Two Bands Meeting

On the night of July 27, 1992, I sat with Donny Brown and Brian Stout, both musicians from a very popular band called Water For The Pool, at a Wendy's in East Lansing, Michigan, and formed The Verve Pipe.

Both of our bands had just played a double bill at the Music On The Mall concert in Kalamazoo a few days earlier. We had flipped a coin that night to see who's band was to go on first. We had lost the toss, meaning Water For The Pool would get to pose as the headliner for the evening. My band, Johnny With An Eye, rocked the crowd for 45 minutes. We pulled out all the stops that night, at one point inviting a mop-headed Rastafarian local hero named Zuke come up and rap The Beastie Boys "Whatcha Want".

The crowd went crazy for us. Water For The Pool followed our set with some medium tempo-ed songs that weren't quite going over. There was an argument on stage at one point. I remember my brother Brad, our bass player, and I sharing a laugh over this unfortunate set. But Donny Brown was a great drummer, and ours was not. I remember listening to their set, and making the decision to call him the next day to combine forces. Both of our bands were at the top of the local ladder,and fighting for the best nights at the best clubs. Combining the two bands made sense.

So here it is a couple of days later and we're sitting across from each other, over our baked potatoes loaded with butter and sour cream, sipping on the straws of our huge fountain Diet Cokes, going over what songs we will play. Donny and I had both brought a notebook with our current set-lists written on it. Brian Stout was not one for taking notes. He was a lead guitarist, and "felt" his way through life, like guitarists "feel" the guitar solo before they play it. (This sounded good to me at the time, but soon I realized that Brian tries to "feel" his way out of most circumstances that may involve work outside of making music. No dead legendary guitarist was using him as a medium for hanging posters for the gig, or getting to a rehearsal on time.)

Both of our bands were cover bands, each performing only a handful of original songs. Mostly, we played songs that were favorites among the college students at Michigan State University. Songs by The Violent Femmes, REM and U2 all made regular appearances in our playlists. We sat there for about two hours, voting on which songs would make it into this new, yet to be named, super group's set list. In the end, we had a pretty good mix of originals that each band had written, and a handful of crowd pleasing cover tunes.

I was determined to make it to the top of the regional level, nothing more. I had already made a commitment to quitting the whole music thing by the time I was 30. I had two years left on the that promise to myself. I was deep in debt, having funded this hobby of mine for the last 5 years. I worked a few retail jobs. At this time, I was working for a sporting goods chain called MC Sports. I was stringing tennis rackets, mostly, to avoid having to deal with customers. I would string a racket, and sing melodies to myself, occasionally dipping into the back room to write a lyric or two.

So, this was going to be it for me. These were to be the last two years that I would pursue it.