october 1999 - with robster craws, and also one song with tubesteak.
this was my first show ever with a band. i played keys with a supergroup of saskatoon punk rockers in the weirdest band i think this town ever produced. i played with them for just one show but it was a pleasant introduction to live music. i sang one song with tubesteak that we wrote the night before. i was nervous because i was the new kid playing with all the familiar punk rock faces, but about ten seconds into the song i looked out and saw some kid in the crowd with his head leaning way back pretending to sing into his clenched fist - and he was really wailing. i mean _really_ wailing. then i knew, "it's all going to be fine."
august 2000 - polysorbate 80
before devin and i had ever really put any serious thought into starting a band together, we did jam rather frequently with our friend bryce. the three of us went to the ness creek music festival together where we jammed out quite a few tunes in the presence of another friend, jesse, who played in a band called captain tripps (which later re-dubbed itself moksha). jesse was perplexed and perhaps and little perturbed at the fact the three of us we not playing in bands. so he booked us a show opening for captain tripps and told us to be ready. we played a few of my songs, a radiohead tune, and some nintendo songs, all three of us on acoustic guitars. the crowd really dug it and were very kind to us. jesse was impressed, as evidenced by his heartfelt "fuck you" as we walked off the stage, leaving it for him and his crew to take over.
polysorbate 80 played maybe four or five more shows in the next few months, the last one being an earth day celebration in prince albert. we did an a cappela version of neil young's "o mother earth" which we learned the night before. i doubt any of us had ever sang anything like a three part harmony eco-hymn before, but i think we did a pretty good job. that was the same day as the ftaa protests in montreal, which i supported in spirit by wearing a shirt i had made of the cuban flag. communists weren't welcome at the summit attended by delegates from every other country in the americas. i was a little jealous of the cubanos.
after that, polysorbate 80 took a little break, maybe four or five years long, before returning last fall for a couple of shows. for now, i would say we are down, but most certainly not out..
october 2002 - pangaea
while working at st john bosco wilderness camp, i was reunited a friend who went to my high school that i didn't actually really ever know until she came on staff as first aider. i was away most of the summer on a three week long camping trip with 14 kids. we couldn't have came back into camp to any sweeter welcome than to hear 100 or so campers and counselors singing elizabeth's beautiful anthem to the sun "love your brightness". i realized then that i was in the presence of some measure of genius, so naturally i was nothing short of delighted when elizabeth and her sister anna asked me to start jamming with them a few months later. i played bass and sang a few notes, while the sisters played guitar, violin, and rang vocal cords in a way that only sisters can do together. we had an electric guitarist and a percussionist for the first while, but they stepped aside, which made room for scotty to squeeze in behind the drum set. the four of us made some beautiful music for a little and played maybe ten shows. however, by our last show elizabeth had also bid farewell so i took over guitar duties and devin filled in on the bass. i talk to anna and elizabeth still, and i hope all is not lost.