Favorite Rock Moment

WerewolfMovies · Post by **WerewolfMovies** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

Some of you are jaded. Some of you are elated. Some of you are just starting out. What I want to know is, in your experiences, what is the defining moment(s) for you as a musician? What really makes all the bullshit worthwhile?

I have a couple...in ascending order:
8. Drunk off of my ass jumping into the pool (at 4 am) while the lead guitarist is jumping off of the house... desperately hoping that the 'Cher Freak' doesn't find Brian.
(Running sound for Echo Chamber...which I miss by the way)
7. Playing my first show ever at my old high school... back in those days, I didn't sing, I just played (if you could call it that) the guitar.
(The Ponies)
6. Halloween party at a friend of the band's house. Being made to play an encore of Paint it Black. Being told later that the neighbors wanted us to turn it up... instead of down!
(Act 64... now known as Echo Chamber)
5. Polishing off a bottle of wine, by myself, followed by writing one of the best songs I have written as a musician. Then, reinventing the same song in a new band two years later.
(Divine Lies)
4. Beginning to record with my band. Hearing yourself on a disc is fucking amazing...especially when you are doing the recording in house.
(End of the Sun)
3. Winning a battle of the bands while having fun doing so...
(Straight to Video)
2.The time we rented out a fire hall, didn't even break even, but had 50 or so of the greatest fans to see us play. There were several people singing along to our original material... and to me, there is no better feeling than that in the world of Rock. It was also one of the last times I saw a good friend of mine before he died in a house fire.
(Straight to Video with Rampart as our guests)
1.Playing for 150-200 college kids at a Shippensburg Battle of the Bands. The energy was off the charts. We didn't win, but who gives a shit?... it's the playing that makes it worthwhile for me.
(Straight to Video)

I'm anxious to see what awaits me down the road with End of the Sun...
Only time will tell.

Jeremy B.[/i]

Plastered Bastards · Post by **Plastered Bastards** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

10. Playing in Toronto and Montreal last year with Born Dead Icons ( WOW we were drunk,really drunk)
9. Playing my first show ever in '87
8. Doing 28 dates in 30 days across the US in '94
7. Playing ABC No Rio and Gilman Street (Tie)
6. The first time I seen Neurosis in 1991
5. Playing with MDC and Tribe 8 in State College
4. My 2nd show with The Insignificant and opening for Born Against in Connecticut
3. Playing in front of about 800 people in Chicago with Aus-Rotten
2. The first time I held a record in my hand,of a band that I was in. That was in '91.
1. Going on tour in Europe and now planning our 2nd trip for September.

J Michaels · Post by **J Michaels** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

In no particular order....

Playing Cowboys from Hell at the Crowbar in State College 2 days after
Darrell's death. We (Big Bang Theory) were just the opening band, but the crowd roared as we finished that tune.

Ghettofest, Friday the 13th of October, 1989 - Oxford, OH, - played before about 600-800 people basically in a parking lot behind some rental houses. 2 dozen kegs of beer, my homemade drumriser 3 feet off the ground (I was drumming back then), and all I could see in front of us was people, singing along and having a blast. I was throwing drumsticks into the crowd like I was Tommy Lee.

Opening for Eddie Money, 2002 - did the Superleap (a la David Lee Roth - see my avatar) off the drumriser during Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love and got a big ovation. Ran myself out of breath on the huge stage at the Pat Garrett Amphitheater to the point where I could barely sing at the end of our set. But I had a blast!

Recording with Lychesis over the last year, hearing something I basically wrote in the shower turn into a song with harmonies and layers and really become a solid composition. Then getting the tremendous feedback from you all here and a couple other places about that song. Too cool.

Good topic.....

daveb · Post by **daveb** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

No particular order:

Holding the Ask A Stranger CD in my hand '91

Working with Rick Witkowski (and having him ask if he could play on our song)

Playing in Buffalo NY between Kim Mitchell and Lindsy Buckingham

Hearing our song on WDVE

Hanging out on the air with Jim Price.

Having the Project Twelve(34) CD go to # 2 on the Amazon Indie Chart!
(Really, that's probably the best feeling)

Standing on the same stage that Stevie Ray had stood on just the night before.

Being able to get back in front of crowds after 10 years off!!

Having a wife that doesn't get on my shit for being a part time musician! Maybe that's number 1

UNEARTHA7XMatt · Post by **UNEARTHA7XMatt** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

Playing at Peabody's in Cleveland with Soilwork! Hanging out afterwards with Soilwork and hittin the smoking patio with Sven and Ola of Soilwork. Wont ever forget that night. Also got to hang out and have a few drinks with Waylon from Mushroomhead that night. That was the best night Ive ever had being in a band.

stratobastard27 · Post by **stratobastard27** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

...gettin' a snarlin' from a crackwhore in the bathroom is pretty high on my list!

