i dont want to think about it.

first proper band... My Sister The Cop.

I'm still in my first band. It's the only band I'm in right now. I've been in other "side" bands as well. They fell apart. But, we're still around. It started as a home-recording masturbation-type thing back in 1994. Became a "real" band in late 1996. We've only got a few actual vinyl records out there, and some cassettes and CD-Rs around. Might have another full-length and some 7-inchers out soon. It's a hobby. You can make fun of it, if you want.

http://www.aluminumknoteye.com
http://www.myspace.com/aluminumknoteye

we were called "infamous". i was in 7th grade - around 1988 or so. mostly covers - some dead milkmen/violent femmes/cure/rem - that sort of thing. i get a chuckle out of the fact there's a band called the same thing that practices at our practice space today.

my first "show" may have been earlier in 4th grade as duo with my old man on keyboards and me on drums playing "house of the rising sun" and "wipeout" at the school talent show. i guess that's not much of a band though.

"infamous" was actually with my friends and our debut show was at a neighborhood block party.

we were also nothing scary, but totally normal suburban kids. i got the name from scene in the three amigos.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EYdbxGNVzKA

see start and jump to 5:18 if you don't have the patience to rewatch a classic if you're not familiar.

In middle school, me and my friend Ryan started a punk rock band. Well, sort of. We couldn't seem to get the "punk" or the "band" thing straight. He played bass, I played guitar, and we got this kid Burns (nicknamed for his obnoxious facial hair, even at 14) to play drum s despite never having played before in his life. He bought a set, we learned a bunch of Blink 182 and Green Day, and just practiced all the time.

I stuck it out well into high school when we recruited another guitarist (knocked him out cold at our second practice) and a singer (who wrote "This Machine Kills Priests" on his arms in permanent marker at our first big show). We played at this dive joint called Manfreddie's Pizza, got through one song before our friends got arrested. It was fun, we didn't know any better, and I feel pretty good knowing that about half the shows I've played in my life have been broken up by the cops.

I quit the band a week later. Then I joined a "thrashcore" band called Gnarr. That is all.

My first band was called the Customers. Typical 80's underground influenced band. Some hardcore, some noise, some pop and none of it all that memorable.

Our first show was at one of the local rock stations all day long rawk festivals. We played on the food court stage around 1 in the afternoon. I think the sound guy introduced us by a different name.

In over 17 years of playing out that first show is the only one my mom ever came to. She still asks me if I cuss in my songs like I did back then.

I remebered something else about my first band. We had a guitarist who was a couple of years younger than us, and an only child. Nothing unusual about that, but his parents were convinced he was going to be 'the next Eric Clapton' and had insured both his hands for a million quid.
We used to lampoon him for having a squeaky voice and dressing like a toddler. Kids are mean at that age (we were 13).

1990 - i was in Cyberpigeon who are credited in the sleeve notes for Carter USM's spotty lp.

we sounded kind of like a Joy Division/Sonic Youth hyrid. shit name but the music was good.

4AD wanted us to support one of their new signings on a tour. so we split up.

bass player felt that installing double glazing was more secure (quite right) but we didn't replace him. still have no idea what the fuck happened. insane. moronic in fact.

My first real band was called Incandescent Pennsylvanians, named after a girl I met on the beach one year on vacation in Myrtle Beach. We were pretty great by my standards of a band: we rocked, had fun, and didn't take ourselves too seriously. Some songs, as I recall, included originals "Violence is a Virtue", "Teenage Pope", "The Good Earth", and we covered MDC's John Wayne Was A Nazi and The Butthole Surfers' The Shaw Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave. Those were the days. I didn't even have a drivers license!