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When
Mullets Walked The Earth
-- Posted by The_Duke on Tuesday, October 19 2004
First
let me apologize for the slight delay in this week's
installment. I know that many of you are now addicted
to these ramblings and it is unfair of me to deprive
you of my weekly fix of wit and wisdom. Seriously though,
it's been a busy couple of weeks. Ed, Frank and I finished
up the new Stuck Mojo DVD last week and we're very excited
about it. Look for the official announcement about it's
availability here very soon. Anyway, let's do this!
Okay,
so by now you know a bit of the good, the bad and the
ugly about yours truly. Some of you even know a thing
or two about drummer Frank “Bud” Fontsere.
But the story of how I came to know the bassist that
I am honored to play music with and call my friend is
worthy of a chapter in The Duke's views archives as
well.
Back
in the early nineties, Stuck Mojo had risen to the top
of Atlanta's local band food-chain. We had built our
reputation by seeking out any local band that had a
buzz, booking a show with them and then we would proceed
to hand them an ass cutting so severe that would cry
themselves to sleep for a week. Harsh? Perhaps. But
that was just our MO and it worked well for us.
Sometime
in 1992, I heard someone talking about a new Atlanta
band called Salem Ash. I knew who their singer was having
seen him a few years earlier perform in a band called
Ice Breaker. He was a bad-ass singer with a vocal range
up in the stratosphere. The rumor was that his new band
had the skills to hand out some ass cuttings of their
own. As you would expect, I made it a point to attend
the next Salem Ash show to do some "scouting".
Arms
folded and leaning against the back wall of the club,
I was ready to see what the big deal was about. The
band hit the stage and all I could hear was bass. Now,
I don't mean “low end,” I mean all I heard
was BASS GUITAR. This guy’s bass tone was an all
out, vicious, mid-range assault and it was so loud that
it literally hurt to listen to. Do you remember the
end of the first Indiana Jones movie? When all the ghosts
came out the ark of the covenant? That's what his bass
sound was like - face melting, head exploding, you get
the picture. At that point I had to investigate, so
I put my fingers in my ears and moved up towards the
stage to see what type of amp he was using.
Apparently,
he didn't bother with a traditional bass amp. Instead,
he had some kind of guitar pre-amp running through a
rack of P.A. power amps. He would have had to cut back
a bit to be considered “overkill.” At that
point I was somewhere between curious and confused.
So before I suffered complete hearing loss, I stuffed
some bits of napkin in my ears and then began to actually
watch the show.
Much
to my delight, not only did this guy's bass tone produce
expressions of pain and soiled undergarments, but he
also proudly sported the most amazing mullet that I
had ever seen – and that’s saying something!
He had hair down to his waist in the back, but his hair
was cut short in the front, back to behind his ears.
Back then, mullets were common place and proudly maintained
by many of Atlanta's finest musicians, but this one
deserved some recognition. I’m talking gold medal
here. But wait, the story gets better.
This
dude was a monster of a bass player and he was pulling
off some shit that nobody else in Atlanta was doing.
Mojo’s bassist at the time, Dwayne, could do all
the thumpin’ and poppin’ stuff, but this
guy was doing that at mach 5 followed by blazing fast
runs up and down the neck. In addition to schooling
and embarrassing the bassists in attendance, the Master
of Mullets played keyboards with his feet (Taurus pedals),
sang background vocals and ran around stage like a madman.
As the show progressed, the sound-man finally got the
bass into its proper place in the mix and it became
clear to me how great this band was. I can only describe
it as Queensryche meets Rush with a hint of Kansas,
Styx and King Crimson. Very cool indeed! I met the band
after the show and the insane bassist introduced himself
to me as Sean.
Eventually,
Mojo and the Salem Ash guys became pals. For a short
time I worked at a music store where their guitar player
Robert and their drummer Corey both worked. Back then,
I didn't usually hold down a job for more than a few
months, so I was always on the lookout for a new way
to cover the cost of living (i.e. rice and guitar strings).
Any
struggling musician will tell you that if you “have”
to work a job, then you “have” to work for
someone you know. I would have been fired within the
first week of any job that I have ever had if I had
not had the benefit of being friends with the people
who had hired me. To be honest, most of them should
have fired me! I was always late, always on the phone
networking or trying to get gigs and always tired from
staying up all night rehearsing.
As
luck would have it, Salem Ash’s singer Doug and
their bassist Sean both worked for a landscaping company
who employed a couple of other broke-ass musicians as
well. So, in the spring of 1992, when I found myself
once again in need of employment, this broke-ass musician
easily qualified for the highly skilled trade of “mow,
blow and go.”
Sean
was a foreman for the Dalcor Landscaping Company. He
was the guy who went to bat for me and got me the job.
Working with Sean was great. We'd meet every morning
at 6:30 and cut grass until there was no mo grass to
cut. We mainly did apartment complexes and commercial
properties. Our crew consisted of usually six guys or
so. Sean and I spent many lunch hours sitting in the
cab of the work truck playing cards and talking about
music. One of the other highlights of the day was playing
the dozens. You know, mama jokes.
Sometimes
it was the standard, your mom is so fat…, but
we took it to a new level of retardation by making mom
dissing poems. “I f*#ked your mom with the confederate
flag, then I popped her ass with a shoe shine rag.”
I repeat this Delson/Ward classic for you now with my
head held low. Not to entertain, but to prove that a
recovery from adolescent retardation is possible with
time. Not a FULL recovery, however, as we still treat
the art of berating each other’s Moms as somewhat
of an art form.
After
pushing a mower for a few months, I knew that my talents
and people skills were severely underutilized so I promptly
traded my job at Dalcor for a career in the customer
service industry with Taco Bell. I know what you're
thinking, “Why Taco Bell?” Well, a guitar
player buddy of mine was the assistant manager. (See
above for tips on working for friends.) After that,
Sean and I only saw each other a few times a year and
even less after Mojo got our record deal and started
touring full time.
In
2002 it had been six years since I had seen Sean. Mojo
had quit touring and I was spending more time at home
writing and recording. I had heard that Salem Ash had
split, but that Sean was still playing music with several
different bands. I had also heard that he had a couple
of successful businesses. One was selling customized
sail boats and the other was a financing company for
used cars. Sean was always the smartest businessman
in the circle of friends that I had, but in the early
days, his passion for music had kept him broke like
the rest of us.
Fast
forward now to September of 2003. I was trying to put
a lineup together for The Duke project. I knew that
I wanted a bass player that was well-versed in many
styles. And I really wanted to create music that would
push me to be a better musician. Finding a world-class
bass player would be a necessity for this project if
it was going to live up to my expectations. I wanted
someone who could really bring the heat and immediately
Sean came to mind.
Until
then, I had never even considered Sean for any of my
previous bands/projects. I had always thought of Sean
as a “Geddy Lee type” and that his style
would not be a good fit for my straight-forward rock/metal
approach. But, as I mentioned, the new music had to
be different which meant taking some risks; something
Sean had always taken pride in doing. When I approached
him about the idea of playing with me, he jokingly asked
why it took me so long to call.
Sean
has brought an incredible amount of integrity to the
Duke material. His commitment to musical excellence
has made him one of the finest musicians that I have
ever met and I am very fortunate to call him my friend.
If you ever have the pleasure to meet him, consider
it a privilege and ask him about his past life as an
award-winning mullet model.
As
always, thanks for taking the time to visit. I love
ya like a fat kid love cake!
The
Duke
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