Scenes From The Scene

A Broken String, A New Band

By Matt Jasper

It seems as if whenever I played my acoustic around Jon Sills and his friend Melissa, I break a string. The first time was at an Open Mike at Borders in Syosset a few months ago, and the second time was at Jon?s house for our first unofficial rehearsal together on Halloween eve. The very first song, my Low E string snapped. So even though it?s happened only twice, my last two strings broke in Jon and Melissa?s presence. This was not the biggest deal, as strings break all the time. In retrospect, it may have been the start of something greater.

Driving home from Jon?s house that night at around midnight, my tire blew out. Pulling off to the side of the LIE, I found myself alone at a gas station with two Turkish attendants. This did not bode well. Quite a while of listening to roadside assistance hold music somehow led a tow truck to come to my assistance. Halloween was spent on a new tire, and by Friday night, I had still not gotten around to changing that Low E string.

Rather than spend the evening at home, I decided to head to Pisces Café in order to change the string, and get a bite to eat. The place was about half full at around 8, and I put my guitar off to the side, and got settled in. After a few conversations later, I changed the string, which in itself was uneventful. But if I had not broken the string the Monday prior, I may not have decided to make it a low key night at Pisces.

Craig Shay of Zephyr Zodiac came in with his girlfriend, and I struck up a conversation with them. I had known Craig for years and we collaborated sporadically. He hadn?t heard my new material, so after little prodding, I got onstage to play a spontaneous set, to the amusement of the audience. I played songs from the new record, already in post production. After the set Craig asked to collaborate again, this time with him on drums. We scheduled a rehearsal for the following Tuesday.

The next night, I returned to Pisces for Tom Cavanaugh?s show. Jesse Forgione came over to see me, to show me the art which he?d created for my album. A crumpled newspaper in a garbage can, a sullen detective, smoking on a dimly lit street, with taillights in the distance awaited me. While Tom soloed backed by a drone, I glanced intently on the artwork that would be on my new record, As A Matter of Fact. A quiet rush hit me. I knew that the production was nearly where it needed to be. I needed to consult Tom about duplication, so I wouldn?t fall into the trap of making too many or too little copies, while still having enough for radio and media promotion. After his set, Tom and I spoke until all hours of the night about record duplication. That Sunday, and the following Sundays after, Jesse and I finished up the artwork on Pisces? Photoshop program, and on Tuesday, I rehearsed with Craig for the first time in a few years.

Craig showed up at my apartment to solidify a couple of songs. That next Tuesday, I brought in Jon Sills and Craig to put the new band together for the first time. From one broken string at Jon?s house, we gained a drummer and reconnected with an old friend. After rehearsal that Tuesday, we sat around my kitchen table talking about everything and nothing in particular, until one by one, they left, only to reconvene the next Tuesday as something more.

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