True Rumor
My first band was called True Rumor. From the beginning, I was fascinated with music. I started making up songs in my head and imagined playing in a band. I got a job washing dishes at the local Chinese restaurant. As I worked, songs would come into my head. I would offer to take the garbage out so I could be alone for a moment. While outside, I would write down what I could remember. Working there, I saved as much money as I could. Ultimately, my parents helped me buy my first real drum set, all before I was a teenager. I didn’t have cymbals, but I became obsessed. I would spend all of my free time pounding out beats. I would miss meals so I could keep playing.
I started jamming in the basement with an upper classman named Bob. Bob was a proud hippie “born in the wrong generation”, he would often say. I would find out what that meant later on. He played a Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard (a type of electric guitar). I played the drums. We would play Black Sabbath, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin etc. I was mesmerized. I was making real music with someone. My best friend Chuck learned how to play the bass. He joined in. Then we teamed up with a guitar prodigy named Joel. Joel could play Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen anything he put his mind too. True Rumor was born.
There was a talent contest at our high school, now we had a goal. We couldn’t find a proper singer so we each gave it a shot. It turned out I could sing and play the drums at the same time with ease. We called our band True Rumor. We learned a full set of music and practiced it over and over. The night of the talent contest was magical. We took second place, but my life was forever changed. The next day I started dating my first girlfriend, funny how that works. I had more friends than ever before. People were talking about True Rumor. I had realized the power of music.
I told my bandmates that I wanted to write an original song. They were all for it, but we were not sure how to do it. So, we just jammed. I heard Joel play some super cool riffs. I said that riff can be the verse and the other riff can be the chorus. I put my words to it and we came up with an intricate introduction. After debating the arrangement, the song started to take form. Joel, of course, insisted on a solo section and after hearing his idea we all unanimously agreed. “Cast you in the Pit” was my first original song to be “set free” and the band True Rumor was the band that liberated it.