I was driving home the other morning, and had a thought to turn on a band I hadn’t listened to in years (Tuesday). My mind immediately went back to Freshman year gym class where I would end up meeting a friend who I’d spend oodles of time with in bands, snowboarding, skating, etc. I sent him a message which prompted in my head the thought of what would be one of my personal most influential bands.
I thought on this a bit, and had to scratch my head a bit on what I thought was the most influential for me. I first had bands like MXPX & Stavesacre pop in my head, as they’re some of the early “my bands” I listened to, and worked on my drumming to. But that was around 5th\6th grade. After that came in bands like ZAO, which I believe cemented a love for metal bands in my heart, I don’t think it was THE right timeframe yet (8th grade). Which circles back to the band Tuesday. No, Tuesday wasn’t it, but the band that formed from one of their members I have to say really locks in one of my most influential bands.
Alkaline Trio. No, not the most mom approved bands in the world, though far from the worst. Alkaline Trio was one of those bands that I believe hit me at the right time, along with the right circumstances. First heard while driving somewhere with my brother, the music just hit home. It was raw enough rock, but not over the top. Helping lock them in as most influential was drumming through several of their songs at a first band practice with Kevin & his brother Keith however many moons ago.
However that’s not what I think really did them in, but a late spring week when the parents were gone on vacation. I suppose I can bring this up now, ~20 years later. Yes, I still went to school, but late into the nights, my brother, Kevin, and I believe some others would drive around blasting Alkaline Trio while looking for places to skate. I think that combination of skateboarding, “sneaking out”, hanging out with friends, and at the right age just permanently glued it all together to really get to me. It also helped that as a band, we’d cover quite a few of their songs at the shows we played. I can even think back to seeing their songs & associated play count in WinAmp, seeing songs in the hundreds of plays each.
So that’s it for this morning. More so a trip down memory lane, which has me thinking about strumming through some of their songs on the guitar, and wanting to bang through some of them on the drums. Just might be on the to-do list here for the upcoming weekend. And I’d share pictures if I could, but I believe that no pictures of me exist in the 1999-2004 timeframe. I’ll save that thought though for another day.
-Andrew