Let me think about this topic, I'll be back in a day or two.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

daveb wrote:Having a wife that doesn't get on my shit for being a part time musician! Maybe that's number 1

God bless all of the significant others who support us in what we do.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

BTW, my moments that I can think about...

- Jamming at the Rayne Drop Inn a few months ago. Harry was filling in on drums since Eric had prior obligations that he had to fulfill after hiring him. Everything was clicking; the crowd was great; and I got to rock my cool hat that I had just bought off of the Deathmaster the night before. LOL Check out the photo. It's a little blurry, but I think it makes it "artsy." LOL

- Playing in the pit orchestra during my senior year of high school. I don't really look back upon my high school years with any sort of fondness(only people who refer to them as the best years of their life are QBs and prom queens who didn't accomplish much in life), but I did enjoy that gig. It also gave the Precision I had bought a few months earlier a good work out. By the same token, it was cool when I wrote original bass and guitar compositions for the jazz band concerts and saw my name on the program as the composer next to the composition credits of some well-respected writers and arrangers. Wow, I said "compose" a lot in this bullet point. I should have consulted a thesaurus.

- Playing my first gig with full front of house support. I was in (one of the many) incarnations of Driving Sideways with Paul Miller and Ed Sommerville. The gig was at the now closed Vallye Inn in Commodore. Mark Skero was running sound. Up until then, every band I had been in ran vocal PAs. I still remember when I plugged my bass in for sound check and heard what it sounded like through a serious PA system. I still dig doing those vocal PA gigs, but nothing beats having a full sound system and a competent engineer at the board.

- Being 15, and holding the CD of music that my father and I wrote and recorded together. Now, I wouldn't be real proud of the playing on it, but it's still cool that I got the opportunity to do it.

- Debuting our first original at City Limits and having practically the whole club walk to the front of the stage for it. Then it was really cool to get the feedback on Rockpage from a lot of people whom I really respect, even though the first performance wasn't perfect and Bag isn't Atlantic Studios.

- There are a lot of moments that I have on stage where I just can't believe that I'm doing what I do. I sometimes take being a musician for granted, even though I just do it on a small scale compared to national touring acts. It's a great feeling locking in with Eric on a deep pocket or Robby Douche' nails a complicated melody or there's a vocal harmony that just sounds really cool or old sKool's tone is really ripping through the FOH.

Okay, excuse me while I clean the splooge off of my keyboard and monitor from making this post.

Team Transylvania · Post by **Team Transylvania** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

Awesome topic, Jer.

Best moments for me:

Getting my first guitar when i was 15. It started an obsession.

Playing my first show ever back in MD with my band "Dead To One". It was an open mic night, we did 3 songs, and the people loved us. We were on cloud 9.

Getting the Bass Player Position in One Gun Salute. It got me in the local scene here. I met alot of cool People because of that.

FINALLY completing the Lineup for CONDEMNED EXISTENCE. It only took over a year.

Recording with Condemned. It was amazing to hold songs i wrote in my hands.

Completing the lineup for End Of The Sun. I knew this band would be special. We've been together over a year now!!!!!!!

Hearing the unmastered playback of the 1st song from the upcoming end of the sun record. I know the whole cd is just gonna kick some ass.

These are some big musical moments for me.

DMFJ03 · Post by **DMFJ03** » Tuesday Dec 11, 2007

For me, one just happened recently. The last jam night held at Dignan's Firehouse in Gallitzin saw Crow in the Snow make its first mini appearance. After we got set up, and finished playing "Standoff", the place erupted. I had to turn away because I was in so much shock and surprise that I was red. It was awesome to get that kind of response for something that was original, and more to the point, something I wrote.

Getting stopped in Wal*Mart...on several occasions. "Aren't you the head banging bass guy from Beyond Reason?" Yeah. I rule.

During my Ever Since Yesterday days, playing the Electric Ave in Houtzdale, and getting....um, ....heh, yeah....um, hallway....ROCK!!

Again, during the ole ESY days..."Aren't you that band that likes to throw up on each other?!?" That was freakin' awesome. A rumor, but awesome.

Getting recognized by some of my other local bass playing heros.

Everytime I am invited to play with another band. Even so much more when they announce me as "The Deathmaster." I get a real charge out of that.

Someone from Warwick basses contacted me via email to tell me that he thought my Crow in the Snow band name was cool.

Getting endorsed by Curt Mangan strings.

