For a long while now me and some of my friends have had this ongoing dialogue about starting a band. This was before most of us even owned a guitar, drums, etc. So towards the end of last summer I started taking guitar lessons, Jason had an acoustic and bought a new electric guitar and Kirn bought a set of electric drums. So every once in a while we would all get together and it never failed that we would talk about music and what each of us are doing individually with our guitars or drums. Well finally at our couples' baby shower for Baby Wilson we discussed it and agreed that we should try to play at least one song at KirnFest on September 8th. So the shower at that point took a turn towards how can we be ready and if we are going to play a song we need a band name. Throughout our discussions we came to an agreement that we would attempt to play The Black Keys' song "Your Touch." The band name discussion was a whole different one, as in the past we also joked around and said we would be "Cheap Sunglasses" or "Cat's Pajamas." So we started to discuss how most band names are just two random things put together, e.g. Vampire Weekend. Kirn had one he had thought of one time and once he said it I think we were sold, End Table Artwork. Once we could cut it down to ETA for short it made it even better.
So we now had a gig date and needed to practice, so we decided to meet at Kirn's house that week. I sent a text over to Patrick, brother-in-law, to see if he was interested in coming over too as he has played guitar for a while. I won't get into all the boring details of each rehearsal, but it took one session to realize that with all four of us we had a band (Kirn, Jason, Patrick and me).
Leading up to KirnFest we decided we should add a second song and not tell many people so it would be somewhat of a surprise. So we talked about a handful of songs and finally agreed to attempt Tommy Tutone's Jenny (867-5309). It was fun to add this type song and knew that everyone would sing-a-long as well. We probably had a total of 6 practices and did not even have a mic or PA until the practice the day of the show, so we were all a little nervous heading into that night.
Well once the time came for us to do our thing we set our stands, plugged in amps and met in the back for what we hope to become a pre-show ritual. We gave each other some encouragement and passed a small bottle of Jaegermeister around. I think I can speak for the group we had a blast and cannot wait to keep playing. So that is the story which led us up to this........enjoy!! (Follow us @eta4L)
