Hatchback: Eulogy: 1998-2002 I met Steve through the trombone player of my high school ska-punk band, Calvin and the Snobbes. I only mention the band by name because I am 99.999 percent positive that no record of that bands music output still exits. Steve was a ferocious drummer, he drove a Mercury Cougar and had a sticker on his drum set that said “The Big Bang Theory: God was there and bang it happened.” I remember looking over at Shaun and shrugging as he practiced with us for the first time, mutually agreeing that we desperately wanted him to play with us, knowing that we would probably end up running him off with our godless ways. Towards the dwindling days of the high school ska band we decided to try to do what every band that finds itself on the rocks try's: add another element or person to change it up, keep it interesting. We decided to try for another guitar player, and that is how I met Eric. Eric and Steve knew each other because they had previously played together in a band called Kung Fu Store. He showed up with his sister and a quarter inch tape machine, they were wearing matching airbrushed Descendants sweatshirts they had made in either Jersey or Oakwood Mall, I really can’t remember, but they were awesome (the shirts and the siblings). This was the first time I was introduced to Eric’s guitar playing. I don’t remember exactly what I thought at the time, but I remember he was a bit loose, a bit raw and primal, and unfortunately the polar opposite of Shaun, style wise. After high school Shaun went off the LSU and I stayed in town to “attend” UNO, essentially killing our high school band. In college I moved into the UNO dorms is where I met Greg. He was the roommate of Tommy Static, a guitar player who I met in high school through his band Static Age at the Faubourg Center. Greg was a pretty straight laced guy, who was going to school for electric engineering. Greg and Tommy, Eric had gone to the same high school, and we all shared some overlap in taste as far as music went. One day Greg mentioned that he had been playing in a band with Steve, Eric and Pierre from Static Age a virtuoso that went to high school with Eric and Greg. I can’t really remember if Greg invited me over to a practice just to check it out or if I was already trying to weasel my way into this band that I’d never heard, but either way, I ended up at Eric’s dad’s house on the Westbank one night, for a practice. They were set up in a walk-in closet in Eric’s room which for some reason weirded me out, but also made me wish I had a closet I could practice in. Eric was playing his Gibson SG, Pierre was playing a Dan Electro, Greg had a P-Bass and was on vocal duty, and Steve had I think the old drum set from Calvin and the Snobbes. I don’t think he’d upgraded to the drum set that he bought from Ray Fransen’s. I think the first song they played was “You Never Know,” and my first thought was HOLYSHIT!… These guys are good. I probably said it out-loud as well, which was most likely one of the first of many times I would offend the majority of the band by saying goddamn, holy shit, and every other way I could be accidentally blasphemous. (What are ya gonna do. A sinner’s gonna sin.) They had a few more song, probably two or three, but just the one or two with words so I offered to sing some back-ups “or something.” I played bass in my previous band and sang, which led into later borderline screaming so, with no chance of bass (Greg, like Pierre was a great bass player, and they were both much better than me), some sort of vocals seemed like my easiest “in.” We went through YNK a few times and I think they just asked if I wanted to sing, with Steve insisting on the condition that I didn’t do any of that godawful screaming that I had reverted to at the end of CatS. I agreed, and the first solid iteration of Hatchback was formed. One of the best parts was that they’d already decided on a name. Evidently, I later learned, that a couple of friends, Kieth and Mel had stood in the spot of the Hatchback singer, but for whatever reason it didn’t work out. Pierre/Eric were the initial songwriting continuum. Our first songs were You Never Know, Losing Roger, Words Can’t Explain, Who the Hell is John Bender Anyway, Better Off, and Blue Room. I lived around the corner from Underground Sounds, a local record store that did in stores. One of the Ladies who worked there was Debra Dolls who ran Devil Dolls productions. I’d gone in that store a million times a week, for records and in-store, and showed up frequently to the shows I could get into. In fact the second show I ever went to was a Devil Dolls show, Hickey, the Quincy Punx, and the Buckeyed Forest Punks. Hickey is still one of my favorite bands to this day. Debra gave Hatchback their first show, at the legendary Dixie Tavern. We opened for the Groovie Ghoulies and the Eyeliners and it was amazing. I’d always loved the Groovie Goulies ever since I stumbled across them at a Faubourg Center Show. Some time later we decided with Eric’s insistence to record a show that we played at Check Point Charlies. We made copies that we recorded over copies of Type O Negative’s “World is Coming Down” sampler tapes that we acquired from a member of their NOLA street team and I’m pretty sure we dubbed it “Hatchback Live and Out of Tune.” I think I personally destroyed every copy of that. With our first tapes recorded, Eric decided that we could tour like a real band. That was probably one of the more formative moments in my life, realizing that we could in fact, “Book our own Fucking Life.” We never ended up doing a tour with Pierre because of personal issues, and this began our practice of shuffling members around to keep afloat. During our first tour of the South, which