Rod (From Curt Mangan): What's your email address?
Me: *Laughs* Um....deathmasterfunkjae@hotmail.com
Rod: Wait...I seen that name floating around here on packs of strings...
Me: Yup...that's me.
Rod: Whoa, cool.

Those are my top fav's.

bassist4life2004 · Post by **bassist4life2004** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

Great topic! I have a few that i can think of, first one being

1. Playing my first (full band) gig with Act64 (now echo chamber) at the Noteworthy in Bedford. We were all pretty new to the full band thing, and we played 3 songs and totally rocked the place. Hell, i remember the songs we played. Paranoid, The Remedy, and Mentality. It was such a charge and made the practice all worthwhile.

2. Meeting my acoustic guitar player Ryan Gallagher for the first time and hanging out with him. It got me into a whole different realm of music that I have never appreciated, or never would have appreciated if i never would have met him. He taught me a lot about playing guitar and interacting musically with other musicians.

3. Every night Echo Chamber plays is a "moment" to me, or more like a series of moments. There are things about every show that I just cannot forget. And then some that I want to forget.

4. Playing a 4th of July party at a friends house with the band in 6 Mile Run. I learned a valuable lesson that night, and that is not to get shitfaced before going on stage, and I haven't done it since. The crowd loved us, but I felt like a complete moron. Had to keep asking our drummer at the time, stan, lyrics for the songs and how they started. haha

5. Seeing Echo Chamber/our pictures in the PA Musician magazine. It's just a good feeling to be in print.

6. Hanging out with my band members after gigs and discussing things that need work, or picking on eachother about a mess up in a song during the night, because we all make mistakes, and we all joke with eachother about them.

7. Going to After-parties in St. Marys with Matty (our soundguy)...eh...

8. Gigging in St Mary's, back to back nights, and hanging out at Erics parents house and relaxing all day.

9. Seeing people in the crowd singing along to the songs that we've written. It's truly awesome when you see people singing along to your songs without them being on the radio once every 4 hours.

So, there it is, the first 2 are in order, but the rest arent.

redawg · Post by **redawg** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

Here's one of mine.

waydowneast · Post by **waydowneast** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

find your cd at a yardsale. and see someone buy it.

DrumAndDestroy · Post by **DrumAndDestroy** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

No particular order...

-Making the switch from guitar to drums...decision came in one night.
-Playing my first gig ever with PA punk/ska legends The Code (The Fisticuffs)
-Playing another show with PA punk/ska legends The Code (The Scraps)
-First ever time recording ANYTHING at Slim studios in Duncansville. January of 2006...I was only playing drums for 2 months (The Fisticuffs)
-Recording a full length at Mr. Small's in Pittsburgh...the same place where Anti-Flag and 50 Cent have recorded. (The Scraps)
-Having Joe Queer tell you he really digs above mentioned CD
-Playing with the legendary Plastered Bastards (The Scraps and The Fisticuffs...in one night!!)
-Playing with skate punk legends Much the Same (The Scraps and The Fisticuffs...in one night)
-Playing my first gig at Aldo's...opening for the legendary Marauders (The Fisticuffs and The Scraps...different times)
-Being on the Backyard Rocker (The Scraps)
-Any basement party, backyard party, living room party, kegger, skatepark...any all ages show we have played and kids are right in our face...that's what punk is all about for me. (Scraps and Fisticuffs)
-Playing in NYC for the first time (The Scraps)

Very modest indeed...but memories I'll never forget.

WerewolfMovies · Post by **WerewolfMovies** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

You know guys, I almost didn't post this topic for the fear that I would be flamed...
In retrospect, I'm glad I did!

DirtySanchez · Post by **DirtySanchez** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

Starting my first punk rock band and pissing my dad off (Dysfunktion)

Seeing my dad come to my shows even though he "Can't stand that Screamin bullshit".

Seeing people sing the lyrics that I wrote, at the top of their lungs.

Finding talented musicians who don't take themselves too seriously to jam with (FEDUP).

Finding a bunch of also talented drunks who like to Jam on some punk rock with a killer hangover every sunday. (Justin Cuff and the Side Effects).

Meeting new cool people at local shows (while playing or just watching).

Oh yeah, the first time I saw my pic. in the PA Musician, I almost shit myself. lol

BDR · Post by **BDR** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

There are so many good answers to this question, but since Sanchez posted last, I'll start by saying that multi-genre shows we've been involved in are near the top of my list of favorite moments. We had a blast with FedUp when we jammed together at City Limits a while back and the Helping Hands benefit a few years ago brought together just about every genre available in the region for one cause.

