In The Beginning...

High school assemblies are always crowded and there is never anywhere to sit. You really don’t want to sit next to the wrong person and get bullied or teased, especially when you are trying to dress ‘alternative’ but have absolutely no idea what that is. Our assemblies at King High School in Temple Terrace were always in the auditorium. Think Napoleon Dynamite but larger and you’re close. I was walking down the center aisle and all the seats were filled up. Then I saw Danny!

I knew Danny from homeroom earlier in the year and he was probably the coolest guy in the entire school. But instead of his blonde double mohawk and new-wave thrift store duds, he had big mushroom head hair dyed pitch black. He was dressed all in black with black eyeliner. He looked super cool. I immediately sat next to him. We talked for a bit and caught up on things. He reached into his book bag and pulled out some records. Danny always had vinyl with him.

He handed me a record and told me I should check this band out. I looked at the back of the cover and teeth went around the outside of the cover. I turned it to the front and had no idea what their name was. It was Einstürzende Neubauten. He mentioned to me they don’t play conventional instruments. I thought to myself: badass!

The auditorium got louder and louder as we waited for it to start. I had a bad habit back then of putting my palms on my thighs and slapping beats. I had about 3 years of school band playing drums.

Danny looked over at me. “Hey Jim?”

“Yeah?”

“You play drums?” he asked, sort of surprised.

“Yeah, I played since middle school.”

“You have a kit?” he asked.

“No… I wish I did.”

There was a bit of a pause. “You want to be in my band?”

“You have a band?” I asked.

“I did, but our drummer quit and now it is just me and Linc. Our old drummer left his kit at my house and I don’t think he is coming back to get it. You want to come over and play?”

“Hell yeah I do…”

Then Danny gave me his number on a sheet of paper and we planned our first rehearsal.