Ahhh shit

What are you supposed to do when something is really bothering you and you know that saying it outright will get your ass and possibly other peoples' asses in trouble? The answer is simple: you repress that something and let it build inside of you until you fucking punch everyone one day. God it's annoying. But no no, I won't touch on that subject anymore tonight. I promised a story (I didn't promise shit to you assholes, I just want to tell one), so I'm gonna tell one.



Okay, I really am having a tough time (and Timmy's having a tough time helping me) finding a good eventful event in my life to tell you about. So here's my topic sentence: One time, I Forget was asked to play a show at the Teen Center in Romney, West Virginia.



Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I don't even remember how we got the offer to play this show, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Donnie from Unheard Silence asked us to play a show with them at the Teen Center and you know what?! I think it was for Valentine's Day! This is super appropriate for this time of the year! It was February 16th of last year. Dude, how fucking awesome I am for picking this topic. Here's the flyer, just to bring back fond memories.

Okay, this was around the time we were "finishing up our first record." Bullshit, I wouldn't say we EVER technically "finished" our first record. And the more I hear and play the songs, the less I care about that. It's like not finishing a painting of a man playing with his dick. Are you really cheating anyone out of anything by not finishing it? I'd say "not really," unless the people looking, or in this case, listening to the song are really fucking weird.

Anyway, in celebration of being so vein as to think we were almost finished our first album(!!!!!!!), we decided to dress up as cowboys in accordance to the album concept (We Ride! [WaaPSH!]) and also in accordance to stereotypical West Virginians or, in this case, stereotypical Romney citizens. (We were thinking about posing as a goth band for the stereotypical Romney teen citizen for our second album.) So I had to get the necessary cowboy apparel for the rest of my bandmates because we obviously don't all own our own cowboy outfits. I went to my mom's closet and to my cowgirl aunt. Here are some pictures from the show that will show you how awesome our get-ups were. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=65818832&albumId=1634208

Okay, so anyway, this was probably about our 3rd or 4th show EVER and that'd make it the 2nd or 3rd (or arguably 3rd or 4th, the argument existing in that the first show never existed) show of that era of I Forget. The era being the "Get Our Shit Together and Finally Start Playing Our Own Songs Era." And it being our 2nd/3rd/4th show ever, we weren't real sure what to expect. So what do we do in self-defense? Be arrogant assholes. This is especially fun and easy to do when dressed like you're going to herd barnyard creatures. The power behind a man in a cowboy hat, a fringed jacket, and a huge-buckled belt...it's fascinating. Anyway, so we decide to converse as hicks when anyone talks to us or simply when addressing each other. The never-to-die I Forget catch phrase of the night was (on the topic of Brittney standing in front of a Pepsi machine while performing) "I hope nobody wantin' them a Pepsi, 'cause I'mma be occupyin' that sum'bitch."

This was the show that I started to realize that I'm better than 99% of the drummers in the local bands. Nothing directly against Unheard Silence's drummer, Matt, but I just started to realize it that night. I also couldn't help but realize I have way better equipment than 99% of local drummers and that, especially at the time, was a very sad thing to realize. I let Matt borrow my cymbals for that show. He played a really shitty, really sloppy drum solo and asked me what I thought about it. Ha. I sugarcoated "It was shit" as much as I could without blatantly lying to him. I told him, and I completely meant this, "You'll get better" or something to that effect. Hell, if someone tells him I just said that in a blog, whatever. He's hated me since I said that to him, so it's not really going to matter. I think Unheard Silence broke up anyway.

This was also the show that I started to realize (and I think I speak for everyone in I Forget) that we're better than 90% of all of the local bands. Now maybe when we start moving up to more experienced, aged, and talented bands (TheShakedown, Christmas Lights, etc), that will no longer be true. The drummer thing will probably no longer be true then, either. But I welcome that challenge. It's weird to musically blow away other bands and then return compliments when they say "Great set!" I sound like such a fucking arrogant asshole when saying all of this, but come on. You don't have to agree with me, I Forget blows a good bit of the time. (I've had a growing love for punk shows because no one cares which band is the most talented.)

