h_P-x: Experience Number One

I was already involved in the local music scene when the fest began in the early 90s. I didn't pay much attention to it then, because the term "pop" in the title implied to me that punk bands were not allowed, and that was the only kind of music I liked at the time. So I tended the view the entire event as a lot of in-crowdy self-congratulation by some local "cool kids" with no use for punk rock bands.

"Hey man, I was into punk... WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN! A-hyuk a-hyuk."

In retrospect, I was probably the narrow-sighted one. I missed out seeing a lot of bands I would go on to like years after the fact. Nevertheless, not a lot of punk bands played the event in its first few years.

My opinion started to change in 1996. I don't remember who was responsible, (maybe it was my good friends in this band) but somehow, Old Band got asked to play an all ages show at the fest, with some vaguely like-minded bands, no less. I got pretty excited, and I wondered why we had been granted this attention after three years together. But there was MORE! We even got on the cover of this magazine! What the hell?? I thought "those people" hated us! Well, whatever. We were going to take any attention we could get, and run with it. The title of that edition of the mag was both silly and ironic.

"Punk's not dead, it's gone back to COOL".

It was the publication's "back to school" edition. Hee hee!

The photo shoot was pretty weird. We went out behind Paper Chase and struck some poses. CM was quite decked out, and not surprisingly was featured most prominently in the winning shot. LR, myself and белорус Рикк were just blurs in the background, but we were fine with that. I didn't like to be photographed back then.

Anyway, these unexpected overtures from the indie rock community prompted me to make a similar gesture of mutual acceptance. And that was: me wearing something special in the photo shoot. It was a t-shirt I'd bought in grade eleven (some 8 years earlier) of a local band that featured two future members of the famous Hali-rock group Sl__n. The shirt was, by that time, a complete disaster. There had to have been at least a hundred small holes in it. I wore a flannel over the top. Hey, it's the 90s!

A really funny thing happened not long after. I was at the magazine's office for some fest-related reason (I think I was getting our passes), and who was there but a couple of the Sl__n guys. With piles of magazines lying around sporting my band's collective mug, I could not stop myself...

(some small talk about fest, to break the ice)

"y'KNOW... (points to mag)... I'm wearing a KLR shirt in that picture."

Oh god, what a stupid thing to say. I felt like such an ass-kisser after that. I should have played it more cool. I guess I was just blinded by the Halifame.

We played at Cafe-O with...hmm... this band, and some other pop punk bands. I was in AN at the time, and I remember breaking not one but TWO strings during the same song. And here's something about me: I NEVER stop in the middle of a song when a string breaks during a show. At a jam, yes, but not a show. If a string breaks, find a way to finish without it. Improvise! Two strings though, was quite a challenge. I think we were covering a HD (the HD from Mnnpls) song, and I was singing at the time. What a moment! I don't remember much about Old Band's set. There was a good crowd though, and people danced a lot. That was important to me at the time.

Anyway, after that I had a better attitude about the fest. There certainly were some good punk shows this year, and there have been many others in the past.

Next time, I'll get into more current h_P-x talk.