This is kind of a funny post, but I was thinking about it this morning as I was taking a shower.
Today is November 12th, 2009, and I am going to see the Get Up Kids play live, which I would have thought an impossibility four years ago. For those that know me, my love for TGUK is no foreign thing… as a matter of fact I’ve subjected just about every friend to countless replays of “Live at Grenada”, or have discussed (ignoring their casual disinterest) the cover choices on the “Eudora” release. I know they aren’t the best band in the world, but they are my favorite, ever since I head the first eight bars of “Holiday” on a college trip back in early 2000.
So of course, throughout college I consistently listened to the band grow and become a stronger influence on my own music… I think TGUK are the reason I was ever in a band in the first place, in fact. I really admired how a band could evolve their sound in such a short amount of time, and how they remained creative throughout with the nuance in their songs. Gadwell Lane, in a way, even sounded a bit like the Get Ups, something that would warrant a hug if someone random pointed it out.
Gadwell Lane was basically started because we loved music, we were in college, and we really had nothing better to do. In the early stages, back in 2002, it was mostly the piecing together of material I had previously written, which wasn’t all that fantastic by any means, but as time went by and our sensabilities became clearer musically, we developed into a pretty badass power-pop trio and really started to turn some heads regionally. We played some awesome shows with some really awesome bands, and when it was decided that we make the move to a four piece, utilizing Lace Allenius at keybords (who was in a playboy spread at the time) we got to the point where even I kind of thought we were going to blow up. Luke, the drummer, was particularly finding his rhythm as a booking agent, and was really working hard as well.
The beginning of the end was in January of 2005, when Nick had to leave the band to grow up and find a real job. It wasn’t like we had trouble replacing him physically… many bassists offered their services and the duties ended up falling to one of our best friends, Spud, but it was hard to replace the dynamic that we had originally and had gotten so comfortable with. I didn’t think it would be a big deal though, especially after a KILLER show with Flickerstick in February of that year. I thought everything would just move along.
Spring break of March 2005 was a ten day tour for us, and we were playing some of the biggest crowds we ever had. One particular sold-out show in Richmond comes to mind, along with solid shows in the Carolinas and a really fun improvised show in Chattanooga, TN.
And somehow, the wheels fell off.
After a bad show, and then an acoustic show in Lexington, KY we were tired, underpaid, and were crashing at a guys house up there. Some pranksters thought it was funny to throw frozen water balloons at Lace and I while we were sleeping, which certainly pissed Lace off quite a bit; she wasn’t used to living out of a car for that long. As we were leaving the house, everything came out, about how she felt she didn’t have any creative input with the band, had not been consulted regarding Nick’s replacement, and basically a bevy of personal attacks against Luke and I. Spud sat by the truck and smoked. After this balls out argument with screaming and pushing (and the band had never really fought before) Lace demanded we take her to the airport so she could fly home. We obliged, although we tried very hard to talk her out of it.
As I helped her get her stuff out of the car, she didn’t look back at me, just walked briskly towards the terminal as I stared at her back. In my head I thought, “Well, we only have two shows left on tour, and we’ve played as a three piece before.” So I hopped back into the car, and we started driving to Dayton. We were silent for a while, digesting all of what had happened, and to break the ice I said “so that happened.” We laughed, and then all agreed that Lace was irrational and selfish, not unlike some of the other women we knew, and that upon our return to Tallahassee we would leave it open for her if she wished to rejoin the band.
In order to break the funk, I turned on the satellite radio, hoping we could just drive to some nice tunes, when that everlasting cunt of a DJ, Madison, came on and said the following.
“For the seven people that care, The Get Up Kids have decided to call it quits.”
Years later, I don’t think the date would have been nearly as memorable had it not happened, but I lost it. I was angry at Lace, at the world, at myself for completely unknown reasons. I couldn’t understand how I had ended up there, in that car, driving endlessly. At the show in Dayton that night, where there were about six people in attendence, I knew something had changed.
Gadwell Lane never really broke up. We all just started getting older, moving away, et cetera, but it was evident (at least to me) that we weren’t going anywhere. Even though we played shows later that year with the Ataris, were showcased at the Florida Music Festival, and were even featured on MTV in some reality show I never really regained the youthful enthusiasm that I had always previously enjoyed. By 2006 all of the members lived in different cities. We all started or joined other bands. We still got together occasionally, just to play a show to re-live the glory days (as recent as a month ago) and remind ourselves that it really was a great time, and while we weren’t changing the world, we were at least changing ourselves.
So I know this is long-winded, but TGUK’s progression was much like ours We grew as musicians, we grew up, and then we grew apart. So when I was made aware that TGUK were back together as of last November, I was almost puzzled. Surely, they won’t go on tour. Surely they won’t write new material. Surely this is like what I had been holding on to the last four years; a last chance to feel young. But here we are, it’s a year later, and they’re in the middle of a tour, just released a new song, and don’t really look as if they are going to slow down. And it makes me so happy I want to cry.
I’m not saying I want Gadwell Lane to do the same thing… this long-winded rumination is a little more complex than that. What this makes me feel like is that life isn’t necessarily as linear as I thought when I was young. There’s always revisitations, opportunities, and chances to start again. For the first time in a long time, I’m not really that concerned about growing old, as I always have been. If anything, I’m almost excited for it, because if Gadwell Lane can go through all of the changes, fights, breakups, highs and lows that it did in four years of being a serious band, and if The Get Up Kids can change their sound drastically, break up, get back together, and go on countless tours over the course of twelve years,I suppose that means I have a lot to look forward to in life, and also a lot to be thankful for.