Several years ago, in another project, I got to share the stage with Broken Neck, Fat Vinny and an acoustic act at a benefit at Peter C's. Lots of respect all around the room.

No ego problems, no rockstars, just a bunch of regular people with a like passion doing what they love to do ... and doing it together (yes, I said, "doing it together" ... grow up ... LOL).

These shows defeat the notion that we can't all coexist and work together. There are a lot of great people in this scene and meeting and working with many of them has been very rewarding.

r:>)

UNEARTHA7XMatt · Post by **UNEARTHA7XMatt** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

BadDazeRob wrote:There are so many good answers to this question, but since Sanchez posted last, I'll start by saying that multi-genre shows we've been involved in are near the top of my list of favorite moments. We had a blast with FedUp when we jammed together at City Limits a while back and the Helping Hands benefit a few years ago brought together just about every genre available in the region for one cause.

Several years ago, in another project, I got to share the stage with Broken Neck, Fat Vinny and an acoustic act at a benefit at Peter C's. Lots of respect all around the room.

No ego problems, no rockstars, just a bunch of regular people with a like passion doing what they love to do ... and doing it together (yes, I said, "doing it together" ... grow up ... LOL).

These shows defeat the notion that we can't all coexist and work together. There are a lot of great people in this scene and meeting and working with many of them has been very rewarding.

r:>)

You know Rob I was just gonna post about the Feight Jam night at Peter C's. Those were great. Everyone in the Scene gettin along and Jammin together. Not to mention The crazy drinkin binge I had on a Jam Night. Wont ever forget those nights, Dont remember when I had so much fun with sooooo many talented musicians.

J Michaels · Post by **J Michaels** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

Geez! I just thought of one I can't believe I skipped....

The end of night jams at the Rockpage beneift nights at Peter Cs - there were a couple - pick one - they were all amazing. Being onstage with Hurricane, John Solinski, Hugh Bast, Otto and imgrimm, toonarockguy, Vic Synn, etc. etc. etc. - unbelievable. Then to see pics on here and in PA musician - too friggin' cool, man.

Plastered Bastards · Post by **Plastered Bastards** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

DrumAndDestroy wrote: -Playing with the legendary Plastered Bastards (The Scraps and The Fisticuffs...in one night!!)

Why thanks Drum,I'm am very humbled by our band of miscreats being called legendary.
I have been called many a thing but nothing that cool.
Especially after 20 years of doing this out of love and nothing else.
As Jeff, our other guitarist put to me this simply, "We're just to dumb to quit." And he's being doing it longer than I.
The rest of the clan thanks as well.
We are humbled.
Up The Punks!!!!
Cheers!!

Merge · Post by **Merge** » Wednesday Dec 12, 2007

I have a hard time picking out my favorite moments. The recording of our first CD was a big moment for me. Having that and knowing that no one can take that from me, and hopefully being able to play it for my kids (if I have any, lol) one day. Hearing one of our songs on the radio for the first time was another special moment. It was kind of shocking at first, lol. It took a second before I realized that that was me on the radio. Being recognized in public and being asked to sign something is cool, but I think the best feeling for me is when someone tells me that our music has helped them or has made an impact of some sort. For me, that's a pretty defining moment.

EyesOfAnguishbassist · Post by **EyesOfAnguishbassist** » Thursday Dec 13, 2007

Probably my favorite is just anytime alot of kids are into our music and throwing down..

Or the time our band Send Her To The Grave played a few shows in a row and the one night we got a hotel with 2 other bands "where nowhere Begins" and "Those Who Fear" and we all crashed and partied the wholllllleeeeee night, man i felt like such a rockstar lol.

Or the other week when I was at a show standing there with my drummer and some kid started talkin to us about our band.. He was like "Man I cant wait to see Send Her To The Grave, there tunes are awesome!"

HAHAHHA or the best yet, when we bought a van (lets keep out the fact that the transmission went out and we havent rolled up to one show in it)

but it woulda been a rockstar moment!

Imperial Aerosol Kid · Post by **Imperial Aerosol Kid** » Friday Dec 14, 2007

My defining moments occurred in December 14-17, 2000. I was invited by Joe Skyward (ex-Posies & old HS friend of mine) to travel to Seattle and play for benefit show consisting of old Yes songs. Joe was able to arrange for Alan White to play drums:

We reheased with Alan twice and then did the show. It went amazingly well with a minimal amount of train wrecks. I was able to get a recording of most of the show (Alan's management was pretty touchy about media having Alan doing non-Yes type things...)

Near the end of the first rehearsal, some musicians from down the hall popped-in. You can see Duff McKagan (VR, ex-GnR) and Dave Dederer (Pres. of the United States) on the far left:

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