boundcreature

so, about two years back there was this band called GRAVES. it consisted of Michale Graves and Dr. Chud (who had just quit Jerry Only's first reincarnation of the MISFITS) on lead vocals and drums (respectively) as well as Graham Westfield (from NJ hardcore phenomenon FAST TIMES) on bass and Tom Logan (from some nameless NJ horror-punk band) on lead guitar.

they were perfect.

they took everything that was awesome about the 95-00 MISFITS and dumped all of the bullshit. they traded in Jerry Only's rigid "horror-punk" doctrines in favor of more inventive and original songwriting as well as players who could play their instruments (as opposed to just banging the shit out of them at lightening speed).

they were awesome.

they went on their first national tour in the winter of 2001 after spending about a year fucking about, working day jobs (i believe Michale was a waiter at IHOP) and recording demos. their first tour was great, but they were definitely missing the edge, the sheer wall of noise and presence that Only and Doyle from the MISFITS provided.

a few more months go by and we get to summertime, the band has a CD release party for their mini-album "Web of Dharma" at this shady-as-fuck bar in Passaic, NJ (a shady city in a shady state to be totally honest) called Connections.

we drove out from Pennsylvania to go to the show. me, the pants, my younger brother and his friend. i had to talk the bouncer into letting them in cuz they were underage. its good that we got in, if we went home, we would've missed one of the single greatest punk shows i have ever seen.

after six months of playing live they had refined their songs and the sound. they were tight. michale had also decided to start playing guitar live as opposed to just doing work in the studio and writing songs. they were phenomenal. they played their hearts out for almost an hour. and my god did we dance!

there was a glow about us for the next few days.

i saw them two more times that summer, four times total.

and then they broke up.

without hesitation, they were my favorite band. they were miles ahead of the reformed MISFITS, miles ahead of anything their members had done separately. and they broke up. michale had some personality issues with tom, michale didn't like how chud was trying to lead the band, you know how those things go.

a few months later michale started a really shitty band called GOTHAM ROAD with the guitar tech of GRAVES. their first show at CONNECTIONS was the only concert i have ever walked out of. long story short: the guys couldn't play and they had bad (terrible) hair. michale then lost his mind completely and started writing essays for a conservative punk website; i'm all for opposing views, but his essays have never contained a shred of fact, or anything more than blind patriotism and ignorant allegiance to bush, regardless of the consequences.

dr. chud started a band called X-WARD. they are alright. but, michale had all of the songwriting talent (well, most of it) as well as the stage presence. their first few songs sound like shite, but they sound better lately.

graham westfield, the hottest man i have ever seen up close



is playing in some indie/punk band that i don't know the name of. from what i have been told, the band is cool and he is still very hot.

i don't know what's up with tom logan. he's probably somewhere having spiky hair.

i miss that band. michale and chud were very cool to me when i interviewed them on their first tour (especially nice of them, because i was soooo fucking nervous cuz it was my very first interview and michale was totally my idol for about two years... and i was totally interrupting their lasagna dinner by asking these insanely huge and well thought-out questions about their music, while the guys thought they were gonna get a lame-ass "so what was it like being in the misfits" interview that they could tip-toe through).

***

i thought of all of this in a heartbeat on the bus home today when i put "Web of Dharma" into my disc man. at least they left that album behind and a handful of mp3's. those concerts spread out over the course of that summer were some of the best times i've ever had.

what a great fucking band. what a total loss of talent compared to what they are all doing separately.