A History Of Linear, thank you to Pete for writing!
PROLOGUE
man, where does all the time go?!? it seems like only a few days ago that pete disalvo and john hurr met in kindergarten. damn, has it really been 12 years? that's amazing. to think a friendship still stays this strong after 12 years. that's long than most marriages. but we'll fast forward it a few years til john and pete were in the 7th grade.
pete had started playing the guitar around 5th or 6th grade, but his love of music had started when he was still a baby. i guess his first real influence, the band that made him want to play in a rock band, was the smashing pumpkins. they got him to write melodic songs. songs with a beat, and you can dance to them. he soon recruited john hurr and john's twin brother, matt to start a band. john played bass and matt played guitar. it was a perfect match. the three of them started writing songs and working together, but they still needed a drummer. enter ryan coyle. ryan had and still is a great friend of pete and john. he knew some kids from a neighboring school, miami valley. he introduced pete and john to kristin mann and a couple other kats from the school. but he also introduced them to a tiny lad named david pardue. david was a drummer. he was the one thing that the band really needed. so right away, without any hesitation, pete asked him to join the band. he accepted
thus began the history of LINEAR
chapter 1 - 4DayKatch
the four young rockers started 4DayKatch. it was a mixture of contemporary cover songs and some originals here and there. thy practiced at david's house a lot, and the first song they accomplished was "today" by the smashing pumpkins. they didn't have a PA system, so they just played without vocals. then they decided to buy a cheap little amp, anda $20 microphone that accomplished nothing. but the guys had no idea about equipment. they just wanted to rock.
finally, the band got their first gig. it was a show at the hurr's local pool. it was a talent show with a lot of little kids. they were the only real teenagers in the show, hell they were the only real talent in the show. but on the eve of the performance, david was more or less kicked out of the band for reasons that escape me at this time. i think it had to do with him being gone a lot. what were the boys to do? they had no drummer the day before their first gig. you may think they were down and out, but pete had a plan. pete's best friend/cousin, daniel, had just gotten drums for christmas. he and pete had always talked about having a band together, now they were going to actually make that dream a reality. daniel came over the day of the show, and in pete's basement he learned the two songs he was supposed to know: "today" and "in bloom" by nirvana. the guys rocked.
then an unfortunate event happened and pete was kicked out of his elementary school. the three comrades, matt john and pete, were to be separated. that summer, pete threw himself a going away swim party in his backyard, because he's a nerd. it proved to be a fateful occassion, because pete had his friend, kristin mann, sit in on a cover of "good riddance" from green day. pete attended st alberts in the fall where he met a cool kid named erik balster. erik was and still is an amazing guitarist. he had the chops to be a great addition to 4dk. after just one practice with the band, he joined.
they played a few shows that year. including one at pete's old school. they played in the gym of it for a christmas dance. they were a big success. it was their first real show, where people actually came to see them. it was such a high for the fledgling rockers. together they practiced and played for a year. untila round christmas the following year, when they played the same dance, but the turnout more or less sucked. the band was falling apart. pete was devastated. that was his baby. and now his band was over...or was it?
chapter 2 - The Suburban Groove Thang
late into the boys freshmen year of high school, at archbishop alter high the boys became good friends with bart freezr, and another kid they had known, matt buehrle. erik, matt b, bart, and john started working on songs together. pete was without a band for the first time in almost three years. he became very anxious and asked to play drums for the new band, which was being known as BART JOB at the time. it consisted of matt buehrle on keyboard, erik on guitar, bart on lead vocals, john hurr on bass, and pete on drums. the drums were a nice change of pace for pete. they started to work on a cd almost immediately. they were a cool little jam band. they loved long solos, great piano riffs and catchy tunes that you just couldn't get out of your head. the first album was known as "Voodoo Rain Dance". they played their first show at a talent show in middletown, ohio in april of 2000. they once again rocked.
things were going fine for a couple more months, but after a while pete's taste in music were becoming quite different than those of the others in the band. pete's new love was punk and ska. but the guys in the Suburban Groove Thang, as Bart Job came to be known, were really against punk. pete thought maybe he needed a change of pace, go back to playing guitar. so the band talked and pete moved to guitar and daniel came in like a bat out of hell, right on to drums. the transition was shaky. they had a 13 song catalogue and some odd number of cover tunes for daniel to learn. it was a daunting task. during the summer of 2000, john was on vacation, and from what the band noticed, growing less and less interested in the SGT. he was thus fired from the band and paul lehner, a friend of matt's was brought in. pete was made to do the horrible task of firing one of his best friends. john took it pretty well, but i would have been super pissed.
