LET'S CATCH UP...

hey everybody

lots going on- lots to tell you about. if you haven't already heard, we've had a couple of changes. since we got back from tour, we've had a lot to contend with. we came back broke and in debt, a couple of us with no job. we also ended up with one less guitarist out of the whole shit. what can you say about ten guys going on tour and being together every god damn minute for a month straight? A LOT!! and that's a whole story in itself, so i'll spare you for now, but we have some good stories that we're dying to tell- and we will. bear with us. anyway so, another vacancy in the rhythm guitar slot, we were faced with having to find another guitar player, which is a big hassle- having to first find someone, then see where their skills are at, then you gotta get along with them, then you have to teach em the songs- it's a whole thing. or, we can do it as four piece- like when we first started out. a 2nd guitar fills things out, but at that point we were in no hurry to go through the process of getting someone to fill the spot- again. so we said, fuck it! let's do it 4. who wants to go through the whole shit of trying to find another guitar player? fuck all that! you have to understand, this would be about the 7th or 8th or 9th or fuckin 24th goddamn line-up change and we were in no mood for all that hassle. maybe later- or not.

RETURN OF THE LOUIE

so anyway, after about a week of licking our wounds and much needed time off from each other, we decided to play a homecoming show with 8-BIT at MR. T's BOWL in missing-man formation. first time in years we did it 4. we knew it would take some adjustments to make everything sound decent, but whatever- we were happy to be home again and playing at t's.

so i get to the t bowl and as i drive up, i notice patrick talking to louie. we hadn't seen louie too much over the past couple of years, but when i drove up and saw louie there, a feeling went over me. i said to myself, "holy shit! louie wants back in!" sure enough after our set, louie pulled us aside and asked to return to the band. he told us that he missed hanging out and had a bad run the last couple of years. he had been keeping up with us, reading stuff on the website and the tour blog and he said it sounded like so much fun and his regrets kicked in. he heard that josh was no longer with us and wanted back in. it didn't take too much convincing all of us. louie knew most of the songs already and it wouldn't be hard at all to teach him the new ones. plus, louie is a great rhythm guitar player to work with. he's a great guitar player and we click musically. he just 'gets it'. and just like that, louie jumped right back in where he left off two years ago.

it's great having louie back. we missed his stage presence and the puddles of sweat that fall off of him- oh yeah, and he spits all the time when he plays. imagine if you get hepatitis from louie. you should be so honored. (relax! louie does not really have hepatitis- as far as i know). and that's how it went for a few months and then december came along.

the holiday season. lights and decorations, candy canes, the nativity scene with mary, joe, the three wise men, sheep, and santa hanging out in the background overseeing jesus' birth. weird. i didn't know santa hung out with mary and joseph back in the day. i wonder if santa claus knew that his homeboy's wife was gonna give birth to the messiah. and i wonder if santa knew that we would have one more line-up change before the year was over.

JOEY NOT A WELCHER

when we lost ryan, our first drummer and co-founder of the mormons, it was like someone hit us in the knees with a baseball bat. a good friend and awesome fuckin drummer- seemingly irreplaceable. it was quite a blow. we almost didn't get back up. drummers are hard to find, but finding a good drummer- good luck!! lucky for us, our pal joey stepped up and saved us from certain doom. he used to play drums in THE BEETERS- one of my personal favorite bands. ryan's were big shoes to fill and joey met the challenge. even though ryan's abilities were advanced and there was no way that joey would be able to duplicate ryan's playing exactly, i knew he had what it took to do the job. and over the last year, we did a lot and had a lot of fun. but we were starting to sound sloppy. i felt like a jerk complaining about joey's performance. we all appreciated joey stepping up after ryan left, but at the same time we were frustrated, 'cause let's face it, joey was struggling and we weren't 100%. it was hard telling joey these things cause he's our friend and we didn't want to make him feel bad or make him feel unappreciated. finding another drummer was the last thing we wanted to do after already losing one recently, and even though the thought cross our minds, we dismissed it cause joey's our pal and we didn't want to tell him to fuck off. but one practice joey sat us all down and agreed that he was having difficulty keeping it together. he suggested that a change had to be made if we were gonna make progress. he explained, his intentions were NOT to leave the band, but to step out of the drummer's chair and make room for someone who would be able to progress with us, and moving into the band manager slot. he reaffirmed that he wasn't leaving- he was just moving over and focusing his abilities on managing. we all sat and listened to his idea and agreed to give it a shot. joey has always been good at talking to people and networking, plus we didn't have to say goodbye to him. joey is a good guy to have as part of our team. he's smart and one funny motherfucker.

-"so who do you have in mind to replace you on drums?"

-"i'm thinking louie's friend, johnny"

interesting coincidence.

MEET THE KID

before he came back, louie had been working on his own project called BLANK EXPRESSION. like the rest of us he noticed something lacking and he mentioned that since he was in the mormons again, he wasn't doing much with his band. he said johnny, the guy he had playing drums for him, is one of the best he's seen- maybe even better than ryan. i told louie that even though that sounds exactly like what we need, and as tempting as that sounds, i would feel bad about asking joey to leave after all he had done to help us. i figured, we just lost a guy and luckily got one back, we're not in the position to take anybody for granted. we should just keep working hard and whatever happens, happens. louie said that "this guy is a big fan, and he would love to play drums for us."

"i don't know, man", i said.

a short time after that i got a phone call from johnny. he told me how bad he wanted to play drums for us. i told him pretty much the same thing that i told louie- right now is not a good time, but whatever happens, happens. i told him to keep the conversation between us.

so, blank expression recorded at the 8-bit house one weekend and all i heard from those guys was how fucking awesome this guy was on drums. our former bass player, richard, who plays bass in blank expression, came up to me one day at t's and told me that we have to get johnny on drums. i told richard the same thing- right now is not a good time, but whatever happens, happens.

**just a little addendum to this part of the story. in proof reading this story, i had joey give it a quick glance over so he could tell me what he thought before this goes up on the website, and he told me something i didn't know until now... the day blank expression was recording at the 8-bit house, joey was there hanging out watching johnny lay down his drum tracks. joey told me he was so impressed with this guy's drumming that he pulled johnny aside and told him, "...don't tell anyone or say anything about this, but you're gonna be the next drummer in the mormons". ***

it was like fate or someshit. a few days joey broke the news about him stepping aside for johnny to take his place, and here we are.

RENEWED

so now we have a new drummer- johnny. i heard how good johnny was but hadn't seen his abilities until our first practice with him. i value the opinions of those who told me how good he is behind the drums, so i knew he was a good drummer. but i gotta tell you, i did not expect the level of talent this kid has with those sticks in his hands. as a drummer myself, i am beyond impressed. it looks like this guy has been playing drums for 10 years- he's only been playing for three! it's amazing how good he really is- and the potential this guy has! i've been playing drums for about 12 years or so, and i can hold my own, but this guy blows me out of the water. if this is his level of ability after only 3 years, i can only imagine how good this guy will be after honing his skills and focusing. i see it like this, you know the movie, MAJOR LEAGUE, with charlie sheen as "wild thing"? if not forget it, but if so- he's like "wild thing" before he got glasses. raw energy, high talent and all he has to do is focus. he's a cool guy, we all like him, he's an awesome drummer. we are lucky and very happy to have him on board. we welcome our new pal, johnny.

so things are going well. we have a lot in store for yous. keep an ear to the ground, cause we're coming at you!


like our dumb ass president said, "LET'S ROLL!"

-vince
the mormons