even though i spent some time and effort to actually learn the mechanics of music and music theory and such, and can certainly love and appreciate jazz and classical and prog rock etc, i always still come back to my favorite genres...the simple ones, almost amateur but always heartfelt and passionate. those are the garage rock of the 60s and the punk rock of the late 70s and early 80s. i know it has a lot to do with the joy of listening to these wonderfully naive whilst riding around the Honda owned by Bev Ashworth but commandeered by The Combined Brotherhood of Ashworth/Rock, a band (quite literally) composed of brothers ChrisJasonBainTimJohn. We were obsessed with punk and garage during the time we lived out of each others pockets back in the golden age of the 80s...the Nuggets compilations especially we were enamored with...but also the LA punk bands we were able to get our ears on, aided by watching New Wave Theater every weekend on USA network. i think what we were listening to was the sheer audaciousness of those bands: they just DID IT, they werent afraid of not being very good, werent afraid of others judging them...they were FREE, in ways a lot of other bands and musicians werent. im pretty sure that was what touched us on the inside, on a gut level somewhere, but that music was also just pure FUN. i remember plenty of times listening in that car to the Chocolate Watchband or some other no-hit wonder and laughing all the way thru the song...not AT it or WITH it but laughing INSIDE it, like the musicians themselves probably were while they were recording it...with the pure joy and fun it was playing music with your best mates. that, in turn, made us want to make music amongst ourselves, which we did. ive played in bands with lots of my friends since then but it all seemed to start back in that Honda, driving through South Hills or Kanawha City and literally yelling out the windows while The Germs played on the cassette player. ive taken plenty of music classes over the years since then but probably the most important was in driving around with ChrisJasonBainTimJohn (and whoever else we could fit in the car) so,, dedicated to the Combined Brotherhood of Ashworth/Rock, our favorite burst of joy THE GERMS ROUND AND ROUND youtu.be/M53TruVezUs
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 10:59:02 +0000
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