From Rags to, Well, Better Rags

as told by DUG

Some say that Insect Lounge is a metaphor for Patrick’s room. I say that’s totally false. Insect Lounge is a direct description of Patrick’s room!

Anywho, I’m Dug and you’re reading this.

It all started way back in 1996 when I met Patrick. I had played guitar and sang in some awful Rock Clinic bands and was ready to jam on my own. Patrick had been wanting to jam with someone ever since his mom taught him a little on and acoustic guitar. We met by way of the school bus and talked a lot about music, hockey, and probably other things but I can’t remember. Patrick got a bass guitar the next school year and we jammed a little. By the end of the school year, we grew anxious and became very serious about our music. We jammed every day in the summer of ‘97. We mostly played Beatles and Nirvana covers, writing a few originals, one of which is still around, "Mind Water."

We became a tight musical confection which sounded kind of like, oh, if you can imagine what bagpipes in a trash compactor would sound like, then take that, turn it upside down, sprinkle cheese on it, (cheddar), then throw it off of a cliff. That’s what we sounded like.

By some weird twist of fate, we got a gig. We were to play at Patrick’s little bro’s friend’s seventh birthday party. That was when we decided we needed a drummer. I talked to my friend Brian Stansberry, whom I’d heard play before. About a week before the gig, I gave Brian a tape of what we were going to play and told him to practice with it. Apparently he did because when we practiced the day of the show, we were pretty good.

The gig was exciting, we played through our selections of Beatles, Nirvana, and Social D. covers twice through. We also jammed on things like, oh, the "G" chord and stuff. Patrick had a horrible but faithful amp that was eventually replaced with something Patrick-proof. I had a 25-watt Peavey amp and Patrick’s father’s stereo was our P.A. We had lots and lots of fun. Our name that wasn’t meant to be permanent was initially The Carol Avenue Band, after a street in a friend of mine’s hometown of Yuma, AZ.

The name stuck for a while but Brian didn’t. Drummerless but full of zest for life Patrick and I entered the 9th grade with a band, a name, some originals, and no idea of how to find a drummer or get gigs.

We exited the 9th grade alive.

We still practiced intently, but not quite as often. If I recall correctly, we were on a hockey team together. We had a few originals that seemed promising, and we wanted them to be heard, but had no idea how to go about that, or to find a suitable drummer. So we entered Rock Clinic toward the summer of ‘98.

Mr. Charlie Rayl, Mr. Wess McMichael and Mr. Rob Vollmar hooked Patrick and I up with an extremely talented and promising young man named Nathan Harwell. We changed our name to Insect Lounge, preserving the C.A.B. moniker for something Patrick and I still aren’t sure of. Together, we played inside and out of Rock Clinic for months, pounding away original tunes and a couple covers. We worked very hard and our originals were well excepted.

I kind of decided for us to leave Rock Clinic in the fall of ‘98. I thought if we depended on Rock Clinic too long, we would never be able to get gigs on our own. Besides, our friends THEROGY would soon be planning shows with us. Through Mr. Charlie Rayl we were contacted by a great band from Noble called Mental Illusions. We played two shows with them in Blanchard and Noble, respectively. We are still friends and plan on working with them soon. (FUZZFEST!!!)

We went into the studio with Mr. John Thomas on October 18, 1998, to record three songs for our co-mini EP with Therogy called Sick Monkey. Unfortunately, due to miscommunication, we were only able to record on the next day. We went in, and in eight hours, recorded "Lost," "Therapy," and "The Dark Half," respectively. Patrick and John oversaw the final mixdown, and we left happy people. (Shiny, happy people.) The next weekend, we played our first show with Therogy at the Annex. (I ran Therogy’s lights!) Since then we have played with the likes of Fountainhead, Slow Children at Play, Off the Wall, Gravity Propulsion System, and The Mimsies.

We continue to play with Therogy and plan on playing for the first time ever with our wonderful new drummer Justin Mahaffay. He is working great with us and we sound like Insect Lounge, only better!!! Is that possible??? Yes!!! Anyway, we are playing with a host of other bands at Fuzzfest ‘99 on May 15th at CD World. Justin will be away all summer, but Nathan has promised to work with us on recording our album, hopefully to be released around the fall. Anything beyond that is beyond my control. Kind of like inanimate objects, but I’m working on that......

Dug Rader, April, ‘99

INSECT LOUNGE would like to thank the following people for their love, support, friendship, or nourishment: All of our families and extended families. Nathan Harwell and family. Brian Stansberry. Kirk Kirkwood. Joice Prock. Jeff Cole. Mike Hosty. Wess McMichael. Rob Vollmar. Charlie Rayl. ’Manda Butler. Mental Illusions. Fountainhead. Gravity Propulsion System. Slow Children at Play. Anton Szander LaVey. Off the Wall. The Staff Of Traditions. The Mimsies. Clay English. Doug Hill. Kevin and everyone at CD World. John Thomas, Cody Moore, and Ben Lindesmith. Anyone who has come to our shows. Anyone who we forgot.

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!

Click here to return to the Lounge