Post by Bret Walker on Jan 1, 2003 1:18:41 GMT -5
2002 In Review
It's the new year, 2003, and has been for fifty minutes now. I'm not a big celebrator of this particular holiday. I think that one day is just like any other, and after all, who determined that this would be the first day of the new year anyway? Why not mid-Spring?
But that's all just semantics anyway. I don't make new year's resolutions, because I have never made one that I haven't broken, and I always feel stupid and weak for having broken it. The only resolution I have ever kept is the last one I made, New Year's Day 1994. I resolved never to make another resolution. Nine years later, that resolution is still intact.
However, this is as good a time as any to reflect on the goings on over the past year. After all, it's a new calendar year. So just this once, I bend to convention and accept that it is a new year and reflect on what's gone on in the life of the band during 2002.
Well, first of all, we moved into our new domain space on January 3rd, that was pretty momentous. Speaking of which, I've got to contact ReadyHosting and find out about paying for the next year...
On March 2nd, Max the Dork was first played on the radio, on KPSU Portland University radio. That was a pretty exciting day, regardless of the fact that I had to stay up until three in the morning to catch it.
On April 1st, the second album, No Thanks, I'm Driving was released to much fanfare. It's still the more popular of the two albums out there. Probably because I figured out more about how to record so it doesn't sound completely like shit.
During this time, WGLS in Glassboro, NJ, started giving MtD some airplay on the Locals Only program, and I got to be pretty good friends with Jack and Kevin from the show.
In May, Max the Dork took a back seat as I played the drums for the goth-metal band Fuck Souls (AKA The Mined Weavers). While I enjoyed the experience of drumming again, it's a period of my life I wish I could have back. I'd rather have expended that much energy on MtD. In August, after two shows and a radio appearance, I left the band.
I also booked some shows for MtD, and in September I played the first MtD show since May 4, 2001. That first Brenner's Brew show was great for two reasons: I broke the ice of live performance again, and I met up with Syphin, with whom I kept a fairly close relationship throughout the rest of the year.
In October, MtD played two momentous shows. The first, at Full Circle Records in Blackwood, NJ, I met up with Value & Quality, a band from Pottstown, PA, that totally blew me away. And then the very next week, after the Brenner's Brew show I met our new drummer, Justin "Hitman Tony" Kerr.
Having a drummer to play with was phenomenal to begin with, but Justin, or Tony as we like to call him, also brought on bassist Matt "Something" Liedike. We played our first show together in November, and the energy just felt tremendous. Having the synergy of a band behind you increases the energy of the performance exponentially. Or in other words, it just kicked ass. It was about this time that I wrapped up the writing of the songs for album #3, Crapital Punishment.
Unfortunately, with the new band members there were some growing pains. Matt left the band because of creative differences, and we brought on Justin Parker, who seemed to fit right in from the start. The new lineup played live for the first time in December, and we also wrote a couple new songs together, probably slated for a 4th album.
The crowning glory for the year came when WGLS Locals Only named Max the Dork as one of the two #1 bands of 2002. The other band was Divers Lust, a band that we've since become rather conversant with.
So that's 2002 in a nutshell. It's been a big year for the band, and we certainly have high hopes for 2003, what with the upcoming Groundhog Day of Destruction show and the increasing fanbase we've managed to accumulate. Thanks for hanging with us and well see you in 2003! ;D
It's the new year, 2003, and has been for fifty minutes now. I'm not a big celebrator of this particular holiday. I think that one day is just like any other, and after all, who determined that this would be the first day of the new year anyway? Why not mid-Spring?
But that's all just semantics anyway. I don't make new year's resolutions, because I have never made one that I haven't broken, and I always feel stupid and weak for having broken it. The only resolution I have ever kept is the last one I made, New Year's Day 1994. I resolved never to make another resolution. Nine years later, that resolution is still intact.
However, this is as good a time as any to reflect on the goings on over the past year. After all, it's a new calendar year. So just this once, I bend to convention and accept that it is a new year and reflect on what's gone on in the life of the band during 2002.
Well, first of all, we moved into our new domain space on January 3rd, that was pretty momentous. Speaking of which, I've got to contact ReadyHosting and find out about paying for the next year...
On March 2nd, Max the Dork was first played on the radio, on KPSU Portland University radio. That was a pretty exciting day, regardless of the fact that I had to stay up until three in the morning to catch it.
On April 1st, the second album, No Thanks, I'm Driving was released to much fanfare. It's still the more popular of the two albums out there. Probably because I figured out more about how to record so it doesn't sound completely like shit.
During this time, WGLS in Glassboro, NJ, started giving MtD some airplay on the Locals Only program, and I got to be pretty good friends with Jack and Kevin from the show.
In May, Max the Dork took a back seat as I played the drums for the goth-metal band Fuck Souls (AKA The Mined Weavers). While I enjoyed the experience of drumming again, it's a period of my life I wish I could have back. I'd rather have expended that much energy on MtD. In August, after two shows and a radio appearance, I left the band.
I also booked some shows for MtD, and in September I played the first MtD show since May 4, 2001. That first Brenner's Brew show was great for two reasons: I broke the ice of live performance again, and I met up with Syphin, with whom I kept a fairly close relationship throughout the rest of the year.
In October, MtD played two momentous shows. The first, at Full Circle Records in Blackwood, NJ, I met up with Value & Quality, a band from Pottstown, PA, that totally blew me away. And then the very next week, after the Brenner's Brew show I met our new drummer, Justin "Hitman Tony" Kerr.
Having a drummer to play with was phenomenal to begin with, but Justin, or Tony as we like to call him, also brought on bassist Matt "Something" Liedike. We played our first show together in November, and the energy just felt tremendous. Having the synergy of a band behind you increases the energy of the performance exponentially. Or in other words, it just kicked ass. It was about this time that I wrapped up the writing of the songs for album #3, Crapital Punishment.
Unfortunately, with the new band members there were some growing pains. Matt left the band because of creative differences, and we brought on Justin Parker, who seemed to fit right in from the start. The new lineup played live for the first time in December, and we also wrote a couple new songs together, probably slated for a 4th album.
The crowning glory for the year came when WGLS Locals Only named Max the Dork as one of the two #1 bands of 2002. The other band was Divers Lust, a band that we've since become rather conversant with.
So that's 2002 in a nutshell. It's been a big year for the band, and we certainly have high hopes for 2003, what with the upcoming Groundhog Day of Destruction show and the increasing fanbase we've managed to accumulate. Thanks for hanging with us and well see you in 2003! ;D
