Pukekos: The Dialectic

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Dialectic

I was all of 20 years old when I started this band. I became interested in synthesizers, and after some months of research (at the prestigious UC Berkeley Main Library, my employer at the time) I decided to purchase a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600. I also purchased a Big Muff distortion pedal from my friend Rob Pettersen as it seemed like an interesting thing to try with an analog synthesizer.

Soon after my friend Trixie and I started a band together. An unlikely duo, she was 35 years old to my 20. We practiced a few times and then got asked to play a show by my friend Gabe Mindel. That afternoon I realized that I was going to be singing and playing the keyboard in front of other people, so I should probably rehearse it first.

Somewhere along the way we picked up a drummer by the name of Andy (who had the unusual distinction of having played in Slapshot for half a fortnight), although typical of drummers we found him to be unreliable. He didn't turn up to record vocals (so I had to write words and melodies on the spot for some songs), and didn't turn up for the last show either (Mag filled in, he recorded us so he knew the songs already). We tried out a bass player but never played live with him, but I did continue to use his bass amp that he left in our practice space. Possession is nine tenths of the law, etc.

We played shows with bands like The Rapture, Castiotone for the Painfully Alone, !!!, Out Hud, Mates of State, and Sea Scouts. 1999 was an interesting year, indeed.