Boy, are we nervous. In just a few minutes we are going to be playing our very first show ever. Who could have known when we decided to get together and make some music that we would actually be playing in front of an audience? Tonight is the birthday of one of my oldest friends in Athens, Kathleen O'Brien who I first met while we were in high school at a German convention for high school students who were studying the language, when we snuck off with a few people to get high. I used to work with her brother when I was 15 and her best friend was in my high school German class.

On February 29, 1980, John Cale played the last show for a long time at the Georgia Theater, after the show was a birthday party for local college radio D.J. Kurt Wood. It was at Kurt's birthday party while standing on the front porch of a house on Lumpkin St. that Kathleen O'Brien asked if Kit Swartz, Jimmy Ellison and I could play at her birthday party on April 5th. She said her roommates' band was also going to perform, if they could get a set together. Nervously we agreed, even though all three of us had only been playing music together for about 3 months, we also hoped to have our set, too.

We began practicing every night, going over and over our set list, which was only about 9 or ten songs. One thing that always bothered me about the way we practiced was that we would stop and start over at every little mistake so it took a long time to go through our few songs. As of tonight I had only been playing drums about 6 months and Jimmy our bass player had only been playing 4 months. Kit, the guitarist has been playing a little longer than me, because his brother knew how to play guitar and would show him different tricks. At the time we are listening to a lot of Ventures albums and the Gang of Four is our favorite band, though we do like most of the "New Wave/Punk" that is coming out at the time, I'd say they are our biggest influences. Therefore we became an "instrumental band with vocals".

During spring break a few weeks after the Kurt's birthday, I had ridden to New York City with the future singer and guitarist of the headlining band and Kurt Wood, who started the first "New Wave/Punk" show at WUOG, the student-run University radio station. The trip to NYC was, to say the least, quite eventful. It was while in New York that we all were somehow invited to attend a birthday party for Lester Bangs. Years later I would ask the hostess if she remembered us from that day, and she said, "Oh yeah, you were they guys that smelled so bad." We spent the whole time living in a van off of Columbus Circle in front of the club Hurrah's and didn't get to shower, though the guitarist didn't show up one night and said he had picked up some girl at a bar just so he could get a shower. I knew the guitar player, because he worked in a record store and the singer and I worked together at the Steak and Ale restaurant where the crew would sometimes get together and have go-go parties at a house outside of town.

Two weeks ago, the singer and a friend of his, Mark Cline, came to see us rehearse at a house my parents had bought out in the suburbs of Athens. We were quite the amateurs. We plodded through our 9 song set and asked them what they thought. The singer seemed to feel that we were really no threat to them musically, but we definately may have had them beat in the originality department. We played several covers, but after the singer for the headliner came to see our practice we narrowed it down to two, "Boots are Made for Walking" and "For Your Love", because the other band was playing some of the same songs. However, our versions were played not at all like the originals, yet still captured their essence. We decided not to play "Secret Agent Man" so that they could perform that as well.

Last night we loaded our equipment through a back door into the sanctuary of the old Saint Mary's Church, where Kathleen lived with the guitarist and singer. There is a two story apartment built inside the church occupying half of the available space in the sactuary. Fortunately there is a back door, or we would have had to load the equipment through the closet in Kathleens bedroom, which has a small door about 3 feet high that one has to duck through to enter the sanctuary from the apartment. After setting up our equipment in the dark and dusty chamber, we ran through our set. We played our set for the drummer of the headlining band and the bassist. It was the first time the guitarist heard us as well. We were quite nervous, since they had just finished performing some of their songs for us. It was the first time I had ever heard them play, and it was much more professional and quite tight. Their set consisted of mostly covers, with about 40 percent originals interspersed throughout it.

"That is interesting the way you accent the downbeats the same as the upbeats," said the other drummer to me.

I honestly had no idea what he was talking about, having never taken a lesson in my life. "Thanks," I said through the microphone after our set while doing a very lousy impersonation of Johnny Lydon in the Public Image Ltd vein. We were really wasted on the Quaaludes that were going around by the time the last night was over, because we wanted to play sober tonight.

Today, earlier in the evening members of both bands had done interviews with Kurt Wood on WUOG. The party was to be a big secret. The headlining band hadn't even chosen a name yet and were asking the audience to vote on such names as "Twisted Kites," "Third Wave" and "Negro Wives." Both bands were really playing up the big rock star image. It was quite hilarious. We made about 8 posters for our show with only the name of the band "The Side Effects" and a photo of a kid in Central Park with a hand grenade by Diane Arbus. Since the headliners didn't have a real name they didn't have a poster, though the poster at the Wuxtry had written on it "Coming to a location near you with Twisted Kites, only the Kugat will know." Kugat being our catch phrase at the time for things that were more than keen, from the Woody Allen movie Sleeper which most of us had seen a few weeks earlier.

Time for our debut set, and the whole place is packed. It is G-Day weekend and perhaps word made it out beyond the downtown scene. There are people hanging in the windows next to the stage being careful not to fall through the holes in the floor. We are scared to death! We open with "I Always Used to Watch You" and run quickly through our set, ending with a song the other guitarist would eventually name for us, "Neat In The Street." For some reason I think the idea of playing before the audience has given us some weird boost of energy. Finally our set is finished and everyone is screaming for an encore, so we play our first two songs over again.

The headlining band finally takes the stage for their premier performance as well, "Oh No!!! Ba ba bada ba ba ba badaba" They play "I Can't Control Myself" Or maybe it was 'Nervous Breakdown." It is hard to remember. Our set is over and the need to remain sober has long vanished. However, their set is just beginning, and for them it will be the first of many for years to come.

The next day I return a van to my brother which had been used for the spring break trip to NYC with Peter and Michael. While cleaning it out I find a pair of underwear inside the refrigerator. For years I had no idea where they came from until one evening in a casual conversation with Peter Buck he admits that they were his and that on that historical evening he had an intimate encounter with what was perhaps his first rock groupie. Funny how things turn out that way.

Looking back on the last 25 years it always amazes me how much the scene has grown. From small secluded parties in old warehouses and peoples homes to a major industry bringing in thousands of dollars to the local economy. There would be no place now for a band like ours, once referred to as the nerds of the local scene. Therefore I am thankful to have been in the right place and the right time to capture the small town magic that was once the Athens music scene. I am sure there are those who experience the same sense of oneness with those in the audience and those on stage, but self awareness may have removed some of the naive charm and wonder one experiences when everything thing is new, every note is fresh, and every beat is empowering.

In conclusion, I would just like to say: "Happy 25th Anniversary" to R.E.M. It is hard to believe it's been this long. Thank you KO. Thank y'all very much for giving Kit, Jimmy and I a once in a lifetime opportunity.

- Paul Butchart

Article Statistics:

Viewed:6084