My musical influences were back then Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, KISS,
Led Zeppelin, Chicago, UFO.. BOSTON.. Alright Chicago might seem like a
stretch but really they were a favorite when I was in school and would
serve as a base for my musical taste.. Boston for the Don't Look Back
album that I listened to quite often to play to.. I also liked RUSH and
thought that Neil Peart was beyond approach as far as being able to play
like him, so I made it easy on myself, I didn't play like him at all.. Nor did we attempt any of their songs..
There were different times I would "channel" a different drummer for different songs when we were writing songs.. At one point I thought of Mick Fleetwood for one song and yet another drummer Micky Curry from the Hall & Oates band from about that same time.. I wasn't above trying to play like other drummers, listening to them and trying to emulate them.. My playing would evolve from the loud playing of striking the drum really hard, to playing more on the rims and heads simultaniously which relieved my hitting the drums so hard to just letting the stick flow to the target.. It took some doing to get to where i was consistently hitting the drum head and rim at the same time on every drum in the kit except for the bass drum.. I later experimented with getting that louder and found the perfect way that blew me away.. I always wondered if that would have been our defining sound but it was a year after leaving the band that I discovered this way.. What it was was taking the opening part from a coffee can and taping it where the bass drum peddle strikes the head.. It made my playing faster and increased the sound quite a bit and made it hard.. I can't explain it.. Other experiments came with arranging the cymbals where I could strike two at the same time rhythmically where the down stroke hit one cymbal and the upstroke hit the other.. It made playing 16th notes playable with one hand, sort of a cheat but something I had to practice to get right.. This again was after leaving the band.. Imagine the ease of playing some of the songs, I would only be left with I wonder what it would be like.. And then the day came when I just stopped playing..
Certain songs by artists that we covered, when they come on the radio even now bring back the memories of that time.. Bryan Adams, we covered more songs by him than just about anyone there.. Songs like Run To You.. Somebody and Heaven.. They weren't bad songs and were the vibe of the era.. Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart wasn't a favorite of mine but seemed to be for the people at our shows..
The thing I liked about our light system is I couldn't see beyond the very front of the stage, it caused a blindness that was perfect, so I couldn't see beyond our monitors which meant if you weren't standing right at the immediate front of the stage I couldn't see you.. Until we got the back lighting and even with that I couldn't see, the back lights weren't as strong as the front lights were..
This isn't what I was after, I never wanted the band to end.. I wanted to shake things up a bit, maybe hoping that starting the rumor would make it start up again.. Something, ANYTHING.. I wanted to gig again but then again, I was a little relieved that the phone didn't ring again.. Remembering that feeling from contest time in school when I would do a solo and have to get it just right.. It made me get torn up and nervous as hell. I wanted to do good not just for me but also for everyone.. Was that undue pressure?? I always over think things as far back as then.. And so now I was hoping for.. I don't know.. On the one hand I wanted to continue but I wanted it to be us getting busy and doing as much as we could.. The music scene was going to change over the next few years and I thought as it did we might have been left in the dusty wake that sometimes happens to bands that don't adapt.. Grunge was actually an interesting sound and expression.. We had adapted well from the heavy metal hair band sound of the mid eighties to a more pop oriented sound of the same period.. We had that coexist for a time before we became the pop version pretty much exclusively.. Everything we did, it seemed the perfect time to do it in..
The most remembered gigs we played together..
The first gig for the cramp in my calf that traveled to my thigh.. Massive disappointment for that and I would chase the perfect gig from that point on..
The gig at R.D.'s before Thanksgiving when we would pack the place..
The New Years eve/wedding reception gig, we played at the Silver Dollar .. It was strange that I had always wanted to play a new years eve gig.. Also a wedding reception and we got both in one night, the longest gig we ever played started around seven and ended around one in the morning with the after gig party going until around five..
The time we played at the Dalton legion hall and had five people show up, and a fight broke out..
The gig at Gurley where we played in a constant downpour rainstorm..
The prom at Ogallala was great, a nice way to have an over nighter type of thing where we partied in the hotel.. Tearing up the room wasn't my intention but sometimes shit happens when you're tired and then drunk added to that..
The gig at the Lodgepole legion hall for labor day weekend, the firemans dance and one of the last times it was held in the building.. Yea we were loud, didn't they know that?? Did someone not get the memo on this??
The prom in Sterling where we got booted three times before we got our equipment set up.. Sound restrictions weren't our strong point, and playing at a hotel out on the interstate meant weary travelers but they should have put people in the outer rooms knowing that a prom with a band could be trouble and we were.. in a word "LOUD"... Loud and proud of it.
