Silent Civilian Get Scenic'd

Saturday evening I was faced with my usual dilemma of having all kinds of great invitations and plans, and having triple-booked myself or so - c'est la vie when you're being scenic. And so it was that I found myself really wanting to go this BBQ party, make it to my dinner plans, but also having said I would do some "press" with Silent Civilian, who are on a US tour with Fear Factory and Prong that stopped by the Webster last night. Additionally, I was trying to figure out how I could make an interview with an LA metal band relevant to my CT blog.

I touched base with Silent Civilian vocalist (and new friend-of-the-blog) Jonny Santos and asked him if he wouldn't mind sampling some of our favorite CT beer and stopping by a party, which was totally in the neighborhood anyway, instead of chatting in some dressing room at the Webster. He wouldn't mind at all, in fact, could he bring a bandmate? I stopped by CT Beverage Mart to pick up some Hookers (variety pack), swung by the Webster to pick up some metal guys, and we were on our way.

At the party I immediately enlisted Jonny's help with my cooler. What a gentleman! Here he is pretending he's gonna run off with the beer, but really, where's he gonna go? The beer is for him anyway...

We got right into it. Jonny prefered the Blonde (ale). Typical! Drummer Ryan and I ultimately liked the Irish Red best. Nobody liked the IPA best. That must be the one for people who like the actual flavor of beer. The fellas got right into making all the obvious hooker jokes, so they'd fit right in at the brewery (where it's all double entendre all the time).

They also got right into pointing at shit, so they'd fit right in at CT Scenic - they just did this on their own, no prompting!

I thought I recognized Ryan from somewhere, maybe some other band? But Jonny was like, "No, you've probably just seen him in those Geico commercials." WHOA - SNAP!

Call it groupie-dom, make fun of my romanticizing of touring musicians if you must, but let's face it, these people have more fun than us and their stories are just better. They live life as a continuous road trip/summer camp, and if you been on a road trip or camping, you know that the funny shit is nonstop. I've seen Almost Famous, OK, I know they're not really my new best friends. But still, I want to hear about how bands on the road are always looking for that next Walmart so they can use the toilet and buy socks and whatnot. Jonny was telling us about how he accidentally walked into the empty women's room to take a crap, but by the time he finished, it was full up with women, so he tried to hide his face (and beard) with his hair and escape undetected. And I want to hear about what a trip it was getting nominated and going to the Grammy awards (with his previous band, Spineshank) and drinking martinis with Dolly Parton and Lemmy. Jonny was so sweet, saying how his bandmates brought "trophy dates" but he brought his daughter! He also reminisced about being on Ozzfest 2001, where Crazytown got booed off the stage nightly, and Sharon Osbourne awarded his band "Most Intoxicated" at the end of the run. Silly awards - just like summer camp!

I had to ask about that name - Spineshank?! Jonny was like "Listen, I don't normally tell people the truth about this" and how he usually goes into some profound explanation about how it's about backstabbing and shit, but really - REALLY - he was watching Home Improvement and misheard the term "spline shank" and thought it sounded really cool. HA!

Damn, I didn't even ask him about his new band's name, Silent Civilian... We ran into a little trouble with the grill. The guys tried to help.

We were having a blast, and I think we all would have been down to just party with the Hookers all night. But I had dinner to get to, and Jonny and Ryan had to play a gig or something.

PS: Ultimately, I was proved not wrong in that joke I made in a previous post about the Webster being kind of like "your ass" - there was no AC last night, and we were sweating our balls off, had to make frequent escapes to the cigarette corral to get some cooler air, and left before the end fantasizing about pool hopping and showers. Good thing the pregame action was so much fun!