The people at Now even gave us a choice as to where we wanted to do the photo shoot, so naturally we picked our favourite record store "Rotate This" I can still remember the weather was warm considering we were transitioning from Fall to Winter. We showed up in our Sunday bests and met up with the crew from Now Magazine.
It was slightly awkward being catered to by the small group of people with cameras, lights, and makeup? Yes, correct. We were told we had to have our faces powdered to make the photo turn out better. Being the dirtbags we were, with the exception of Mike C., we protested as much as we could, but they wouldn't budge. We felt like a bunch of pretty boys having makeup applied by a young lady. After we got past that hump it was time to take some photos.
Rotate This had a few couches in the front of the store, so we figured that was as good of a spot as any to shoot the pictures. Once again we were faced with awkwardness, as the photographer posed us oddly and even went as far as to pile us on top of each other like we were some lovey-dovey boy band. We couldn't help but feel stupid, but we made light of the situation and busted their balls a bit. Especially Mike, who was by far the comedian of the band, always tongue lashing out some witty sarcasm and/or dry humour. I could tell we were making the Now crew uncomfortable, and rightfully so seeing as how they had made us feel uncomfortable.
After the photos were done, we sat down and answered a few questions that would be apart of the article. They were fairly basic ones: band name, band members names, what instruments we played, type of music, weirdest moment on the job, and upcoming gigs.
All in all it was fun and slightly painstaking at the same time, but we got through it without incident. Our only concern was were we going to look stupid when this came to print?
The magazine finally came out, and naturally we grabbed an abundance of them. Inside the first page we were surprised to see a small photo of us informing the readers that our spotlight was on page 31. We skipped right to page 31 and there we were in all of our glory. As lame as we felt posing in makeup, the photo wasn't all that bad we collectively agreed. I can't speak for the other two guys, but I definitely felt like we were moving up in the scene. Our "upcoming" gig listed was a show where we would be opening for "WOOL" a rough yet melodic hard rock/punk band from Washington.
The following night the gig arrived, and I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who showed up. Wool were fairly big, but were still an Indy underground band. I truly didn't know if the crowd was there to see them or us. I recently learned that our pals in Yet Another Posse also played the show, so I imagine there was probably quite a few people that came out to see them as well. We headed to the "backstage" area, which was actually a small, yet long and narrow enclosed corridor at the side of the stage.
As we partook in our usual pre-show activities of drinking free beer and smoking dope, Peter Stahl, vocalist of Wool, entered the room and took a particular interest in studying the bottle toke I was preparing. After staring long and hard with an intense look in his eyes, he blurted out "Are you cooking up heroin?" I explained to him it was hashish and what I was doing was known as a "B.T." Peter was in utter amazement stating he had never seen this being done before. Sheltered Americans I thought to myself. He asked if he could try one and of course I obliged. His face went red, his eyes bulged, and then he coughed up a storm. Peter thanked me and left the backstage area.
After the session, I went to the bar to get a beer, where I saw Peter standing, looking somewhat disheveled. He asked club owner Willie New, who was running the bar, if he could have a glass of water. His voice sounded like he had a throat full of gravel and wood chips.
I chuckled to myself and hoped it didn't compromise his performance abilities. Peter proved me wrong, and Wool rocked the house down. I really have no recollection of our performance that night, but I do remember getting great embracement from the crowd.
On the way home that night I was in a blissful state. We had made it in Now magazine. We had just played in front of one of our biggest crowds to date, AND we had played with what one might consider a "bigger" band than we were accustomed to opening for. Things seemed to keep rolling for us, and once again I wondered just how far the Grasshopper would jump...
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