The dates might not jive.. From the very beginning to the end, there are dates that are completely a guess, and I even say so, that what might have happened at this time or that might be wrong or at the very least a guess.. Some of which was a stab. Literally a stab because I wasn't around the band that much, strange to say being in the band that I wasn't around them that much.. The off time when we weren't practicing which seemed like we were practicing all the time.. Towards the end of '88, before the final paying gig in October, it seemed like people weren't as interested in the band as they were possibly just the first part of the year.. Thinking back to that time I was sort of distancing myself from them.. I was never into that fan worship thing that most get into.. when I left the practice I was just me, and didn't expect any special treatment anywhere.. I wasn't ready for the end of the band, I wanted it to continue on but I wanted it to be a working band (gigging) not a studio or practicing band.. Practices within reason. It seemed like we practiced for weeks for each gig.. Perfection was never going to be reached, not when there is any substance use or abuse.. I can't say if there was a substance issue, abuse to the point where we couldn't practice because when we did practice mistakes were made but that was to be expected.. The band wasn't a professional band, it was a hobby that everyone took fairly seriously at least at one point.. But by the end of '88 it seems like the reason to continue was changing.. We weren't huge, in fact if anything we were falling out of favor amongst the throng of locals.. We were almost in begging mode, as I said, what with the buttons that were sold by '88 were being tossed into the crowd as a way to get rid of them.. How many had my face on them?? None if it were up to me to make them.. That was the one promotional thing we (they) did that I didn't believe in AT ALL... It felt too teenie boppery as it were.. I know our crowd was the 18-24 crowd where earlier it might have been the 21-27 crowd.. We were more going after the highschool crowd which I didn't care either way as long as we played.. But later I did regret that move but.. And it might have been the end of the band.. In the early going of the band Ernie wanted to get pictures to make posters and at the beginning I was reserved but decided it was the thing to do.. We had several photo sessions and I went along until the last one, or a very nearly last one.. I think it was the band as the core with Ernie, Joe, Rob, Dale and myself but I felt that Dale wasn't really long for the band and was proven right shortly after he was booted or left.. I felt that photo session was a waste of time, so I didn't show up..
After the extended break it gave me too much time to think.. I wasn't sure about things anymore.. I wasn't sure if I was in the band or if the band was still together.. There was no communication that I remember.. I felt that way in early 89.. And as we started practicing for my little brothers graduation I thought this really has stopped feeling like a band anymore.. I wanted that final gig and Ernie tried everything he could to keep it from happening.. I would provide the transportation to get the gear to the building where the party would be.. The guys were just sure the electrical setup wouldn't be good enough to support our equipment.. But it was, no problem at all.. The gig itself was a crapfest and I swore that would be it for me.. The new demo tape made me feel like they wanted to move on without me in the band and that coupled with the shit storm unleashed on me that night made my deciding to leave that much easier.. I had doubts that the band would ever do anything, at least with me as the drummer.. It just seemed like it was over for me.. I was bored with the routine anyway..
There was a question by me, after the end.. After the graduation gig.. After I left the band.. Or did I leave?? Was I kicked out?? I never knew, was there an official end of some sort?? Was there a statement that read "We the management of Destiny regret to inform any fans or establishments wishing to book the band that we are no longer a working band due to everyone wanting to get on with their lives" (aka our drummer fucked us over..).. How did it end?? My thinking was, on my end the final three months of '88 were spent wondering if the band was over then.. By the time March rolled around I started the idea of us getting together to play my little brothers graduation. A free gig that would be kind of a payback for all the free gigs I agreed to play.. The gigs we did for charity weren't my problem, in fact I loved playing those gigs, it left us open to do what we wanted.. The free gigs I felt the need for getting even for were the gigs for friends going into the service.. No big deal there either but I felt like if we did that for friends of the band, why not for a family member. Sadly the gig would be less than stellar as far as how good we were.. You can't turn off the machine and then turn it on again without a hiccup here or there... After that gig and being as pissed off as I was, and it wasn't just from that one singular gig, it was a culmination of all the five years, little things that added up to me saying enough.. Let's just call it a day.. So what did they say happened to the band?? What did I say happened to the band?? Interestingly enough no one here cared.. I knew few people, and they didn't care..
In '91 I stopped playing the drums.. COMPLETELY.. What happened?? I have no idea.. I just quit. It was such a bother to set them up and play.. So why not leave them set up?? I did leave them set up for about a year but then took them down and stacked them.. And that was the end.. Except for that day in May 2001 after tearing my left elbow up to see if I could still play the drums, a ten minute tap session on my little brothers set, I hadn't played, and then when my nephew got his drumset I played his for a minute.. That was the most I played since '91..
Even now, when certain songs come on the radio that we played I get that feeling of anxious excitement from when we played.. We played that song?? Remember the feeling, the stomach tied in knots, that feeling of hoping the drumset would hang in there for the entire set. I both hated and loved the feeling at the same time.. It was the best time of my life..
