Single of the Month - July 2022 - "About My Speed"
I will always have a fondness for bands.
Three or four people come together to make music and pursue some semblance of a dream. This was true for me back in Moline when I was a kid, in Tempe during my 20s, and today with my Atlanta cohorts. Bandmates need each other to help achieve something aurally and professionally, and they need each other for the camaraderie along the way. My musician friends are my oldest friends. We know each other a little too well. We’ve been in practice rooms and backstage rooms and hotel rooms and vans and planes together. We like each other enough to forgive each other our faults.
And yet band life drives me crazy. The egos, the laziness, the tardiness, the substance abuse, the tired jokes, the constant cat herding to pull off even the slightest change in band direction. My struggles with band life are clear enough in my three published novels, and in a fourth one to come. I love being in bands, and I can’t stand being in them. I can’t live without my bandmates, and I do well enough without them most of the time. Outside of writing, the informal guild of rock musicians is the only one I subscribe to, and I’ve walked away from it for years at a time. Musicians, I love you all, but you’re out of your minds.
Such feelings informed “About My Speed,” the Single of the Month from Branches Breaking from the Weight for July.
The first line I wrote for “About My Speed” was “Bing had a thing about changing his strings.” As soon as the line came, I knew a great deal about Bing. I was one of those bass players who, in order to save money, would boil my bass strings, which cleaned them and made them sound good as new. This process also weakened them, making them far more likely to snap during a practice or gig. In fact, I broke a string at the first ever rehearsal of the band that would become the Refreshments. Part of being a guitarist or bassist in a band is coming up with your preferred routine for changing strings. I had a routine back then, and I still do.
The second line I came up with for the song, “Bill had a tambourine on a tambourine stand,” was too stupid not to be the first line of the song. Allow me to clarify. I definitely like the line, but I can also appreciate how on the surface it says almost nothing. I put the line in the same category as two of the dumbest/most wonderful lines in rock history:
-“It’s always showtime here at the edge of the stage” (“Life During Wartime,” Talking Heads)
-“I have a history of taking off my shirt” (“One Week,” Barenaked Ladies)
Both lines are these roundabout ways to say things that go without saying, but at the same time they say something about the person or character singing the song. You have a history of taking off your shirt? No kidding? But the character who says such a thing interests me. It’s the same with “It’s always showtime here at the edge of the stage.” What’s up with this guy? I don’t know, but I’m going to hang around to find out.
When I hear “Bill had a tambourine on a tambourine stand,” I think of it as a funny way to explain what the person/character singing the song thinks of Bill. He’s the guy with the tambourine on a tambourine stand. Such a line reminds me of many musicians I’ve known. I remember the guy who tried out as the singer for a band Tim Anthonise and I wanted to form in 1991. The guy set up his guitar and amp, but when it came time to sing, he got nervous and called off the tryout. He just packed up his equipment and left. I also remember a guy who insisted on putting a bent in a six-pack before getting around to singing for his tryout. I remember another guy who had never sung a note in a band but had thought the idea of a band tryout “sounded fun.” All three of these guys were culled from one ad placed by us in the Phoenix New Times. These were the “good” candidates, the ones who merited having over to our apartment. The band never got off the ground.
So, Bill is the guy who has a tambourine stand for his tambourine. Musicians of a certain vintage all know a cat like Bill.
What makes all the conflict associated with band life tolerable is humor, and there’s a ton of it with musicians. When playing in a band, there’s plenty of stand-around time with nothing to do but remember these musicians from our past who left us with deep impressions, and amongst the boredom, it’s hard not to poke fun at them. With roustabouts like these hanging around, it’s a miracle that any band manages to have anything resembling a career, but some do. We all look to these successful bands as exemplars in the field, benchmarks against which to measure our own endeavors. If only we could get it together like [insert huge band here].
The band in “About My Speed” doesn’t get it together, and in retrospect, that’s probably for the best. Still, it’s hard not to feel a little sad for them. Musicians all know what it’s like.
See and hear the Single of the Month performed from the comfort of your home at my once-a-month Bandcamp acoustic concert series Budapalooza, which falls this time on August 19th at 5 PM PST. RSVP!
Played bass in a band in Minneapolis in '89/'90. Placed an ad for a drummer. Set up some tryouts...one guy showed who didn't play drums, but everyone told him he 'should'. Needless to say, he didn't have a kit...but expected us to have one...he did NOT get the job.