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BITTER JUSTICE PHOTOS
The photographs that make up this collection were scanned from my private scrapbook of the band. While we did play a large number of shows, we were busy playing music, and not taking photographs of ourselves. As a result there were only a handful of occasions that we had either the foresight or the opportunity to capture what we were doing to film. What you see here is, to a greater or lesser extent, all that there is in the way of a visual record of the band. Included are photos taken at various live shows, practices, and during the recording sessions for TONGUE IN CHEEK, our 7-song cassette tape. Which, by the way, is STILL AVAILABLE to you at the very reasonable price of only $4 - shipping included!
And lastly, Greg K. - The roadie of BITTER JUSTICE
History of the Band
The roots of Bitter Justice began to form when I (JOHN) was in a band, playing a show for my college residence hall. Some skinny guy with a cheesey moustache came up to me and asked if it would be alright if he came on stage and played a song with us. I said yes. The song was Poison's "I Won't Forget You". The band's lead singer at that time had a limited range, and was struggling with the vocals. Well, the skinny guy stepped up to the microphone and began singing. (Enter JONATHAN).
Jonathan and I played together for about 4 1/2 months in a cover band, during which time he had become friends with another guitarist (KURT). At the time that the cover band broke up, I was beginning to write my own music, and had written the song "Cat's Meow". Because Jonathan was the best singer I had ever met, I asked him to sing the song on the demo tape. He demo'ed "Cat's Meow" and another song I'd written, "She's an Angel", and together we wrote and recorded a third song, "Life". At this point, it struck us that we were on to something good and we needed a band.
The next people to join us were Jonathan's friend, KURT, whom I had met several times before (I had roomed with his older brother two years earlier), and KEVIN, a drummer, who was Jonathan's roomate. Kurt and I began writing songs together, one of them being "Southbound Angel". At this point, we still needed a bassist and a name. Borrowing from ourselves, we decided to name the group SOUTHBOUND ANGEL, and we brought in a bassist called Hatt. Southbound Angel played several local shows, and appeared on a college variety television show, before disbanding.
Three months later, Kevin and I were looking for people to form a band with. Kurt and I had an apartment together, but Kurt had decided to quit playing music because of fear of hearing damage (ALWAYS wear earplugs, kids). Kevin saw a notice posted for a guitarist looking for a band. We answered the ad and met RICK. Rick was quiet and polite, but most importantly, he was good. He showed up for the first rehersal and played the practice songs note-for-note perfect. I went home and told Kurt about Rick. Also, I called Jonathan and asked him if he would be willing to help us out by singing at a practice session. He said yes, came to the practice, and heard Kevin, Rick, and myself play together. Jonathan was back in.
I again went home, this time telling Kurt that Jonathan was back in the band. Now, whether Kurt is in a band or not, he is a musician. And the pull of music, to a musician, is a very strong one. Having already sold off all of his guitar equipment, plus the fact that the band already had two guitarists, Kurt decided to become the band's bassist. And BITTER JUSTICE was formed.
The band played many shows in many different places - Bars, frat parties, benefit concerts, and even a motorcycle rally! The first show was on Saturday, February 13, 1993 at Club Outback in Mt. Pleasant. The last show was on Sunday, January 28, 1994 at Bar One in Mt. Pleasant. Besides Mt. Pleasant, we played shows in East Lansing, Detroit, Saginaw, and elsewhere. On a bad night we were, well, bad. But on a good night... Incendiary! We were luckey enough to scrape together the money needed to rent a recording studio and a recording engineer, and spent two and a half weeks in the summer of 1993 in a very small, very hot studio called Blue Dog Audio. The end result of those 2 1/2 weeks of recordings was a collection of seven original songs. Two of the songs, "Southbound Angel" and "Cat's Meow" had been with the band from the beginning, three - "Cradle to Grave", "Talk of the Town", & "Piece of Heather" - had been written and performed live in the months before going into the studio, and the remaing two, "Turn It Up" and "Everything" were finished just in time to be included on the album.
Listening to the album now, five years later, I still think the songs stand up. Growing up, I had always wanted to be a rock star - not for the girls or the money (Yeah, money, right!), but for the music. In my own way, on a small scale, I feel that my dream of playing music did come true. And I've always got the tape to prove it!
