Post by thomasallencummins on Apr 16, 2007 11:06:34 GMT -5
Nerve Center
by Tom Cummins - Guitar, Vocals
Mark Frierson - Vocals, Songwriter, Keyboards
Carol Jones - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Aaron Levin - Drums
All of what I'm about to relate will be from my own perspective and imperfect memory. Since there were 3 other people involved, each of them will likely have a different view.
In the summer of 1982 I got a call from Mark Frierson (I went to school with Mark and we had a mutual friend in Gary Grant). Mark was forming a new band that he would lead, play keyboards, sing etc. and he knew that I had been playing guitar (my first band The Maniacs played at our junior year talent show). At that time I had written the music to a half dozen songs or so and Mark had ideas for lyrics so it made sense to combine our ideas. Mark’s brother Aaron played drums (and very well for someone only 14 years old) and Carol Jones, a long time friend of Mark’s, also played guitar. The first time we got together we played in Mark’s parent’s living room and were accompanied by my friend Tom Neidhardt who played bass for the aforementioned Maniacs. It was fun but pretty much a train wreck musically. The next time we got together we began working on our original songs and over a few weeks time developed a stable of several songs that reflected our talents and personality as a group. Terrorama, Keeping Up with the Jones, Bad Bulb, Work Will Be the End of Me Yet, Space Cadet, Why Bother Talking, Spoiled Rotten, You Don’t Love Me, Living in a Holiday Inn, Come Back Girl, Let’s Have a Party, Amnesia, The Heiney Wine Song and a few others. The songs we created were built from a foundation of music of mine that was quite simplistic, inspired by the power chord approach of bands like the Ramones. One of the first hurdles we had to leap was the fact that neither Carol nor I wanted to play bass. It seemed evident to us early on that the band had to have bass guitar. My problem with playing bass was more economic than any issue with playing the instrument itself. I wasn’t exactly well to do so whatever equipment I already had was pretty much all I would have to work with for the foreseeable future. Buying a bass was pretty much out of the question. In the end Carol agreed to play bass so that issue was finally resolved. Mark’s lyrics, vocals and keyboards added a different dimension to the sound that created a kind of colorful plastic layer to the music. Carol’s bass playing was competent and creative. She added melodies to the songs to compliment the almost strictly rhythm guitar I provided. Aaron’s drumming had to be the highlight. His energetic precision gave the music an authority that pushed it away from its amateur roots. The music tended to be a bit of a mix of New Wave, Punk and Rock that made classification nearly impossible. Mark occasionally referred to the Nerve Center sound as “Rockwave” which only served to confuse people. Nerve Center managed to play a few gigs during its short life. Much of the reaction we received was less than positive but we enjoyed playing so much it didn’t really matter to us. Near the end Mark had decided that he wanted to concentrate on more electronic music and the rest of the band preferred the traditional route. Mark stepped down to form a new band leaving Carol, Aaron and myself to carry on in whatever way we chose. I don't have any pictures of Nerve Center. I guess when you are 17 you don't appreciate what is happening in the moment until you are 40 and then its too late. At least there are some recordings of our live shows. We produced a couple of songs that were semi professionally recorded. One made some air time on WUSF radio and the Heiney Wine Song was recorded and submitted for a local radio promotion contest. Nerve Center came and went so quickly that we didn't have the time to do much more.
The link below is from a rough recording of a broadcast of one of our songs on local radio. The song is Work WIll Be The End Of Me Yet.
www.mediamax.com/clearfrontier/Hosted/02%20Work%20Will%20Be%20The%20End%20Of%20Me%20Yet.mp3,
See Multiple Choice
clearfrontier.proboards89.com/index.cgi?board=cf&action=display&thread=1176899288
by Tom Cummins - Guitar, Vocals
Mark Frierson - Vocals, Songwriter, Keyboards
Carol Jones - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Aaron Levin - Drums
All of what I'm about to relate will be from my own perspective and imperfect memory. Since there were 3 other people involved, each of them will likely have a different view.
In the summer of 1982 I got a call from Mark Frierson (I went to school with Mark and we had a mutual friend in Gary Grant). Mark was forming a new band that he would lead, play keyboards, sing etc. and he knew that I had been playing guitar (my first band The Maniacs played at our junior year talent show). At that time I had written the music to a half dozen songs or so and Mark had ideas for lyrics so it made sense to combine our ideas. Mark’s brother Aaron played drums (and very well for someone only 14 years old) and Carol Jones, a long time friend of Mark’s, also played guitar. The first time we got together we played in Mark’s parent’s living room and were accompanied by my friend Tom Neidhardt who played bass for the aforementioned Maniacs. It was fun but pretty much a train wreck musically. The next time we got together we began working on our original songs and over a few weeks time developed a stable of several songs that reflected our talents and personality as a group. Terrorama, Keeping Up with the Jones, Bad Bulb, Work Will Be the End of Me Yet, Space Cadet, Why Bother Talking, Spoiled Rotten, You Don’t Love Me, Living in a Holiday Inn, Come Back Girl, Let’s Have a Party, Amnesia, The Heiney Wine Song and a few others. The songs we created were built from a foundation of music of mine that was quite simplistic, inspired by the power chord approach of bands like the Ramones. One of the first hurdles we had to leap was the fact that neither Carol nor I wanted to play bass. It seemed evident to us early on that the band had to have bass guitar. My problem with playing bass was more economic than any issue with playing the instrument itself. I wasn’t exactly well to do so whatever equipment I already had was pretty much all I would have to work with for the foreseeable future. Buying a bass was pretty much out of the question. In the end Carol agreed to play bass so that issue was finally resolved. Mark’s lyrics, vocals and keyboards added a different dimension to the sound that created a kind of colorful plastic layer to the music. Carol’s bass playing was competent and creative. She added melodies to the songs to compliment the almost strictly rhythm guitar I provided. Aaron’s drumming had to be the highlight. His energetic precision gave the music an authority that pushed it away from its amateur roots. The music tended to be a bit of a mix of New Wave, Punk and Rock that made classification nearly impossible. Mark occasionally referred to the Nerve Center sound as “Rockwave” which only served to confuse people. Nerve Center managed to play a few gigs during its short life. Much of the reaction we received was less than positive but we enjoyed playing so much it didn’t really matter to us. Near the end Mark had decided that he wanted to concentrate on more electronic music and the rest of the band preferred the traditional route. Mark stepped down to form a new band leaving Carol, Aaron and myself to carry on in whatever way we chose. I don't have any pictures of Nerve Center. I guess when you are 17 you don't appreciate what is happening in the moment until you are 40 and then its too late. At least there are some recordings of our live shows. We produced a couple of songs that were semi professionally recorded. One made some air time on WUSF radio and the Heiney Wine Song was recorded and submitted for a local radio promotion contest. Nerve Center came and went so quickly that we didn't have the time to do much more.
The link below is from a rough recording of a broadcast of one of our songs on local radio. The song is Work WIll Be The End Of Me Yet.
www.mediamax.com/clearfrontier/Hosted/02%20Work%20Will%20Be%20The%20End%20Of%20Me%20Yet.mp3,
See Multiple Choice
clearfrontier.proboards89.com/index.cgi?board=cf&action=display&thread=1176899288
