I remember talking to my friend Mike Puffer about starting a band. I've wanted to be in a band for a while but couldn't really decide what I wanted to play. I mean I loved very fast powerviolence bands like Infest, Neanderthal, Crossed Out and No Comment just to name a few, but I could tell Mike wasn't really into playing something like that (though it did almost happen). So instead we focused on a sound similar to Shark Attack mixed with Negative Approach. The ambition was there, but nothing really happened.
Then I remember talking to a kid I met named Kyle. My other friend Josh wanted me to come over for a jam session so I agreed. Kyle was there and he played guitar. After about an hour we ended up talking about bands like Ten Yard Fight and In My Eyes. I was kind of susprised someone in Chicopee knew who these bands were, let alone listened to them. Especially since Kyle was only 17 and most 17 year olds in Chicopee listened to Emmure. Just sayin'. So after exchanging cell numbers I remember randomly texting Kyle saying "hey man let's start a band like In My Eyes" and he replied with "OH MY YES! NO ONE EVER ASKED ME BEFORE!" or something along those lines. But of course, nothing really happened.. yet.
Then I remember talking to my friend Will via myspace, since I didn't really know him on a friend level yet. We exchanged messages in a jokingly manner about starting a youth crew bands, naming everything from Youth of Today to Fastbreak. He said he would play drums and I said I might sing for it, but nothing happened... or did it?
Knowing that me, Will, and Kyle all wanted to start a band, a youth crew band, and we all listened to youth crew bands, we decided to pursue it. I remember writing a shit load of lyrics, though I was extremely nervous about fronting a band at the time. It was then I remembered Mike. I mean Mike got me into most of the music I listen to and he loves every band we wanted to play like so we decided to have him sing. It was a given. It was also decided that I would go to bass, though I never played bass before. I figured if I could play guitar it shouldn't be too hard switching to bass.
So we had our first practice. Kind of a brainstorming. Me, Kyle and Will met in our friend Trey's garage and we did a jam session. After playing for a while I remember showing them a song I had written a while ago when I was going to start the same kind of band with my friend Jay. This song eventually evolved into the song "Be Heard" but at the time it was just a skeleton of what the song is today. After that I don't really remember what happened but Mike eventually came to the practiced, liked the song, and wrote lyrics to it. We moved the space to Will's house since he had a drum kit there and now we have maybe 5 originals and a lot of covers.
With Alert we want to have fun, as well as send a positive message to the kids who listen to us. We want to experience the world, travel, and have fun. Alert will be recording their first demo sometime in mid November. Being from Western Mass it might be kind of difficult to get support from the local kids, but who knows? Can't say for sure what the future will hold, but I'll keep a positive outlook and continue to play what I love.
www.myspace.com/alertstraightedge
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