Rant and Rhetoric #3

Really, if you think about it, we're all crazy. I'm referring to you, the person reading this, your friends, my friends, and myself. We're all crazy. I don't think we see things the way that they are supposed to be seen. I think that our perception of reality is slightly off center. The problem, really, is not in being insane, but finding people who are also insane to spend our time with. Even more tricky, is finding insane people to share your passions with. Once you can find a person or persons who share your passions and are as crazy as you are, then you have it made…it least in that respect.

I have a new band. We have decided, after much discussion and dictionary use and debate, to call ourselves Mournings Broken. We think it's a nice play on words with some actual meaning in there somewhere. We even have a catch phrase: "What happens when you're tired of being sad." I like it, so there.

But this is my third band now. Band's are funny things. There are lots of them - LOTS of them. But they are around with different reasons and for different purposes. Here in lies the problem. My first band was in high school. We were called Oral Groove (and, just so that I can embarrass them, it featured current members of The Pankration). We weren't the best band in the world, but we had fun, which was more or less our motivation for doing the whole thing. But as the band went on, I think it became more and more clear as to what making music meant to each member.

My second band was in college, during my undergraduate career. I learned a great deal about bands from Middle Kittanning. I learned even more about passions. I discovered that not everyone is looking at a band from the same perspective. MK was only ever going to accomplish so much because not everyone wanted the same thing out of the band. This isn't a band thing at all, it just causes problems when certain members are trying to accomplish a goal and others aren't. It made me realize that I loved playing music and that if I ever really wanted to continue on with this and be truly satisfied, I needed to find people who felt the same way as I did.

I am now on my third band and, after the very short time we've practiced and the fairly substantial amount of time we've known each other, I think I've found some comrades in arms. For a while now, Jason (guitar) and Mike (bass) and I have joked that we would all eventually start a gas station together because we'd never get real jobs and we just wanted to be in a band anyway. I'd get to be the manager because I'd have my Master's. Two days ago, while practicing, I joked that I thought Jason and I should trade in our cars for a van. Bob (drums) said he' d love for us to get a van and then proceeded to say he was thinking about adding a second major so that he could stick around for another year. He then said that would be dumb because then he would be sticking around for a band, although that's really all he wanted to do. Thank you very much.

So we are together and we are unified and we have big plans. I don't think I've ever been happier, at least musically. Stay tuned for more details…