After a much needed MLK day its back to reality. And doesn’t it just suck. Sorry, I’m just a bit sore about a grade I’m going to receive in one of my classes. I’m trying my best to get over it so I’m listening to Girls and Boys In Love by The Rumble Stripes. If you need some cheering up give them a listen.
Anyway, I digress. Trouble in paradise, right. So if you’re reading this right now chances are you already know me and you already know the guys. So, you already know several things. Some of thoughs things might be that they can sometimes be neurotic perfectionists, or that there all more like brothers at this point than friends, or maybe you know easily they get distracted, or that sometimes they look for excuses to jump down each other’s throats. Why am I bringing all this up? Sounds pretty negative doesn’t it? I’m bringing all this up so I can inform you and perhaps prepare you for the possible changes VK might go through at the end o January.
So at the end of December (or the very beginning of January I can’t remember) the band sat down for a serious TALK. Walter always calls these things “Rock Talks” and they’re kind or the equivalent of when you’re boyfriend or girlfriend calls you up and says “hey we need to talk” and then starts asking the really hard questions like “where is this going? What is this? Are you happy? Bla Bla Bla.” This Rock Talk topic was “what are you doing to help the band? Where are we going? And raise your hand if you’re tired of picking up the other guys slack.”
If you know the guys, it’s no secret that they’ve kinda been putting band practice second for a wail. Now this isn’t a judgment. It’s perfectly understandable. They all have their fair share of personal and family problems, plus school, plus moving into a place of their own, plus jobs. It’s easy to see how a sick mom, a long distance relationship, a paper to finish, a job to go to, and wrapping your head around the concept of paying bills on time would push the band to the back burner. Still, at the end of the day, there is one thing that the guys have always wanted, and as corny as it sounds they want that spotlight, that record deal, their name in lights, what have you. Which means balancing their lives and stepping it up when it comes to practicing, recording, and getting shows.
Several things came out of this Rock Talk, but I’m only going to talk about two at this point. The first thing is they are no longer meeting just once a week. VK is now meeting twice every week, once for their traditional band practice and once to work solely on writing. I’m all for this idea. It was just silly trying to get everyone together once a week, usually meeting late because of work schedules, and getting little done because they were trying to do everything at once.
The second thing I’m going to talk about is the ultimatum. Every member in the band was presented with an ultimatum, step up your game by the end of the month or please, step out the door so we can start looking for someone ells. Ok, I’ve said everyone was presented with this ticking time bomb, but honestly the only two who really have something to worry about are Carpenter the drummer and Tyler the vocalist.
It has always been a struggle for Tyler to make it to practice. Well….it has always been a struggle for Tyler period. He came into the band latter than everyone ells, after they had already known each other for a few years. Put that on top of the fact that the entire time he has lived in different city it’s no wonder why it has taken so long for him to graduate from Voltage Squire to Voltage Knight. Still, if you listen to the recordings the band has before Tyler came on board and after he joined the Voltage club, there is no question which is better. He has improved their sound and helped them grown beyond what I thought was possible and is truly talented. Here’s the big BUT you were waiting for.
BUT he still doesn’t show up for practices, and he’s been with the band for about two years now and he still doesn’t know the lyrics, and they only have two songs where he is singing recorded and up on their myspace page.
Carpenter (the drummer) is an entirely different problem. Carpenter has been with the band sense they switched drummers the first time in high school. He is truly one of the sweetest guys I know, but all you have to do is try to talk to him on the phone and you’ll completely understand what I’m about to talk about. Carpenter is an absolutely fantastic drummer. He is the thing that whenever VK plays a show people consistently talk about. The problem is he doesn’t practice, which means he is not consistent at all. Also, I will be the first (but not the last) to tell you he has a bit of growing up to do. I’ll leave that up to you to interpret however you will.
So I guess we’ll have to see at the end of January what happens. I will say that before the practice on Monday Walter was A LOT more worried about this than he is now. So who knows, maybe everyone will step up their game. Either way though, big changes are on the horizon for the Voltage Knights.
This is Kayte, over and out
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