I did want to play again, get into a band and play music that bars set the list for.. Play great old rock and roll.. The fun stuff.. The reason I played the drums in the first place..
Badge Henry
(about the author:: Well the author of this little piece (massive bit it is) is the drummer (A.K.A. Chuck Davis) I don't use my real name on the internet..)
There were different times I would "channel" a different drummer for different songs when we were writing songs.. At one point I thought of Mick Fleetwood for one song and yet another drummer Micky Curry from the Hall & Oates band from about that same time.. I wasn't above trying to play like other drummers, listening to them and trying to emulate them.. My playing would evolve from the loud playing of striking the drum really hard, to playing more on the rims and heads simultaniously which relieved my hitting the drums so hard to just letting the stick flow to the target.. It took some doing to get to where i was consistently hitting the drum head and rim at the same time on every drum in the kit except for the bass drum.. I later experimented with getting that louder and found the perfect way that blew me away.. I always wondered if that would have been our defining sound but it was a year after leaving the band that I discovered this way.. What it was was taking the opening part from a coffee can and taping it where the bass drum peddle strikes the head.. It made my playing faster and increased the sound quite a bit and made it hard.. I can't explain it.. Other experiments came with arranging the cymbals where I could strike two at the same time rhythmically where the down stroke hit one cymbal and the upstroke hit the other.. It made playing 16th notes playable with one hand, sort of a cheat but something I had to practice to get right.. This again was after leaving the band.. Imagine the ease of playing some of the songs, I would only be left with I wonder what it would be like.. And then the day came when I just stopped playing..
Certain songs by artists that we covered, when they come on the radio even now bring back the memories of that time.. Bryan Adams, we covered more songs by him than just about anyone there.. Songs like Run To You.. Somebody and Heaven.. They weren't bad songs and were the vibe of the era.. Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart wasn't a favorite of mine but seemed to be for the people at our shows..
The thing I liked about our light system is I couldn't see beyond the very front of the stage, it caused a blindness that was perfect, so I couldn't see beyond our monitors which meant if you weren't standing right at the immediate front of the stage I couldn't see you.. Until we got the back lighting and even with that I couldn't see, the back lights weren't as strong as the front lights were..
This isn't what I was after, I never wanted the band to end.. I wanted to shake things up a bit, maybe hoping that starting the rumor would make it start up again.. Something, ANYTHING.. I wanted to gig again but then again, I was a little relieved that the phone didn't ring again.. Remembering that feeling from contest time in school when I would do a solo and have to get it just right.. It made me get torn up and nervous as hell. I wanted to do good not just for me but also for everyone.. Was that undue pressure?? I always over think things as far back as then.. And so now I was hoping for.. I don't know.. On the one hand I wanted to continue but I wanted it to be us getting busy and doing as much as we could.. The music scene was going to change over the next few years and I thought as it did we might have been left in the dusty wake that sometimes happens to bands that don't adapt.. Grunge was actually an interesting sound and expression.. We had adapted well from the heavy metal hair band sound of the mid eighties to a more pop oriented sound of the same period.. We had that coexist for a time before we became the pop version pretty much exclusively.. Everything we did, it seemed the perfect time to do it in..
The most remembered gigs we played together..
The first gig for the cramp in my calf that traveled to my thigh.. Massive disappointment for that and I would chase the perfect gig from that point on..
The gig at R.D.'s before Thanksgiving when we would pack the place..
The New Years eve/wedding reception gig, we played at the Silver Dollar .. It was strange that I had always wanted to play a new years eve gig.. Also a wedding reception and we got both in one night, the longest gig we ever played started around seven and ended around one in the morning with the after gig party going until around five..
The time we played at the Dalton legion hall and had five people show up, and a fight broke out..
The gig at Gurley where we played in a constant downpour rainstorm..
The prom at Ogallala was great, a nice way to have an over nighter type of thing where we partied in the hotel.. Tearing up the room wasn't my intention but sometimes shit happens when you're tired and then drunk added to that..
The gig at the Lodgepole legion hall for labor day weekend, the firemans dance and one of the last times it was held in the building.. Yea we were loud, didn't they know that?? Did someone not get the memo on this??
The prom in Sterling where we got booted three times before we got our equipment set up.. Sound restrictions weren't our strong point, and playing at a hotel out on the interstate meant weary travelers but they should have put people in the outer rooms knowing that a prom with a band could be trouble and we were.. in a word "LOUD"... Loud and proud of it.
