by Henry Crawford

When I was first offered this guest spot on the oh-so-popular OTBKB, I strained to figure out what to do. First I thought about doing something about the history of this blog from my eyes. Then I thought of doing one about my band.

I think I’m going to settle on the last one.

I remember the exact day we started the band. It was in the night, about 10:00, in February. It was snowing and I thought there probably wasn’t going to be school the next day. Ian, Jack and I were at Jack’s house. Jack was fiddling with his  guitar while Ian and I were jumping around singing along to a Queen song playing on the computer (probably "Bohemian Rhapsody").

Then Jack said, "Hey, guess what? I figured out to play: "Another One Bites the Dust" on the guitar." Ian had learned how to play it on the drums a few week earlier. Since the bass part is the same as the guitar, one of us suggested: "Why don’t we go over to Ian’s house and play it together?"

We all liked the idea so we trudged our big ‘ol amps and instruments to Ian’s house through 8 inches of snow screaming "Another One Bites the Dust" at the top of our lungs.

I have a distinct memory of not being cold at all walking through the snow. When we got to Ian’s we set up our stuff and got ready to  play. We played it 3 times and then made up two other songs (which we never really  used after that). One was called "El Diablo," a song based on a mariachi riff. The other song was a heavy thrash metal song called Dinosaur, which was Jack playing loud and screaming: "DINOSAUR RAHHHH!!!" over and over  again.

At this point we had no idea of starting a real band, mainly because we had no singer. But we continued to play together every Friday night. Then on another snowy day, we asked a girl from Jack’s school to sing in our band and she agreed and we were rolling.

For weeks, we tried to decide on a name for the band. The choices were: Vanilla Knights, Dynamic Spoons, and Arcade Opera. Then one day, Ian and I were playing a game and he said: "Henry, that’s cruel and unusual" and I said: More like COOL and unusual ohhh." Then we said, "Hey that’s a good name. Let’s do it."

We continued to practice until one day Ian called me up:
"Hey Henry, guess what?"
"What?"
"We got a gig."
"Awesome," I said.
"Guess where?"
"Where?"
CBGB’s"

We got the gig because Ian’s school was having a rock showcase there and Ian snuck us in. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. No only had we got a gig but at CBGB’s.

Now we were practicing more and more for our June 18th gig but then on April 25th I got another call from Ian.
"It’s canceled," he said.
"Fuck!" I said.

We were canceled due to bad planning on the school’s part. So after telling everyone about it we got canceled. Oh well, no gig. We are still very bitter about this. Then that Friday I’m walking with Jack and he says:
"Hey, we’ve got a gig?"
"When?"
"Tomorrow"

We got this gig from a friend of Jack’s who had dropped out at the last minute of the Teen Showcase at the Liberty Heights Tap Room in Red Hook and gave us her slot. We practiced all day and until 12:00 that night. Then we all went home and IM-ed everyone we knew about it.

The next day, we went to Red Hook in separate cars. It had a sort of movie sense, like when the elite team members drive up in separate cars, nodding to one another silently. I was wearing a white t-shirt that said: "Jesus is coming, everyone look busy." Jack was wearing a blue and white pinstriped dress shirt with a pink tie. Kenda was wearing her Rocky Horror t-shirt and Ian wore a simple white button-down shirt.

We played three songs plus one encore and it was over. We hung out with friends for a while then we all went our separate ways.

Afterwards, we continued to play and did two other gigs. But this is pretty much where the interesting bit of the story ends. I’d just like to note that in this short time we’ve been a band, we’ve broken 3 drums (1 during the first practice). We’ve also broken several guitar strings, performed 3 gigs, and have prepared 10 songs.

Henry Crawford has been playing the bass guitar for two years. His band, Cool and Unusual Punishment, plays at the Liberty Heights Tap Room. They just released their first demo and it’s available for $5.99 here. To hear 3 songs from the demo go here.  Henry is also interested in cartooning, movies, Mel Brooks, philosophy, and the history of the Mongol Empire.