OK. I didn’t want to do this but my friends in the title said they wanted to hear it.
In 1986 the band I was in at the time, “Kasten” recorded a three song demo in a studio in Sierra Madre, CA, a Los Angeles suburb. Having no financial backing, we could only afford three songs. It was recorded on 16 tracks on an analog tape, back in the good old days before auto tune and all that crap.
So here it is. I was 19 at the time and playing bass and do backing vocals on this recording. The singer/lead guitarist named the band after himself, of course. “Kasten.” Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Van Halen, but he did his utmost to copy Eddie Van Halen’s playing. 😉
We had only been together for about 6 months when we recorded these.
Here’s the demo in it’s original order.
“Rock it Up”
“Are You Ready”
“She’s My Baby”
Here’s a picture of me backstage after my first performance with Kasten at a rather large venue called “The Timbers” in Glendora, CA. The venue was quite a bit larger than the amount of people who came to see us. 😉
Here’s the only picture I have left of me performing with that band. An ex-girlfriend stole all my other pictures, videos, etc.
This one was taken at Gazzarri’s on the Sunset Strip. I’m the fuzzy image on the right. 😉
Here’s a flyer for another show we did there. I’m in the center. It’s an early one, before my hair got truly long.
And here’s when it got long . . . and tall. 😉
Me and my wife at Christmas in ’86.
I quit this band over “artistic differences.” I was much more into “metal” than the songs we were playing. A few months after I quit, they called me back and asked me to return as a guitarist. So I bought a Marshall stack and re-enlisted. We hired a bassist to replace me. At that time were writing much better songs. Here’s one of mine I recorded on an old Tascam 4 track recorder during that time. I play everything on it, including the lame singing and horrible borrowed drum machine.
“Sometime Somewhere”
We played all the clubs at on the Sunset Strip. We were on the Joan Rivers New Year’s show opening for the Bus Boys. Think “The Boys are Back in Town.” Opened for Warrant for their “Farewell L.A.” show after they got signed. Did a showcase performance for Atlantic Records at the Roxy. They were impressed but “wanted us to stay together for another year.”
Wasn’t meant to happen. I looked around and saw the ’80s scene for what it really was. It wasn’t about music. It was more about image. “Who were the hottest guys that attracted the most chicks?” That’s what it was. And who had the connections and financial backing to get signed. So before the Warrant show, I announced I was quitting once again. Did the show, packed up my stuff and left that scene forever. I decided classical guitar was all about just the music, took private lessons for a year, then enrolled in college as a classical guitar performance major.
Of course I never gave up the electric guitar. I just happened to get a roommate in the dorm that played drums. I’d practice my classical for a couple hours then I’d crank up the Marshall and we’d just rock out in our room, playing loud enough to annoy the non metal-heads, but also scaring them so much that no one ever complained. 😉
Here’s us in the room.
So I studied classical guitar but one day my instructor told me to bring my electric. His aim was to teach me this ridiculously easy jazz chord progression. So I took the music back to the room. Learned it in ten minutes and got bored. SOOOOoooo, I borrowed that horrid drum machine, played the progression, soloed over it in one take, and brought it back to him the next day. He was all, “Christ! How many cups of coffee did you have before you recorded this?!?! You know silence is a part of music too!” I think he was just jealous. Fuck him. Old ass-gray-hair-pony-tail-hippie.
Here it is!
And so, MyGoatsareDeplorable and Harbinger, there it all is.
Now I record songs in my home studio with my lovely bride under the name, “Fucking Pirates.” And that’s what we do. 🙂
And, because Harbinger will be reading this and I know how gay he is, here’s a picture of me at 17 doing my best Nikki Sixx impression at a show we did in a church basement to benefit the homeless. I think we raised $600.
But Harbinger, please note the nipple. 😉
SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE! Clips from the first ever rock show I ever performed in at my high school. I guess our drummer back then took the video, edited it and put in this totally creepy non-metal music that is NOT ours over it. Shame on him. I’m the bass player here too in the blue Jap “kimono.”
Thank you guys for making me humiliate myself.
So now, I and my gorgeous and talented wife (vocals) record our own stuff in our own house, under the name “Fucking Pirates,” and we are more than happy with this situation.
Munny out. 🙂
And still . . . RIP Edward Van Halen.
Originally published at Def-Con News on October 7, 2020.
