Those are the fans that really care about something more than the newest Disney-produced plastic zombie-drone sent here to torture and manipulate you. Those are the fans that will let our music truly inspire and change them. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, here's a fun story about the first show ever performed by original members of the Grimpths (then called Ez Cheez).
It was in the Fall of 1999. Back then, this was our lineup: Scott and I both played little $100 strat knockoffs. Mine had stickers of the bands Screaching Weasel and Stretch Armstrong, and a Carl's Jr. sticker that said "Eat Meat." Curtis was on his black 5-string ibanez bass with a frizzle-fry sticker on front, and Scott's friend Brett was on a cheesy little matte-blue drum set. Anyway, we thought we were sure to be famous in a few months and touring the country in a year.
We had practiced a total of about 5 times before this performance. Sadly, the show was little more than a backyard birthday party for one of my middle-school friends named Shannon Shackelford. We brought our PA system, which was a borrowed karaoke machine with one 10" speaker and two mic inputs. And we brought two microphones. They were these crazy, thin silver-gray mics from the 60's that shocked you if you touched your lips to them. And they didn't pick up sound very well so we improvised by sticking these foam drink-holders over the mic that funneled our voice directly into the mic. We had to stick our whole mouth into the foam mic-holder for the mic to really pick up the sound, it was really awful and I'm sure we looked like complete turds. I brought a guitar amplifier that I borrowed from my brother-in-law, Scott brought his amp that came with his guitar, and Curtis brought his crate 100W bass amp.
That fateful evening we performed our one song that we'd written together: "Hat Hair." It was a horrendous song. We also played "To Defy the Laws of Tradition" by Primus, "Constantinople" and "Hello Skinny" by the Residents, and "The Guitar" by They Might Be Giants. Needless to say, our audience of 6 or 7 people was really not prepared for four awkward kids to play songs by the Residents at them with as much talent as a potato stew. But I think the funniest part was when I was trying to sing "The Guitar." My family came to support me and my dad (who is an amazing musician) kept pushing the foam drink-holder/microphone into my face as I was trying to sing. I knew he was trying to help, but man was it annoying
I'm sure we played really horribly and I can still remember the vague compliments our friends gave us after the show. Unfortunately, we never got video of that performance. But we do have some photos. Here they are:
It was in the Fall of 1999. Back then, this was our lineup: Scott and I both played little $100 strat knockoffs. Mine had stickers of the bands Screaching Weasel and Stretch Armstrong, and a Carl's Jr. sticker that said "Eat Meat." Curtis was on his black 5-string ibanez bass with a frizzle-fry sticker on front, and Scott's friend Brett was on a cheesy little matte-blue drum set. Anyway, we thought we were sure to be famous in a few months and touring the country in a year.
We had practiced a total of about 5 times before this performance. Sadly, the show was little more than a backyard birthday party for one of my middle-school friends named Shannon Shackelford. We brought our PA system, which was a borrowed karaoke machine with one 10" speaker and two mic inputs. And we brought two microphones. They were these crazy, thin silver-gray mics from the 60's that shocked you if you touched your lips to them. And they didn't pick up sound very well so we improvised by sticking these foam drink-holders over the mic that funneled our voice directly into the mic. We had to stick our whole mouth into the foam mic-holder for the mic to really pick up the sound, it was really awful and I'm sure we looked like complete turds. I brought a guitar amplifier that I borrowed from my brother-in-law, Scott brought his amp that came with his guitar, and Curtis brought his crate 100W bass amp.
That fateful evening we performed our one song that we'd written together: "Hat Hair." It was a horrendous song. We also played "To Defy the Laws of Tradition" by Primus, "Constantinople" and "Hello Skinny" by the Residents, and "The Guitar" by They Might Be Giants. Needless to say, our audience of 6 or 7 people was really not prepared for four awkward kids to play songs by the Residents at them with as much talent as a potato stew. But I think the funniest part was when I was trying to sing "The Guitar." My family came to support me and my dad (who is an amazing musician) kept pushing the foam drink-holder/microphone into my face as I was trying to sing. I knew he was trying to help, but man was it annoying
I'm sure we played really horribly and I can still remember the vague compliments our friends gave us after the show. Unfortunately, we never got video of that performance. But we do have some photos. Here they are:
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