Enewetak

its really crazy to me that the first show i ever played on a real stage was in the band Enewetak, there were 600 people there, it wasnt in my town.. and oh yeah the video is on fucking youtube.

i became friends with Forrest Locke through his fanzine, TOUGH. back then, in like 1996, you didnt IM people or find someone on a message board. you met new people by picking up their zine and writing a letter and sending it in the mail.
He invited me to the fledgling Koo's Cafe in Santa Ana to see his band ENEWETAK play with this band called JURGIS and this band from San Diego called the Bloody Five, a four piece band who donned masks and just kinda fucked around with the audience a lot.
eventually, i became friends with the entire Orange contingent and what would become the RPT Murder Crew. Mike Cheese gave me a sealed test press of the first Enewetak 7", which is now in the possession of Cheesegrater.
Toby, the bass player of Enewetak, was scheduled to head to Europe with his hot girlfriend who was going to be modeling there, and dragging him along for the ride. Forrest knew that i had some skills in guitar, and asked if I'd like to fill in for Toby while he was away. fuck yeah, i did.
i think the year was 1996, and i began practicing with them in a lockout in Orange. The first LP was already out, maybe "Guns, Elvis loved 'em" as well, and writing for the Easy Rider vol. 1 and the split with Unruh were underway.
One weekend we made our way up to Goleta, which is just north of Santa Barbara to play the Goleta Fest engineered by Kent McLard and the Ebbulition/HeartattaCk consortium. Pretty much what i remember of the fest is as follows:
1. we tried to drive my car up there, broke down, had to be towed back to Orange and borrow Jack's brother's car.
2. it was Disembodied's first west coast show.
3. Guyver-1 played on the floor because it was more "punk"
4. the arizona bands drove out in a U-haul type truck, with a couch in the back that everyone just chilled on
5. Man Is The Bastard put on one of the most memorable shows ive ever seen, to this day.

i dont remember actually playing the show. the hat i was wearing is the same hat as in the photo of the profile of this blog. i believe it said "you wear your x, ill wear mine" or something equally offensive. the song we play in that video is "kill 'em all", the first song i ever recorded.

the first time i ever went out of state with a band was to play in Phoenix with Fall Silent and Tho Ko Losi. we were friends with the King Of The Monsters type bands.

i recorded three songs with Enewetak, on the split 7" with Unruh. it was my first time in a recording studio. i dont remember much about that either, other than toby was already back in town and even though i was around for the writing of the Easy Rider sessions, they elected Toby to play on it and it kinda hurt my feelings. at least i got in for some of it, so i shouldnt complain.

eventually Toby came home and i was out, and was asked to be in 18 Visions because they needed a bass player and had seen me in Enewetak. but thats another story.