May 11, 2006 17:04
So I'm updating...because it has been like 5 months. Besides I usually do my obligatory end of the school year entry. This year was amazing...no,truly AMAZING! I was able to achieve some goals this year that I set my freshmen year. The most important being my band BASEMENT VIEW. I have never wanted something so much than to make music with a band. When I first heard about Wagnerstock when I was a freshman, I knew that I wanted to have a rock band so I could be a part of it. Basement View was an idea I had when my roommate Jared and I started playing at the coffeehouse. He would play an acoustic guitar and I would sing Lisa Loeb and Weezer and I never felt more alive or exposed. I wanted that feeling all the time. It was very different from being an actor on stage, because I was able to communicate directly to the audience, and I got that immediate response from them, and I was able to react to it and enjoy it. An actor does not get to truly respond to an audience until the curtain call. I liked just being myself and singing the songs that I wanted sing and saying only the words that I wanted to say. Anyway, as much fun as I was having with Jared, he was more driven to pursue improv comedy and I really wanted a band. Because I was a member of the choir I had the chance to become close to some pretty amazingly talented people. While hanging out with Kate Branagh and Tom Cintula one night when they were jamming, I told them that I wanted to start a band but I didn't know what musicians to ask. They said that they would love to play guitar for me. Tom was in a band with Elliot Jacobson, the best drummer to ever attend Wagner College, and told me that he would get Elliot to play drums for us. I thought that was the coolest thing I ever heard. I just needed a Bass player and my band would be complete. Lucky for me, I just so happened to live down the hall from a brilliant bass player: Pasquale Chieffalo. I believe Jared was the one who asked Pat if he would be interested in playing in a band with us, and he said "yes". I wanted the super cool band to have an equally super cool name....I figured since 2 of the founding members of the band lived on the first floor of Harborview Hall we should call the band Basement View...plus it just kinda had that dark ironic rock band name ring to it. Now we just had to meet and practice...
Before I knew it the year was over. We never met, we missed Wagnerstock, and Tom, my potential guitar player and link to my potential drummer, graduated. Come sophomore year Pasquale and I start hanging out a lot more. I still really wanted to start the band and refused to give up on Basement View...I mean the name had already caught on so I knew we had a built in fan base. I began singing a little back-up for Kate Branagh here and there, and because Elliot was her manager/best friend we became good freinds. In January Elliot asked if I was interessted in working with Kate on writing some harmonies for her debut album. I was extremely excited and could not even believe that Kate and E-Dawg thought I was worthy, or cool enough to work with. I even had the opportunity to skip school for a day and go to the recording studio. I had a blast, and that day just solidified my dreams for me. I totally realized what I wanted to do. I would constantly continue to bring up Basement View, and it kinda just became a joke, although I was still very serious about it. Elliot told me that he was still interessted in playing in a band with me, and I was pretty surprised considering he had only heard me sing a few songs with Kate. I asked him why, and he said something to the effect of me being a superior vocalist. I thought that was bullshit, but it stuck with me and me want to start the band even more. Getting any kind of compliment from E-Dawg means a lot to me because I know how talented he is. He works with established artists like Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson, and my personal hero Kate Branangh. For him to want to back me up still boggles my mind.
Sophmore year comes and goes, and Basement View is still nothing more than an inside joke. Then, Junior year comes and brings with it a guitar player. I met Gavin Davis through my freind from home Meridith who was a freshman with Gavin. Gavin told me he played guitar...I just wanted to make out with him, but after I found out that he had a girlfriend I figured I could use him for something else. I introduced Gavin to Pasquale, and we began playing music that day. I told Gavin that it was just an audition...but little did he know I was desperate to have a band. Lucky for me Gavin turned out to be a great guitar player and a fast learner. Basement View had its debut in October at the Coffeehouse which was an acoustic set that included songs by Weezer, Foo Fighters and the Dave Matthews Band. Elliot had still never played with us, but we still considered him a vital part of the band. In fact I don't think Gavin had met him yet.... We followed that show up a few months later in April with our own headlining show at the Coffeehouse. Elliot jumped up on stage with us and literally didn't skip a beat. It was like he'd been playing with us the whole time. That night was most definitely one of the best nights of my life. I'm really gonna miss my band this summer...but I know it won't be long until we are rocking the fuck out of senior year!