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TODD: "Met DRE in algebra class, if you can believe that. DRE invited me over for 'brewskis' and first introduced me to Ward! at a Leather Fish gig at LXA. Incidentally, DRE also brought MKB, BH, and others into LXA. Ward! invited me over to play with him, Ron? and John in the summer of 1983 - they didn't have a drummer yet. I played bass on my Gibson ES335 guitar through a guitar amp to start. Things clicked, and soon I was the overwhelming choice for URGE bassist. Sold my stereo to buy a bass amp, and a cheap 'Stilletto' bass, Steinberger knock-off (I still have it - it has great sound). Later I picked up B. Thompson's 'Rick'enbacker bass. Soon we were playing with various drummers - 'Jim' [drummer for The Primal Scream] was one I believe." MIKE: "I tried to pick up the drums since we had them in house and didn't seem to have a permanent drummer. One of my fondest memories is when I was made the Primal Scream drummer the day before a frat gig. 'Hey, [drummer], You're out of the band. Is it OK if Mike uses your drums for the gig?' He said yes. I was a rank amateur, very self conscious of my limitations as a 'musician', but honored to be there. Nobody blamed me for the early end to that gig, but I am certain the poor rhythm section was a major buzz killer. Sorry." WARD!: "We had too many people who wanted be in the band. Two bands were quickly formed out of the peer group. One was 'The Urge', the other, 'The Primal Scream'. The Urge was cute as puppies and happy as sunlight. The Scream was hard-livin', street-fightin' tough as evidenced by DKH's green bandanna-ed neck, bared chest, black vinyl pants and BGB's public fondling of beer laden Teddy Bears hanging from nooses. The shortest person in the Scream was 6'1", the tallest in the Urge was 5'10". Maybe who ended up in what band was actually determined by height?" TODD: "Myself, I played with the Scream on their first two gigs as bassist, before I played publicly as a member of the URGE - hey, I had the equipment." 
WARD!: "Maybe The Scream realized just how short you were and decided they wanted to adhere to my theoretical 6' rule...Hence your jump to the dwarfish Urge lineup. Hey, we needed to raise our average height...With the addition of Todd's 5'10" our band average became 5'4"! "TODD: "I remember Ron? got his VW painted at Earl Scheib...." WARD!: "Ron? was driving 'The Egg'. It was a white Karmann Ghia with fire engine red interior. It even had a red fire extinguisher strapped down to the floor board. Very cool. I remember he bought it from Karl the artist." TODD: "Ward! was clearly the leader of the band, the artist, and the driving force. John was the eccentric showman and main audience draw. Doug was the skilled musician. Ron? was the lefty coolcat with the even temper. Mike was the support. At that point, I guess I was happy to be along for the ride.... I was learning to play bass quickly. Shortly thereafter I moved into the 'Cave', with Ward!, John, MS, and Mike. I was 21 at the time, and there I met BGB and DKH, and acquired a real taste for 'MickJ and the boys, as well as girls." WARD!: "We needed a drummer and John mentioned some young kid he had played in a band with named Doug. He said he was good. Somehow we got to hear him drum and then we all knew he was the drummer for us. He was more musically talented then the rest of us put together. He did have one serious character flaw though, he liked 'Iron Maiden' way too much. 'Their bass player RULES!'..." 
TODD: "When we got Doug in at drums, it was love at first sight. He was the best musician of the bunch, and so so smooth." WARD!: "When we played with Doug I remember thinking 'WOW! This is real music now!' His drumming stitched our noise-makers together in a way that made the rest of us sound pretty damn good." MIKE: "TL helped 'sound proof' the living room by bringing mattress after mattress on the back of his moped. The stench wasn't so bad after we got used to it." WARD!: "We felt we needed to soundproof the practice room of the cave to protect the neighbors. (which to this day I don't recall ever meeting or even seeing any neighbors around The Cave. Coincidentally, it was Salt Lake City's annual 'throw out your old mattress for recycling' day. So we drove around gathering old urine stained mattresses from the lower aves. We then stood them up all around the practice room. We had so many it was 2 deep in places. After everyone got into the room we would even move two more mattresses in place of the door to make it an entirely urine-stained mattress lined room. Pretty horrific." 
WARD!: "I don't remember our first actual gig as the Urge. I am guessing it was at Lambda Chi since we played there a lot in the beginning. Another early gig was a birthday party for a girl named Michelle up at Snowbird. I remember it being a good show with many people dancing and others looking in through some windows to see what was going on. Does anyone remember how much we got paid?"
TODD: "We got $10 and 1/2 bottle of vodka for payment at the Snowbird gig. Man we were cheap entertainment."WARD!: "I do know for the cassette cover that HM played roadie and moved stuff in his little pick-up. MS was on the mix board and was very good labeling the reel to reel tapes that we used to record that gig. I still have the originals. He even indicates they are recorded in mono. We made copies of this gig and named it "It's a Party" after BGB's famous quote." WARD!: "And so went the early days of The Urge. Playing most or shows for our frat brothers or at local high school dances. We played at East High maybe 4 or 5 times. Once on the auditorium stage for an assembly and once for some event out on the track. Maybe homecoming? That show I remember because John had let me use his car to move my guitar stuff. As I was closing the back hatch I slammed my right thumb into the tiny space between car and hatch. I stood there for a moment looking at my pudgy thumb wedged into that tiny space before my animal instinct pulled my thumb out with one mighty yank. I distinctly remember a stretching sensation...Not very pleasant. Without really looking at the thumb I immediately drove down to the gas station to meet John and Mike. On the way there I remember my vision becoming tunnel-like as the pain began to seize controls of my world. I pulled into the gas station, showed Mike and John my now very bloody thumb. The nail was pulled out from the root and was just laying across the outside of my skin almost back to the first joint. Blood was everywhere. As soon as I knew they would take over the driving responsibilities I slumped over into the passenger seat. Somehow we managed to wrap my bloody stump and make it to the gig. We played a set. In the end my guitar had a bloody arc across the front from my usual frenzied strumming...." WARD!: "The 'Primal Scream' played in the same shows as us many times. TL would make these elaborate clothes, and a huge banner with the Scream face to hang behind their band while playing. I liked the Scream shows the best because I could take in the entire scene without having to worry about playing...I have many memories of amazing Scream shows..." 
