The Pat Tragedy Story Chapter One: Hell, Yeah!
Chapter One
During the spring of my senior year in high school, Clovis High School announced that an Air Guitar contest would be held on the stage of the school's amphitheater. Air Guitar was really just a more rockin' way to say lip-synch. Flyers were posted around campus with the sign-up info and regulations. You'd need to have your band members signed up (CHS students only), your song (sans profanity) listed, and your band name turned in by a certain date.
I hung around in a small, tight-knit group of guys and we'd all seen the flyers at one time or another the first day. We met at our usual place near the Art Building during the morning break like we always did to discuss music, chicks, cars, and the other minutiae that fills teenage minds. But this day, we had an actual subject to discuss. Would we participate in the Air Guitar contest this year?
"Hell, yeah!", Chet piped.
Chet was usually pretty quiet when it came to making group decisions. Eric or I usually decided such matters as where to eat, if we were going to Tower Records this weekend--always yes--, what movie to see, etc. Chet almost always agreed with our decree because the three of us pretty much all thought the same things anyway. Gavin and Sean, both just Sophomores, went along for the ride on everything we chose. With Chet, Eric and I being Seniors, those two really didn't have much of a say in anything. When Chet spoke up so soon, we all turned to see what he had to say.
"Yeah?", I said.
"Yeah, man. We could play something cool for a change. You know its gonna be all kinds of pussy shit up there; Culture Club, Def Leppard, that fuckin' Journey crap....."
Whoa. He was showing some passion here. But we did hate Journey something awful.
Eric chimed in with, "Y'know, we could do this. Play some UFO or something. Something these people need to hear". Eric was always on a crusade to improve people's listening habits. Most of them looked at him bewildered when he talked about Alcatrazz or The Michael Schenker Group.
So we immediately started tossing around the names of bands whose songs we could Air Guitar to. I submitted Dio almost without thinking since Dio cassettes were in heavy rotation in my Sunbird's tape deck that year. Whitesnake, Zeppelin, and Judas Priest were bounced around as well. The discussion was so lively that we'd made our decision without realizing it. We were in.
The warning bell for 3rd period rang and we had to get to class, but agreed to make some decisions at the end of the day. Only Chet and Eric shared a lunch period, so any choices would have to wait to be shared until we got out that day. All day in my classes, I shot possible songs through my head. I was on a roll making an impressive list in Government class when Mr. Ramage asked me if I'd like to share my love note with the class. Some girls giggled and most of the guys busted up. I turned redder than a cherry Lifesaver and told him, "No.... 's okay", putting the list away. I would have been less embarrassed to profess my feelings for a girl than to read aloud the following list:
'Snake---Slide It In, Love Ain't No Stranger
Sabbath---anything fast
Thin Lizzy---Jailbreak
BOC---E.T.I., Take Me Away, Cities On Flame
Cheap Trick---maybe
Judas Priest---Electric Eye, Hell Bent For Leather
Dio---anything!!
Fastway---Say What You Will
Deep Pur~~~~(Ramage interrupts me here)
Me and Chet went over to Eric's house after school that day. Each of us was full of suggestions. My submissions were considered, but Eric thought they leaned too heavily on the front man and the guitarist and he wanted more involvement from the other players. Chet thought that Deep Purple spread it around pretty good, but Eric had something more in mind of a twin guitar attack with at least a solo apiece. Chet saw it coming, I think. I didn't, but it made perfect sense when Eric grinned and slid an LP out of his rack.
Go For What You Know, The Pat Travers Band Live!.
Before the needle dropped into the groove, I realized what track Eric was thinking about and said," Oh! Its Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)".
Eric smiled and nodded and Chet said, "Aw, Hell yeah." We had made our second decision of the day.
Next: Chapter Two: Making The Band (1985)
During the spring of my senior year in high school, Clovis High School announced that an Air Guitar contest would be held on the stage of the school's amphitheater. Air Guitar was really just a more rockin' way to say lip-synch. Flyers were posted around campus with the sign-up info and regulations. You'd need to have your band members signed up (CHS students only), your song (sans profanity) listed, and your band name turned in by a certain date.
I hung around in a small, tight-knit group of guys and we'd all seen the flyers at one time or another the first day. We met at our usual place near the Art Building during the morning break like we always did to discuss music, chicks, cars, and the other minutiae that fills teenage minds. But this day, we had an actual subject to discuss. Would we participate in the Air Guitar contest this year?
"Hell, yeah!", Chet piped.
Chet was usually pretty quiet when it came to making group decisions. Eric or I usually decided such matters as where to eat, if we were going to Tower Records this weekend--always yes--, what movie to see, etc. Chet almost always agreed with our decree because the three of us pretty much all thought the same things anyway. Gavin and Sean, both just Sophomores, went along for the ride on everything we chose. With Chet, Eric and I being Seniors, those two really didn't have much of a say in anything. When Chet spoke up so soon, we all turned to see what he had to say.
"Yeah?", I said.
"Yeah, man. We could play something cool for a change. You know its gonna be all kinds of pussy shit up there; Culture Club, Def Leppard, that fuckin' Journey crap....."
Whoa. He was showing some passion here. But we did hate Journey something awful.
Eric chimed in with, "Y'know, we could do this. Play some UFO or something. Something these people need to hear". Eric was always on a crusade to improve people's listening habits. Most of them looked at him bewildered when he talked about Alcatrazz or The Michael Schenker Group.
So we immediately started tossing around the names of bands whose songs we could Air Guitar to. I submitted Dio almost without thinking since Dio cassettes were in heavy rotation in my Sunbird's tape deck that year. Whitesnake, Zeppelin, and Judas Priest were bounced around as well. The discussion was so lively that we'd made our decision without realizing it. We were in.
The warning bell for 3rd period rang and we had to get to class, but agreed to make some decisions at the end of the day. Only Chet and Eric shared a lunch period, so any choices would have to wait to be shared until we got out that day. All day in my classes, I shot possible songs through my head. I was on a roll making an impressive list in Government class when Mr. Ramage asked me if I'd like to share my love note with the class. Some girls giggled and most of the guys busted up. I turned redder than a cherry Lifesaver and told him, "No.... 's okay", putting the list away. I would have been less embarrassed to profess my feelings for a girl than to read aloud the following list:
'Snake---Slide It In, Love Ain't No Stranger
Sabbath---anything fast
Thin Lizzy---Jailbreak
BOC---E.T.I., Take Me Away, Cities On Flame
Cheap Trick---maybe
Judas Priest---Electric Eye, Hell Bent For Leather
Dio---anything!!
Fastway---Say What You Will
Deep Pur~~~~(Ramage interrupts me here)
Me and Chet went over to Eric's house after school that day. Each of us was full of suggestions. My submissions were considered, but Eric thought they leaned too heavily on the front man and the guitarist and he wanted more involvement from the other players. Chet thought that Deep Purple spread it around pretty good, but Eric had something more in mind of a twin guitar attack with at least a solo apiece. Chet saw it coming, I think. I didn't, but it made perfect sense when Eric grinned and slid an LP out of his rack.
Go For What You Know, The Pat Travers Band Live!.
Before the needle dropped into the groove, I realized what track Eric was thinking about and said," Oh! Its Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)".
Eric smiled and nodded and Chet said, "Aw, Hell yeah." We had made our second decision of the day.
Next: Chapter Two: Making The Band (1985)
posted by Tony at 5:45 PM
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