Anyway, let's get out of my head and to what really happened. This was around the beginning of my invention of In Your Indo Records (which, at the time, was Hatchet In Yo Titty Records). It was also the first time (of probably 6) that we got to watch Unheard Silence play and the first time (out of probably 5) that we got to play with Unheard Silence. I Forget has this reputation of opening for fucking everyone. It's what we do. We were a headlining band outside of my own house one time and that was so that everyone could go home before we played. So we opened for Unheard Silence that night. I thought that was a really stupid concept at the time and I still do, but I guess the kids may not have stuck around for us if we went second. Local band courtesy.

We started the show by playing a stereotypical country music vamp and then said "Hi, we're I Forget," leading into the "CRSHH CRSHH CRSSHH CRSHH" of the beginning of "That One Song." We thought it was pretty badass at the time and we watched The Eighth Plague start a show in a very similar way a few shows later, so apparently someone appreciated the sick humor of being a smartass.

So anyway, we told the kids while playing that we were finishing up a new album. We played Jeeznips that night which STILL isn't out on an album yet (that's how fucking new it was at the time). We played some personal favourites and some personally despised songs of ours. I think we pretty much played our entire album minus probably some of the better songs (since we fucked around in the studio and the song "Get a Clue" didn't exist until the album came out. That's for another post). The kids didn't seem to care too much. They didn't seem to care about anything we did. We could have left and they wouldn't have cheered, booed, or moved probably. It was weird. But if we asked any of them after the show what they thought, they'd either say that they liked us a lot or they thought we were a pussy band. That's typical. Sorry we aren't as ROCK as Unheard Silence.

Okay, no more beating around the bush. I don't like Unheard Silence's music and never really have. I was really, really excited about it at first because they really didn't sound like anything I'd ever heard before and they were a local band and we were going to play shows together and progress as musicians and bands together. Well, they progressed like one time and then we watched them play the same set (which was like putting one song on repeat for 45 minutes) at every show from then on. I had to accept that they don't write songs with ANY hooks to them at all. I can say this with some comfort since I know that they talk shit about us, too. That softens the blow, I think. And to anyone in Unheard Silence reading this, I welcome you to start a blog and write about how much you hate I Forget and/or the members of I Forget. All I'm saying here is that your music is boring and does nothing for me or anyone else I've spoken to from this side of the county line.

Anyway, in the spirit at the time of being excited about another local band even EXISTING, I took the mic after they'd finished their set (which I honestly wasn't very impressed by at the time) and formally announced the acceptance of them to our record label and brought out the contract for them to sign, which they never did THANK GOD. It was a bullshit hilarious contract that I think literally said that we'd own their souls, their children, their wives, their girlfriends, and their houses but not their music because we don't want anything to do with their music. I had a fun time writing it up. If I find it, I'll post it on here. It was just the record label's contract that I'd taken from some other label and changed some words around and inserted some of my own into. Genius work of art and one of the few things in life I've put a lot of worthless effort into. That's not true, I put a lot of worthless effort into a lot of things (effort into girls is a common pattern here). Anyway, they never signed it, I never put them on the label, they never released their album. I guess we all win, huh?

After the show, we went back to my house, dropped off our shit, and went out to eat at Denny's together. Epic night. Epic show. Most fun I've ever had being an asshole and playing our music even if the crowd didn't give a shit. Yes, this somehow beats the Roadhouse show and the Coke Plant show (both of which I could elaborate on later if, and only if, I want to). We were the punkest band in the world (to ourselves, at least, at the time) by being as unpunk as we possibly could be. Fucking amazing time. We haven't played at the Teen Center since. There are no active bands in Romney that aren't metal bands anymore I don't think. That's a completely honest observation, I really don't think any still exist.

So that was our show at the Teen Center in a nutshell, I guess. I'm not that great at telling stories, I'm better at elaborating on thoughts. Tell me if you liked it or not so I can find out what kind of blogs you motherfuckers like to read and then I can do the opposite.

love,
Kyle