"Not that long after we got started, after we had started practicing in the garage at Jen's house, Lance decided to quit for some reason and we held auditions for his replacement there. 3 guys showed up at about the same time one day, one of them being a pretty wild guy who's name I can't remember. He was a good guitarist, but had absolutely no sense of timing. When he had finished, he just hung around while the next kid (and he was a kid, maybe 14) put his stuff together to play. While no one is absolutely positive what happened, the 14 year old was in the middle of showing us how well he could... well...play something... when suddenly some sparks came out of the back of his obviously brand new shiny Randall amplifier. Coincidentally, the first guitar guy was also standing at the back of this poor kids amp... He feigned ignorance with a quick jump back and a "oh wow, did you see that" as if the tube had somehow just popped out on its own...

"Must have been 1980, we did this show in the town of Acton. About an hour away on a weeknight, it was some function for young entrepreneurs, and there was a blizzard that night. I borrowed Jim M.'s rickety van to haul the equipment, which was wedged up to the back of my head in the driver's seat. Lance and Rich the Molester drove with me. Reverse and drive on this machine could only be attained by changing gears from outside on the engine. The windshield wipers didn't work either so I had the window down and one arm scraping a rectangle large enough for me to see any yellow lines through the snow. I think we stole beer from the venue, which became somewhat habitual I'm afraid, and we got back to our rehearsal spot at St. Francis Church in the smalls of the morning - with a day of school looming in just a few hours. Fighting the storm both ways and playing a whole show, we were tired, and we relaxed a bit after loading out. Jon passed out, Joe was ornery, but despite everyone's edginess it was the first time I remember bonding as a band, realizing that nights like this would be the norm and still wanting to
do it."