began in Memphis, Tn, with a show booked by Jay Reatard. I lost my voice immediately and we accidentally left Greg at a Toys R Us in Florida. That’s where we met O’Doyle Rules, a great band from Austin, that also served as Jerm’s hired musician’s for Missile Command. During our second tour we did a northeast bit where we ended up playing with Crispus Attucks in Richmond and CBGB in New York. I think Ryan from Monotanashhfuck got us the Crispus Attucks show. We’d met him and Brandon at a show we played at Underground Sounds which led to some long friendships, band affiliations and general hi-jinks that occasionally occurs to this day. I think at CB’s Hilly payed us like 75 bucks which was great considering we played to only to like 6 people at the show. We made at least 5 home movies during that tour which were unfortunately lost to Hurricane Katrina, one of which featured a golden retriever that served as the old doomsayer of the horror movie. “YOU’RE ALL DOOOOOOOOMED!” You had to be there. Two of the 6 people in attendance at the CBGB’s show were from Brazil, and they bought a couple of tapes from us. We later found out that a person we knew, who lived in Chile, received a copy of a mix tape that was been passed around South America in what he referred to as the South American mix tape network, that was us, Braid and the Promise Ring all on the same tape evidently originating form those two guys. I still hope that mix tape story is true. James, later of Hightower Recordings, recorded our the first EP or whatever you want to call it on this discography. Pierre bought new string and a new cable for the recording and sliced his finger open trying to open the string with this weird razor sharp multi-tool. I wanted to call the record/EP “handy dandy pocket suicide kit.” I assume that didn’t happen, I can really remember. Eric actually had a record of all of this stuff including a flyer for every show we ever played but it all got destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. That recording has a song called Meat, which is the abbreviated name for the original name, “Meat, It Just Makes Sense.” The inspiration for Meat, was a show we played at a venue called Nowe Miasto in New Orleans. The venue was a collective living, performance, art, and community space that existed from 1999-2005. Although I do not remember the context under which we played, I do remember that Eric’s truck, which was our mode of band transport, was affixed with some sort of bumper sticker that related to his religious beliefs at the time. After we played our set, had a blast and were sitting around waiting for a puppet show I believe, and the headlining band to play one of the persons who ran the venue got up on the stage and went on a tirade against the religious beliefs of 3/5ths of my band. Needless to say left my band feeling very unwelcome, upset, and a bit pissed. While I did not share my band mates belief system, I was very very pissed about that incident. So we did what ever 17-19 year old group of teenagers in a band would do. Write a snarky song. One of things that stood out at that show was that a traveler who was staying at the house for a couple of days had gone out caught a fish, and intended to cook it in a pan that he traveled with on the stove of the house. They permanent residents of the house refuse to let the guy make his food inside because they were all either vegan or vegetarian. So naturally we felt an affinity with this guy who was also given the shaft that day, (low hanging fruit, I know) and we wrote Meat, in the time that it took to play it once. It was a fun, cathartic bonding experience for us, as well as an exercise in learning how intolerant punks can sometimes. So we recorded it. I still think it’s pretty funny. Pierre broke the news that he was moving to Philadelphia, which left us with a decision on what we needed to do. We’d had a bass player fill in for our second tour and a show we played with At the Drive-in, with Greg moving over to guitar, but that didn’t really work out bass player wise, so we decided to get a second guitarist. We asked our long time friend, co-conspirator Dan to play guitar. Dan funnily enough was the person who gave me a flyer for the first punk show I ever went to, COPOUT. He handed it to me in the hallway at school during my sophomore year of high-school as we were changing classes. Dan and Kelly used to put on awesome shows at the Robert Street house and we were excited to have him. With this I began presenting songs to the band, as I had started paying guitar and the second chapter of Hatchback had begun. Dan was amazing, I really wish I could go back and realize how much he added to the songs and to the band, musically and experience wise. Dan played a Gibson Sonex, an amazing guitar that I would buy 15 years later because of the impression that he and the guitar had left on me. We recorded the songs with Chris George, from the Living Room and as I recall, Dan decided to move shortly after. The recording came out great. Definitely one of my favorites. We eventually reverted to a four piece with me playing bass and singing, Greg and Eric on guitar, and Steve on drums during which time we recorded our final hurrah at Greg’s parents house. Greg and Steve quit, to start a Kid Dynamite/Lifetime type band called Gathered Here with our last show consisting of just me and Eric playing acoustic guitars. Eric and I went on to start Dear Diary I Seem to be Dead. After Greg and Steve quit we were offered an opening spot for Fugazi. Some Tulane band that sounded like a cross between Spoon and Radiohead took the spot instead. All in all Hatchback was all great fun. I wish I remembered more, but I do know I enjoyed it while it lasted. Chuck