The History of Cynical Barnacles Part I: Hopelessly Lost
Once upon a time there was a band called Cynical Barnacles.
I would provide you with a link to this band, but there are none. In fact, if you google "Cynical Barnacles," you get no results. (However, if you google it without the quotes, you get some funny strung-together sentence fragments.)
The band had humble beginnings. Two young men, about to enter their final year as undergrads, attempted to compose a little something called "Sink Song #1." Those two lads were myself and ozy_y2k. He wrote the lyrics, and I did everything else. That was our band.
Luckily, "everything else," at that time, consisted only of composing a vocal melody and accompaniment, playing acoustic guitar and singing. Later, my role would expand. Regardless, the unfortunate truth of the matter is that "Sink Song #1," our first attempt at a sit-down collaboration...failed. Little sucker never got finished.
So we decided on a different approach. If Bernie Taupin could write his lyrics and just hand them off to Elton John, why couldn't we? And thus, our first song was written. It was called "Hopelessly Lost." And let me tell you something, it was magical.
"Hopelessly Lost" was written on July 11, 1992. A few other songs were written that summer, and then ozy_y2k and I got busy with school. Other than a song about his alcoholic roommate composed in February of 1993, CynBar stayed quiet.
We both graduated in April of '93. I moved to Seattle to become a rock star, and ozy_y2k did some grunt work in the local film industry (or so he claims). Three and a half months later and $2000 poorer, I returned to Michigan, just as ozy_y2k was starting law school.
After several months of depression, I bought a four-track. And that, my babies, was the first major factor in the shaping of the CynBar sound. In April of '94, CynBar came up with five new songs. During March and April of '95, we wrote six more. Between June and December of '95, we had written a whopping SEVEN more.
And not only written them. With the aid of the four-track and recently acquired electric guitar and keyboard, these were fully formed demonstrations. My own role in the band was expanding. We were picking up speed and we could FEEL it. That very autumn of '95 (The Fall of The Big Seven, as we like to call it), we played our first live gig.
It was a small crowd for a Tuesday at the Blind Pig's open mic night. A handful of my co-workers were there. But we climbed up onto that stage and rocked the house like there was no tomorrow. And what's more, Papas Fritas opened for us.
The lineup consisted of the following: Myself on vocals and electric guitar, ozy_y2k on backing vocals and spoken words, and our friend Britta smoking cigarettes and making snide comments. We played all the hits. "We Are The Dinosaur," "Three Bottles of Zima," the Pringlescoop classic "Delphine." Plus we mixed in some covers: Kim Wilde's "Kids in America," and Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Pea."
After it was over, our performance was best summed up by David Carter Walther, who said, "You need more...instruments."
ozy_y2k and I had spoken about this very thing. You could almost say we struggled with it. But you'd be wrong. We wanted a live band who could fill out the sound. So, me, being who I am, carelessly slapped together 20-30 flyers and posted them around the diag. I only got one phone call. From a guy named Santos.
To be continued...
I would provide you with a link to this band, but there are none. In fact, if you google "Cynical Barnacles," you get no results. (However, if you google it without the quotes, you get some funny strung-together sentence fragments.)
The band had humble beginnings. Two young men, about to enter their final year as undergrads, attempted to compose a little something called "Sink Song #1." Those two lads were myself and ozy_y2k. He wrote the lyrics, and I did everything else. That was our band.
Luckily, "everything else," at that time, consisted only of composing a vocal melody and accompaniment, playing acoustic guitar and singing. Later, my role would expand. Regardless, the unfortunate truth of the matter is that "Sink Song #1," our first attempt at a sit-down collaboration...failed. Little sucker never got finished.
So we decided on a different approach. If Bernie Taupin could write his lyrics and just hand them off to Elton John, why couldn't we? And thus, our first song was written. It was called "Hopelessly Lost." And let me tell you something, it was magical.
"Hopelessly Lost" was written on July 11, 1992. A few other songs were written that summer, and then ozy_y2k and I got busy with school. Other than a song about his alcoholic roommate composed in February of 1993, CynBar stayed quiet.
We both graduated in April of '93. I moved to Seattle to become a rock star, and ozy_y2k did some grunt work in the local film industry (or so he claims). Three and a half months later and $2000 poorer, I returned to Michigan, just as ozy_y2k was starting law school.
After several months of depression, I bought a four-track. And that, my babies, was the first major factor in the shaping of the CynBar sound. In April of '94, CynBar came up with five new songs. During March and April of '95, we wrote six more. Between June and December of '95, we had written a whopping SEVEN more.
And not only written them. With the aid of the four-track and recently acquired electric guitar and keyboard, these were fully formed demonstrations. My own role in the band was expanding. We were picking up speed and we could FEEL it. That very autumn of '95 (The Fall of The Big Seven, as we like to call it), we played our first live gig.
It was a small crowd for a Tuesday at the Blind Pig's open mic night. A handful of my co-workers were there. But we climbed up onto that stage and rocked the house like there was no tomorrow. And what's more, Papas Fritas opened for us.
The lineup consisted of the following: Myself on vocals and electric guitar, ozy_y2k on backing vocals and spoken words, and our friend Britta smoking cigarettes and making snide comments. We played all the hits. "We Are The Dinosaur," "Three Bottles of Zima," the Pringlescoop classic "Delphine." Plus we mixed in some covers: Kim Wilde's "Kids in America," and Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Pea."
After it was over, our performance was best summed up by David Carter Walther, who said, "You need more...instruments."
ozy_y2k and I had spoken about this very thing. You could almost say we struggled with it. But you'd be wrong. We wanted a live band who could fill out the sound. So, me, being who I am, carelessly slapped together 20-30 flyers and posted them around the diag. I only got one phone call. From a guy named Santos.
To be continued...