An Extensive Biography

The Westing Game biography: As written by David (The Drummer) Dobbs.

Well, TWG all started in April of 2000. I was riding my bike down the street. I was heading over near the office building that is right down the road from my house. While beginning to start jumping stuff I heard a very familiar noise. It was a noise of feedback, drums, and talking through a P.A. I immediately began deciphering from where the noise was coming. I realized the the racket was coming from Dustin (the first bass players) garage. I then began to ride my bike over to his house (we barely knew eachother then).

When I got to his house, there were kids everywhere. Justin Hicks was playing guitar, Josh was also playing guitar, Dustin was on bass, this guy named Wes was playing drums, and Justin Bates was singing. I rode up and began to watch them murder Foo Fighter songs. Anyways, Josh would occasionally bust out a NOFX riff. I told him that I liked NOFX. Then I left and continued on my bike ride, then back home. Well, a couple of days later, I asked Dustin if he wanted to start a band. He said sure, but he didn't know who we would get to play guitar. I said, "What about that little guy that was playing NOFX at your house?" So, Josh was brought into the band.

The next weekend we began practicing. We wrote very spacey, and slow songs with me on drums, Josh on guitar, and Dustin on bass and vocals. Practices came together and so did our songs. The whole while this was going on, I was also working on putting together a great big punk rock show here in Pine Bluff. I figured, "Hey, why don't we also play in this show?" So, with some incentive, the songs that were to become our first ones took shape. As the show date of May 13th rolled near, we decided that we should probably name our band. We are all pretty stupid guys, so names didn't come to us very easily. There is a big bookshelf in the rehearsal room, and one day while going through it, I came upon this book. The name of the book was, "The Noonday Friends" We all decided that we liked that name and that it would be our name at the show.

So, practices kept rolling along, all the while, the showdate kept drawing closer and closer. So, finally, Saturday, May 13th rolls around. It is time for "The Noonday Friends" to make thier debut. We are waiting on our friends Faulkner to get there with amps so that we can play. So The Body goes on first. During thier set, all the other bands that weren't there yet arrived. When The Body got done, we set up and took the stage. We had a total of I think 5 songs that we played that day (none of us remember any of them now). We began playing them, and also began sucking ass. We were very bad. Then, when we were done playing, the remainder of the bands (2dean CREW, Faulkner, This N' That, and Matt Zorzin) proceeded to rock the llama's ass. This made us look and feel worse than we did before. So, the next day, we decided that we needed a new singer and a second guitar player. Enter Justin.

The next week, Justin stepped into the role of singing for us. He fit like a glove. He learned the rhythm guitar riffs very easily, and his voice matched our music very well. It was like a marriage made in heaven really. We tought him the old songs we wanted to keep, and began writing new material. Since we had a new member and new music, we decided that we needed a new name. Back to the bookshelf I went. This time I came out with a book I read in the 6th grade, and we became "The Westing Game"

A couple of weekends after the debut of "The Noonday Friends" Dustin put a show on in his garage. It was Justin's big debut, and TWG was officially born. That show went okay, no one screwed up all that bad (except for Josh forgetting to tune before the first song) After that show, I began planning the next Pine Bluff show. Chips fall where they did, we played that in Roller World with friends This N' That. We played okay there, once again, no major screw ups on anyones part. We were still practicing and writing vigorously at this point. So the ball is rolling quite well for us. The summer is coming along spledidly and we were really starting to come together as a band.

The next weekend my dad was out of town, so we played a show in my living room. Lot's of my friends came down for it, some from as far away as Georgia. A joke band that two of my friends and I were in called "HOMO-genized" opened up. Then we played. Up untill this point, we had only done okay. At this show, we were actually good. We played our songs, no one botched anything up, and everything went really well. That said, everyone went home and then I went to sleep.

