Tuesday, February 3, 2009

What She Said


What She Said - Body On Fire from Radio Silence on Vimeo.

New Years Eve, December 31st of 1991, I was in San Diego California with my band Mouthpiece. We were playing a show at the Che' Cafe with Get It Away, Unbroken, Mean Season, Ressurection, A Chorus Of Disapproval and Outspoken. This was the last show of our first west coast tour. Although the show it's self was a damn good one, I unfortunately have a lot of bad memories that revolved around this show. Inner-band arguments, people butting heads, disagreements, awkwardness, uncomfortableness, you name it and it went down at this show. In the middle of all that, there was one bright spot.

My then girl friend and now wife, Traci, was friends with Mike Down from Amenity / Forced Down. She had met him and the rest of Amenity on their east coast tour and went to a handful of their shows. Traci and Mike kept in touch and when we were in San Diego, Traci gave Mike a call and arranged for her and I to meet up with him and hang out. Mike ended up swinging by the Che' Cafe and picking Traci and I up. He took us over to his apartment to hang out for a little bit. I remember seeing all kinds of Downside stuff lying all over the house. Forced Down records and covers that had yet to be put together, posters, stickers, shirts, etc. Mike loaded Traci and I up with all kinds of goods. I remember Mike going into his room and pulling out a few old hardcore shirts, one being an original Wishing Well Uniform Choice "Use Your Head" shirt. Only problem with the U.C. shirt is that the D had worn off "Use Your Head" and it now said, "Use Your Hea". Mike asked if I wanted it and I happily took it, "Use Your Hea" and all.

Just before we got ready to leave, Mike said, "Hey, I've got a video you guys need to see... it's of a project band that I was doing with Chris and Alex from Chain and Josh from Forced Down". Mike got really excited when he was telling us about it and quickly dug it out and dropped it into his VCR. Within momments the video started and we all stood there in that room staring at the TV. Now I was already a big fan of Statue, Chain Of Strength, Amenity and Forced Down, so I thought I had an idea of what I should expect... turned out I was only partly right. What we were hearing in this video did sort of sound like Statue, with Alex on vocals that was sort of inevitable, but there was something very unique about this. As we're watching it, Mike is telling us that the project was called What She Said and was all improved. It all seemed a bit foreign to me, but I was definitely digging it and soaking it all it. Then came the end of the video. Now I've seen plenty of bands "go off", some doing it naturally, some looking rather forced, but while I'm watching the end of this video un-fold, I'm thinking to myself that I'd never seen anything exactly like this. Alex with this "What She Said" mantra, Mike just going off on his guitar, Josh beating the life out of his bass and then Bratton... dude looked possesd. Smashing those cymbal stands together, kicking over his kit, running out into the crowd with cymbal stands in hand as if they were weapons, these images burnt into my mind. I remember getting ready to leave and having Mike drive us back to the Che' and telling him that I absolutely had to have a copy of that video. Unfortuantely it was getting late and we had to get back, but Mike promised to make me a copy and send it at some point.

Mike followed through with that promise and eventually this video that I kept telling everyone about was more than just some storied tale. A handful of my friends got to check it out, but before I knew, the video disapeared. Whether it was lent to someone or lost in the shuffle of a move, some how or another the video was never to be seen again... until the boys of Radio Silence (Anthony and Nate) dug it up, digitized it and posted it up on the Radio Silence page. I asked Anthony if it was ok for me to re-post here on Double Cross. I figured since I had my own story involving the video, I could include it and share it with whomever wanted to check it out here. Big thanks to Anthony for giving me the thumbs up and definitely swing over to the Radio Silence page to see their story and Chris Bratton's story on What She Said. -Tim DCXX

http://www.radiosilencebook.com/2009/01/what-she-said-body-on-fire/

6 comments:

dangerclose said...

pretty cool..I thought it was gonna be a Smiths cover but it turned out to be much better

Anonymous said...

Yawn.

Anonymous said...

"That's what she said."

Anonymous said...

Nice entry on What She Said. I was always a huge Statue fan. They always seemed to have a mysterious aura to me as well as I was a sheltered midwestern hardcore kid. It would be sweet if you could get Bratton or Alex to give a rundown on the history behind Statue. It's disappointing to know that they broke up with so many unrecorded songs.

Anonymous said...

Great post. More (obscure) stuff like this DCXXX!

SFader said...

Those San Diego bands were a real trip. They always had a weird mystique about them that was cool and different. I mostly want to comment on Josh. That kid could really rock the bass and the drums. I saw him randomly appear in different bands at shows, and he just killed it every time. There was an Inside Out show at KXLU once. Alex drumming at the time decided to not show up. They looked at Josh and asked if he could do it just off memory from listening (he was never in the band or ever played drums with them before I don't think) and he got up there and pulled it off. They blasted thru their set, Josh killing the drums and chicks crying and the whole deal. Zack really fucking preached WAY too much that night I remember. hahaha.