that made the problems between pete and the band even bigger. daniel and he both loved their punk music, and pete wasn't really doing much good for the band, so the night of their friend's birthday party, they played a show, and pete and daniel abruptly quit.
things seemed to have cooled down after then. bart ended up quitting a few weeks later, and david pardue, the blast from the past, was brought in to play drums for the sgt.
chapter 3 - Good Guys Don't Wear White
pete and daniel both really wanted to be in a band. a band where they had say, and were able to play whatever music they wanted. after john left the SGT things didn't feel right. only so often is there a connection between three musicians, where it is just so strange and uncomfortable to play without seeing them to your side, or in front of you. john was sorta into punk and he did like ska, so when pete and daniel started their next band, john was the only bassist they wanted. just a few short weeks after their departure from the SGT, Good Guys Don't Wear White was born. The name was bart's idea, but pete did most of the writing for the band. that was the one thing he wanted most. he wanted the liberty to write songs. the band was a mix of punk and ska, and had some really catch tunes.
the week of alter fest, a big drunken party at alter, the boys went into their friend, Alex Vesper's studio. they pumped out 8 solid tracks in less than three days. the quality of recording was rushed and that was the band's fault, but they really wanted these songs. the demo was out by mid fall, and the band sort of just dissapeared. they rarely practiced, and pete and daniel really wanted a band that was fullhearted. plus, once again, pete's taste in music were changing. with one more band ending, Linear would soon start.
chapter 4 - Linear
pete, the jerk that he is, sort of lied to bart, who was pretty much one of his closest friends. he told him the band was breaking up because no one really cared anymore. pete had a plan right away after that. he knew what sort of band he wanted to start next. his next project would be his favorite. the one he really wanted to stick with.
he talked it over with daniel, and decided that they really wanted to start an emo band. they had been listening to the get up kids, religiously for the last few months. and pete could tell right away, taht was the sort of band he wanted to start. emo (a mixture of energy and melody) was pete's new craze. the punk mentality mixed with the smooth melodic sounds was prolly the most beautiful thing to ring in pete's ears since pumpkin's siamese dream. he then got john on the horn and told him his plan. john was definitely into it. although john wasn't a huge fan of the sort of music, all he wanted to do was play, so that sort of worked out. next pete called on some old friends from the past. he called ryan coyle and kristin mann to join. pete's ideal "emo" band would be himself on guitar and backing vocals, daniel on drums, john on bass, ryan on keyboard, and kristin on lead vocals. kristin signed on right away, knowing that she wanted to be in a band. she and pete share the same love for many emo bands, and what better way to express that love, than to be in one. ran was a little apprehensive. with his schedule, he wasn't going to be able to be in a band. so he said no thanks, but still he remains the bands faithful roadie.
enter, rebecca brererton. she comes with full recommendations from kristin. her piano chops were just what the band needed. but one more roadbump was still ahead. john, at the last minute, decided he didn't want to be in the band. this crushed pete. he couldn't think of anyone he wanted in the band more. john's reasons were due to the fact taht girls were in the band. any guy is afraid to be in a band with girls, because of the stigma of a "chick band". so the first practice was held in february of 2001. it had erik balster added to the lineup. he, still a good friend of pete's, volunteered to play bass. although good, pete still wanted john. john was at his side since 7th grade. he was in every band pete and daniel had been in. there was no way they could play without him. so with a lot of begging pete convinced john to rejoin.
thank god he did. the band played it's first show in the spring of 2001 at john and pete's high school, alter. they played the talent show, and did amazingly well seeing as how it was the first time two of the members had performed in a band in front of people outside the mann family. the band was and still is on a natural high. the band almost immediately went into vesper's studio and recorded a five song demo containing to classics from good guys don't wear white.
with the help of kristin's father, whom pete is quoted saying as a "godsend and the 6th member of the band", has helped the band grow immensly. with his connections and love for music, they have found a great leader. he has helped them set up their first time in a recording studio, where they hope to record 5-7 songs on a professional demo. they also hope to send it out to labels and get signed. thus allowing linear to become rock stars, so they can leave dayton and all it's glory far behind in their dust.
well let the dream continue....