We then went thorough a stretch were we didn't play a show for a while. Dustin and I had started a metal band with Justin Hicks called Circus Burn and we were busy laughing our asses off while TWG got no practice in. Then we booked a show for a city park in White Hall. Circus Burn was set to open this show. We had been building this up for a couple of weeks, telling everyone that Circus Burn was from New Jersey, and people were buying it. Some friends from Kentucky came down and only helped the beivability factor when I went up and asked them if they were in Circus Burn and he said yeah. Anyways, we put on our masks behind a public bathroom, waited to be introduced, then sprinted to our instruments. Derek (the friend from Kentucky) was hired to blow fire off of lighters with aerosol cans, and blow fire out of his mouth) introduced us and we took our places. We began playing our first song, and Derek began doing his thing. Some 4 measures into the first song, a police officer came in to put an end to the fun. Derek was doing the fire/aeresol can thing and the cop nearly walked right into it. That made him mad and he made us stop playing while he nearly arrested Derek. This put a whole damper on the evening. Circus Burn completely stopped playing, and TWG played our worst show we have ever done. Needless to say, we were very unhappy with that show.

Anyways, we continued practicing and writing stuff, and then July rolled around. On Saturday, July 22nd, we were scheduled to play two cities in one day. We were supposed to play Pine Bluff in the early afternoon and Hot Springs that evening. The lineup was supposed to be us, This N' That, 2dean CREW, Faulkner, and I'm Tellin' Ellen. This N' That showed up to P.B. 4 hours late, Faulkner completely cancelled, and ITE could only play the show in Hot Springs because thier drummer had to work. So, we took the staged and played, what was at that point, out best show. 2dean CREW came out and put together another fabulous set of hi-energy, amazingly fun two man punk insanity. Then we sat around and waited and waited. Then, I went home to call This N' That, and it turns out ITE had called. I called them back and gave them directions to the Hot Springs show. Then I drove back to the park to tell everyone to pack it up and let's go to Hot Springs. When, low and behold, This N' That show up. They say it's cool if we just drive to Hot Springs and play, so that is what we do.

Following a very uneventful drive to Hot Springs, we get to Kimery Park (where the show was set to go down). After sitting around for a while, all the kids showed up and ITE got there. 2dean CREW went on first and once again, rocked a camels hump. Then we went on and played even better than we did in Pine Bluff. After we were done playing, ITE was scheduled to go on next. Well, being the funny ass guys that they are, ITE was attempting to put on a good show, not just stand there and play music. So, they put belts all over thier bodies, and taped porn to thier equipment (in true 80's fashion). They were having to play through 2dean CREW's bass amp and when Dave Dean saw the porn, he got irrate. He began saying stuff like, "Fuck your sexist bullshit" and things like that, and then took his bass amp away and packed it up. Not meaning to make anyone mad, ITE took down all the porn, and then started playing. About midway thorough the set, Dave Dean began yelling at them again. This time he was asking why they took the porn down and why they didn't stand up for thier beliefs (just for the record, ITE doesn't belive that porn is vital to living, they just don't think it is exploitation of women). This pretty much ruined the evening for eveyother band there. Then, after yelling some more, Dave Dean said fuck this shit again and left. ITE finished and This N' That began playing. When they played, they were fantastic again. Then the show ended and TWG, ITE, and out co-horts all went to Waffle House to eat. When we got to Waffle House things got a little weird.

Upon our arrival at Waffle House, Dustin called his parents on his cell-phone to tell them that he was eating then was leaving for home. Then his parents told him that since he was coming home late, he had to quit the band. Well, that didn't go over so hot, but they meant it. The next day, he told us it was official. So, after discussing with the other guys in the band, we decided to find a new bass player. Justin Hicks seemed logical, so we asked him to do it. Dustin got mad about this and talked his parents into letting him back in the band, so we let him in. We didn't do much for a while after that. We hardly ever practiced, and we didn't play a show for a long time. Then we got the opportunity to record, so we jumped at it.

Josh had taken music theory lessons from a man named Joey Pitts. Well, Joey had a studio at his house, so he asked us if we wanted to record for an incredibly cheap price. We couldn't really turn that down, so we went into the studio having not really played at all in a month or so. The studio was fun, but it was also frustrating. We couldn't seem to get our songs down right (due to the fact that we hadn't played them together in a few weeks). Anyways, we spent all night two nights in a row in the studio and we finally came out with three finished songs. We recorded "Five", "Used To Say Forever", and "Pop Song" at Lonesome Oak studio. At the time we were really happy with it, but upon futher reviewal, we weren't so thrilled. If you buy our CD (or if you already own it) listen to "Five", the drums can't be heard in that song really at all. Anyways, we were done recording, and now we had to get some money up to press CD's.