TODD: "I went with Ward! to the Kinkos over by the Pie Pizzaria to make the LXA poster for the URGE gig. He was cutting and pasting and using white-out like mad, retouching this and that. I think he used a photograph of the original five URGE members by CD for the picture. Ward! was so promotion oriented and gung-ho. I remember helping him out actually, probably cutting things out, making copies, or performing some other less-artistic support tasks.... After he had completed that day, I knew I was looking at true art. Which is why I saved a copy. The LXA poster is the coolest/best URGE poster I have. It's cool to note that the poster I have has lots of little holes in it - little holes made from the ice pick I used when I helped Ward! and John make the starry background in 'Space Dogs' on the Space Dogs shirt in Venice, CA - no lie. "
WARD!: "We played East and Highland High Schools a few times. Those were really fun shows. The crowd would file in. We'd start playing something like 'Soul Kitchen' and they would at first kind of mumble and grumble but after we got going it seemed most everyone would join in and dance and have a riotous time...We had learned the opening riff to Def Leppard's 'Photograph'. It's very distinctive and instantly recognizable as it was a major hit on the radio. We would start playing it and all these younger kids would scream and jump up to party but after the opening measures we go straight into 'Shattered' or something and everyone would kind of laugh and keep on dancing. We were forcing a new generation to appreciate the R&B stuff we all loved to play."TODD: "What was the name of that venue in west SLC in that old church, where many an URGE and Scream/Consumers concert was held?" MIKE: "The Marmalade Hills Ward House. Home to the Salt Lake Acting Company it was a treasure made for us. For the first several gigs the cost was $8 per hour. I told the nice ladies at the State Historical Society we would need it for 2 hours. 'About 8-10 PM, Is it OK if we get there a little early to set up and stay a little late to clean up?' [she said] 'Of course, don't worry about it.' The first event went from 6-3 or so. Total cost: $16. Later I think we had to pay upwards of $25 per hour and had many more restrictions and people that were keeping track of the event." TODD: "Position Inland played there once, too, we played three songs, I think it was at BGB's wedding party. The acoustics weren't all that good, but it was a fun place to play and we rented it at a reasonable price. We must have played there at least 5 or 6 times." MIKE: "Site of my second shot as drummer with the big boys. Darren had trouble playing Buck the Bear at BGB's party so I sat in and powered the Scream through a classic. Somewhat akin to letting the pit crew take a spin around the track at Daytona. Might not have been pleasant to listen to, but I sure as hell enjoyed doing it." WARD!: "It was a perfect place for shows. I really liked playing there. The Brothers Grim (mostly made up of Primal Scream members) played there as well for our Christmas party. I have the poster still. I remember a photo from a show there where Mike, wearing sunglasses, is laying on the long wooden bench with all the cash we earned all over him." 
MIKE: "The picture of me swimming in money was to commemorate the first event in my new career as a producer of Rock & Roll events. Total profit was on the order of $65 or so."TODD: "I remember one gig where the lights went out and some groupie panted a wet one on me, I hope it was a girl...." MIKE: "One of the best musical nights was the one where John fell into a bottle of tequila between the third and fourth sets. He never made it off the floor of the bathroom so Ward!, Todd & Doug played an hour of instrumentals. Absolutely awesome. Virtually empty, nobody but me (and a few groupies) and some musicians playing for the love of their craft." TODD: "John, In your defense, there was only one gig at the Marmalade Hills Center where you could not finish - wait a minute, were you even able to START that gig? Something about too much Tequila. That night, JOHN, the lead singer of the URGE, became the lead PURGER in the JOHN..... As for me, I can be drunk, unable to stand, yet still be capable of playing bass without a hitch - at least that's MY perspective..." JOHN: "I do remember that gig, too, Todd. The Tequila gig. TWE and I are in the bathroom. We are trading tequila shots. I mean 'trading' shots. Todd isn't actually drinking anything! I, however, being somewhat enthusiastic by nature, am taking huge gulps and just keep on going. Of course, I am being URGED on by TODD! Now, after too many, we are walking out to play... I see my hands opening a can of beer, setting it on a speaker, and I feel my consciousness take a big hit. It crumples down a level. I am thinking that if that happens again I could be in trouble. Consciousness could become elusive..." TODD: "However, I think it was YOU John, who was urging ME to do shot after shot of tequilla. You were already 'gone' when I got involved. I was just faking my subsequent shots to keep you happy..." JOHN: "It is hours later. I am throwing up into a pizza box. Nearly everyone is gone. The 'groupies' (who were way too cool to really be called groupies) have sung the songs all night. They remember the words. I have been in a corner lying on my side while 'walking' around in circles cooing different songs than the band was playing into my unplugged microphone. Singing to the tune of my own drummer, you might say. Someone is asking me if I want some pizza. Too drunk to understand they are fucking with me I politely blurt out a soggy 'no', before I hurl into the box again. Oh, ouch. The next day. Ouch!" TODD: "In retrospect, I should have stopped you - sorry. Thank god you didn't die that night!" |