The Begining...
BEC did not manifest itself fully formed in someone's head one morning. It developed in fits and starts, in explosions and retreats,
and has never stopped developing. It has had numerous ancestors and is already giving birth to its own offshots. It is not been a linear,
simple process, but whatever idea started it has been ceaslessly bombarded by the experiances of its members' lives, which has shaped it
as BEC has shaped them in return.
It all started in the rich, white nightmare of an existance known as the Lovett School, in the upper-class suburb of Buckhead in Atlanta.
Though it has become fashionable these days to construct a cult of personality around Brian and Xian, the two founders of the band, it is
necessary to realize that more was at work than their own ambition. With too much faith in humanity to buy in to what was offered to us,
but still well aware of the despiration and misery of those below our family's standards of living, the prospect of choosing a career seemed
more difficult for us than if we were just selfish and wanted to exploit others to advance ourselves.
By becomming rock stars, however, we don't have to exploit anyone, but we still get to be rich and famous. The only problem with
choosing to be a rock star as a career path is that it is hard to make it. It takes a lot of investment of time and money to assemble the
equipment and skills necessary to even have music to begin with, not to mention the difficulties associated with promotion and finding an
audiance.
Our first attempt at a band began in 2001. When our school had a talent show, Brian, Xian, Barlow, and Stevo combined forces to form
NoDozOverdoz, in loving memory of the time Brian's girlfriend ate too many nodoz at school and
threw up. We auditioned for the school and played a slowed down cover of the Eurhymics' "Sweet Dreams", with Brian on Bass, Xian
and Barlow on Guitars, and Stevo singing. It was bad. Brian and Xian had actually practiced and knew their parts, but the rest of the band
fell through. 10 minutes before we were to go on, Xian was still trying to teach Barlow the rhythum guitar part, and Stevo didn't know the
lyrics. We were not allowed to play in the talent show.
For the next talent show, which was supposed to be only for seniors, we tried again. This time, as Buried Electric Cable. Xian
found the name when he was serving a saturday detention for being late to class too much and was forced to weed the carefully landscaped
grounds of lovett. In the process of doing so, he found a red flag sticking out of the ground that said "buried electric cable", which he kept
and has been basis for much BEC art and merchandise.
The idea for trying out
for the senior talent show was given birth to by Brian as one last slap in the face to the school that had for so long tormented him. Recruiting best friends,
Stevo (on Vocals) and Xian (on lead guitar), along with his older brother (on drums) and a friend from Caribou (on bass), Brian (on rythm guitar) set out
to do an Anti-Flag cover. After scheduling five practices, and having only one person (other than himself) show up to each, Brian realized the impending
doom of his project. The day of the actual audition was the first, last, and only time we ever played together. Interestingly enough, due to "lyrical content"
the band was rejected before even playing - however thanks to the 'good graces' of the judges we were alowed to play 1/2 of "Stars and Stripes" before they
pulled the proverbal plug on us. Needless to say, after watching this failure, Brian was extremely pissed off at the lack of dedication shown by his bandmates.
The only 'positive' to come from the experience is our hesitancy to accept new members into our band and the name 'Buried Electric Cable'.
The next phase in BEC's development came over the course of the 2002-2003 school year, while Brian was at the Colorado State University,
and Xian was at George Washington University in DC. Through talking over the phone, and talking at home during vacations, we decided
that the time had come to pursue our dreams once more. The first medium through which this was attempted was film, as "woman with train",
and "DEMOLITION 101" were made during winter and spring breaks. At the same time, Xian was hard at work in school, scraping together
enough money to buy some keyboards and samplers and Guy Tar. Numerous recordings of individual songs and practices still survive from this
period, but many were limited by the numer of Xian's arms, as he didn't have a lot in the way of sequencing. This period in his life pushed him
towards the conclusion that perhaps more arms and thus more people were necessary to take his music in the direction it needed to go.
Though a plan to work together across the country on a demo existed, it fell through. However, Xian and Guy Tar produced a tape of their
own material, which is the BEC self-titled tape. It was recorded in his tiny dorm at school, and copies of it were made by recording the master
onto cassettes one at a time on an ancient tape deck Xian stole from his mother.
After school ended, the two reunited for a week long's study and research in Savannah, GA, along with old time accomplice Stevo, and
Angelfuck, a new affiliate of the VPRG. Now back in town, Xian is currently working full time in the
privatized Assisted Living Industry, making money to pay back debt to Guitar Center. A few shows are in the works for July, as well as a full-length
album for August.
|