Justin left for school and was coming home on the weekends to practice. We still hadn't played a show in a really long time. We were trying to, but everytime we would check with Dustin, he had to check with his parents, and they would say no. Then one Saturday, Justin and I were sitting around the rehearsal space and the phone rang. It was Dustin. He said that he had a show for us to play. It was in Roller World again, and this time we had all of 30 minutes notice. So (being the troopers that we are) Justin and I loaded up his moms van and lugged all the gear up there. We played with this band called I.N.K. (last I heard, they were called the Ooze or something like that). We played pretty well and made some new friends there. I had a good time.

The guys from ITE formed a new band (The Scum) and asked me to be the drummer. I said sure. So they started to come down to practice on the weekend as well. Well, one weekend, Chad (ITE's old drummer) was going to come down with the Scum guys and record us. As luck would have it, Mike (guitarist for The Scum) quit the day before we were supposed to record, and Zach (singer for The Scum) had to work, so The Scum couldn't do much recording. This gave TWG a chance to record a little bit more. We once again jumped at the opportunity. The only catch this time was the fact that Dustin was in Little Rock. I had talked to him the night before and told him that I'd come up there and get him if he wanted to record. He said that he indeed wanted to record. So, the next morning I called his cell phone and asked if he was ready for me to come there and get him. He said yeah but to give him a second to call his parents and tell them that I was coming to get him. The night before he was supposed to stay with one of his friends, but he stayed with another guy in a different part of town without his parents knowing about it. Dustin decided that he should tell them over the phone about that and he then got grounded (which meant he couldn't come and record). So, we decided to record without him on this recording. We got Kelly (bass player for The Scum) to play bass on "Metal Song" and then Josh played bass on "Happy Endings". We were very happy with these recordings and felt compelled to put them on the cd. So, we pooled our money and sent the CD's to Lone Gunman Pressing to get them pressed.

We finally got another show lined up and this was going to be a fun fun fun fun show. It was going to happen in Conway, in Cadron Park. The lineup was us, ITE (their last show), Thirty, Faulkner, The Scum, and the Dondudos "from Guam"*wink wink*. It just so happens that Lone Gunman Pressing is in Conway and that the CD's were done the day of the show there. So, we drove to the Lone Gunman's house and picked up our CD's. We were very pleased with the layout and liked the way it looked. Then we played our show. We opened up with "Metal Song" and that immediately became a Conway favorite. Brady did background screams on it and eveyone went wild, it rocked. Then went thorough the rest of our set and I think we won some fans over. We managed to sell some CD's that day too. By this time though, Dustin had announced he was quitting the band (we were going to ask him to leave soon if things kept going the way they were anyways). And so the next day I gave him a 1/4 of the money from the CD's, and a 1/4 of the CD's that were left. This made it a clean break from the band *please note* Dustin did not leave the band on a sour note. We are all still friends and still talk. It's just that his schedule did not permit him playing lots of shows on short notice.

The next weekend we played a benefit show in Pine Bluff for this girl that got into a car wreck and was in a coma. (It turns out she got into the car wreck while drunk. I feel profoundly ripped off and if I had known this from the get-go, I would not have played the show.). It was a big-blues rock, wanker festival that happened to have TWG and the Scum stuck in the middle of it. The stage was incredible. There were speaker stacks and monitors everywhere. It was super-rad. This was officially Dustin's last show with us, so we let him pick out the songs we were going to play, and in what order we would play them. For his last song with us, he chose "Shun". We have since retired that song and don't plan on ever playing it again. Not because it's a bad song, but because it's his song. The Scum also played this show. Did you know that street/ska goes over about as well as a turd in a punch bowl with cock-rock wankers? I should have guessed, but I didn't. Anyways, with Dustin now officially gone from the band, we had to find a new bass player. Enter Adam.

I told Chad that we did not have a bass player anymore, so he got on the case looking. It turns out that friend of the band Adam Webb (from Thirty) volunteered for the job.

To be continued…