The dates might not jive.. From the very beginning to the end, there are dates that are completely a guess, and I even say so, that what might have happened at this time or that might be wrong or at the very least a guess.. Some of which was a stab. Literally a stab because I wasn't around the band that much, strange to say being in the band that I wasn't around them that much.. The off time when we weren't practicing which seemed like we were practicing all the time.. Towards the end of '88, before the final paying gig in October, it seemed like people weren't as interested in the band as they were possibly just the first part of the year.. Thinking back to that time I was sort of distancing myself from them.. I was never into that fan worship thing that most get into.. when I left the practice I was just me, and didn't expect any special treatment anywhere.. I wasn't ready for the end of the band, I wanted it to continue on but I wanted it to be a working band (gigging) not a studio or practicing band.. Practices within reason. It seemed like we practiced for weeks for each gig.. Perfection was never going to be reached, not when there is any substance use or abuse.. I can't say if there was a substance issue, abuse to the point where we couldn't practice because when we did practice mistakes were made but that was to be expected.. The band wasn't a professional band, it was a hobby that everyone took fairly seriously at least at one point.. But by the end of '88 it seems like the reason to continue was changing.. We weren't huge, in fact if anything we were falling out of favor amongst the throng of locals.. We were almost in begging mode, as I said, what with the buttons that were sold by '88 were being tossed into the crowd as a way to get rid of them.. How many had my face on them?? None if it were up to me to make them.. That was the one promotional thing we (they) did that I didn't believe in AT ALL... It felt too teenie boppery as it were.. I know our crowd was the 18-24 crowd where earlier it might have been the 21-27 crowd.. We were more going after the highschool crowd which I didn't care either way as long as we played.. But later I did regret that move but.. And it might have been the end of the band.. In the early going of the band Ernie wanted to get pictures to make posters and at the beginning I was reserved but decided it was the thing to do.. We had several photo sessions and I went along until the last one, or a very nearly last one.. I think it was the band as the core with Ernie, Joe, Rob, Dale and myself but I felt that Dale wasn't really long for the band and was proven right shortly after he was booted or left.. I felt that photo session was a waste of time, so I didn't show up..
After the extended break it gave me too much time to think.. I wasn't sure about things anymore.. I wasn't sure if I was in the band or if the band was still together.. There was no communication that I remember.. I felt that way in early 89.. And as we started practicing for my little brothers graduation I thought this really has stopped feeling like a band anymore.. I wanted that final gig and Ernie tried everything he could to keep it from happening.. I would provide the transportation to get the gear to the building where the party would be.. The guys were just sure the electrical setup wouldn't be good enough to support our equipment.. But it was, no problem at all.. The gig itself was a crapfest and I swore that would be it for me.. The new demo tape made me feel like they wanted to move on without me in the band and that coupled with the shit storm unleashed on me that night made my deciding to leave that much easier.. I had doubts that the band would ever do anything, at least with me as the drummer.. It just seemed like it was over for me.. I was bored with the routine anyway..
There was a question by me, after the end.. After the graduation gig.. After I left the band.. Or did I leave?? Was I kicked out?? I never knew, was there an official end of some sort?? Was there a statement that read "We the management of Destiny regret to inform any fans or establishments wishing to book the band that we are no longer a working band due to everyone wanting to get on with their lives" (aka our drummer fucked us over..).. How did it end?? My thinking was, on my end the final three months of '88 were spent wondering if the band was over then.. By the time March rolled around I started the idea of us getting together to play my little brothers graduation. A free gig that would be kind of a payback for all the free gigs I agreed to play.. The gigs we did for charity weren't my problem, in fact I loved playing those gigs, it left us open to do what we wanted.. The free gigs I felt the need for getting even for were the gigs for friends going into the service.. No big deal there either but I felt like if we did that for friends of the band, why not for a family member. Sadly the gig would be less than stellar as far as how good we were.. You can't turn off the machine and then turn it on again without a hiccup here or there... After that gig and being as pissed off as I was, and it wasn't just from that one singular gig, it was a culmination of all the five years, little things that added up to me saying enough.. Let's just call it a day.. So what did they say happened to the band?? What did I say happened to the band?? Interestingly enough no one here cared.. I knew few people, and they didn't care..
In '91 I stopped playing the drums.. COMPLETELY.. What happened?? I have no idea.. I just quit. It was such a bother to set them up and play.. So why not leave them set up?? I did leave them set up for about a year but then took them down and stacked them.. And that was the end.. Except for that day in May 2001 after tearing my left elbow up to see if I could still play the drums, a ten minute tap session on my little brothers set, I hadn't played, and then when my nephew got his drumset I played his for a minute.. That was the most I played since '91..
Even now, when certain songs come on the radio that we played I get that feeling of anxious excitement from when we played.. We played that song?? Remember the feeling, the stomach tied in knots, that feeling of hoping the drumset would hang in there for the entire set. I both hated and loved the feeling at the same time.. It was the best time of my life..
I did want to play again, get into a band and play music that bars set the list for.. Play great old rock and roll.. The fun stuff.. The reason I played the drums in the first place..
Badge Henry
(about the author:: Well the author of this little piece (massive bit it is) is the drummer (A.K.A. Chuck Davis) I don't use my real name on the internet..)
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