I guess you can say State Edition is pretty well established now and that I can now write a sort of autobiography, if you will, of us, the guys, the band. We are State Edition. Five guys. Four instruments. Three years.State Edition has gone through some hectic times. I know I’m allowed to say that, cause hey, we have. It all started out back in, whoa, the 1990s. Ha. Anyway, back in 1999, Fred Horn, West Side Baptist’s Youth (and Music) Director decided to ask Chris, Evan, and Shannon to play in a small, I guess you can say band, band for our ‘Mission’ trip to Myrtle Beach. I, Shannon, played drums with my little 2 years of experience. Chris played guitar with his, I don’t know, 4 years (?) experience. Evan played bass after teaching himself how to play guitar about a month or two before and then switching to this new instrument, which he plays for State Edition, ironically.
Any who, I guess you can say, “Hey, that wasn’t State!” But on the other hand you can, because this is where it originated. We played in Myrtle Beach two shows, for random people that somehow always ended up to be right in front of Victoria’s Secret. Anyone that can explain this to me is either pretty psycho or just plain stupid. We really weren’t all that good, but hey, who was when they played their first four shows?
After Myrtle Beach, we decided to keep on playing together as a band. Evan told us that he had us a brand spanking new guitarist called Dan. We decided to try this, Dan and see what this Dan turned out to be. Dan was a pretty cool man, and he really helped our band. So we really turned our first fan, into Danno the man. Dan had been playing guitar for however long, but was pretty dang fast, and was really good, so he was, as I would say cool.
So, the band borrowed a ‘few’ things from the church and started playing. We didn’t have much, well, any equipment other than the drums and guitars. No amps? What to do? We borrowed the church’s Peavey speaker cabinet, and Evan went out and bought himself a bass and a bass amplifier. So now we got the equipment, the players, but what, no name? Well here it comes, the name. We had no name. I don’t even remember what we were at first. Something stupid. Anyway, one day we were playing at the church in the fellowship hall (which they graciously let us use) and we all started thinking of names, and I looked over at Chris and the shirt he was wearing. It read, Virginia State Edition. It was a Cross Country shirt that he had. I took it and killed the Virginia part, cause that’s just dumb. Hey, they all agreed, State Edition it was. We all thought it sounded good.
Now we got the equipment, the players, and the name. But what’s missing? Hmmm, where did all this great State classic music comes from, just poof? No sir. So we started working, and we got into way too much Blink 182 along the way. We knew All the Small Things, and Nevermind Me (Nevermind Me is by Bosstones). While we all are playing this junk, Chris starts having all these problems with his shoulder, and something about a cyst. Stuff that scares everyone, like surgery. So Chris turns into just a singer. Now he can’t sing Nevermind Me at all. I’m sorry Chris, but you know that, and us three also do. Eventually stuff starts going bad, cause me and Chris sometimes just can’t get along. Rock Night 2000 tryouts came along. So we decided to show up and try. We decided on the spot to play Nevermind Me. Well, lets just say, THAT SUCKED. Chris doesn’t show up so we had to play that. After that I get mad, and the other two guys get disgruntled. We just, you know, can’t handle it sometimes. So Chris left State. He and I are cool now though. He goes on to be a famous rock star with some crazy band making millions. Ok, just kidding.
State Edition is in a jam, so we thought. Down to three guys. Now, at first this was a problem. But then, Indian Pow-Wow, our first song. It pops out of nowhere (well Evan and Dan were at Dan’s house doing a mad music writing festival) and then Underwear. Yeah, then the stuff starts coming, and then we are stuck again. We need some fuel. Something good, something new. Someone new. Chad. All I need to say? Maybe an answer? I don’t know, I guess it just took the load off of Dan. Chad comes in. Then Evan goes out, for the summer. Man, what can you say, a whole summer...wasted. We could have practiced and played all summer. But still, when he came back, the stuff flowed. And we started getting ready for 'It'. ‘It’ was Rock Night 2001. We decided to do it...try out...Go for it. We got up on the stage in front of the other bands (not all that nervous) and nailed Every Other Day. They liked us I guess, cause guess who played Rock Night? Now we had to face our fears. So, we played some places getting warmed up for Rock Night, like for instance, the Teen Band showcase at the Rec. Center. It was, cool, we played in front of like 15 fans. But we definitely showed up the other band. Then we played at West Side Baptist for a Youth Sunday. It was a praise and worship type thing, so it was low-key, but people to play in front of none the less.
Now, Rock Night was cool. We decided to wrap up the evening playing fourth after Matlock 4, Wanton Abandon, and ATC. Everyone was there, friends, family (for me), and even girlfriends to cool our nerves. So we went up and rocked out. People really liked us, and we didn’t get nervous. Because we all agreed to just have fun. Later on in the month we decided to have another show, and then record our first album before Evan left again for Texas. A couple days before the Armory show, we jumped into a deuce-and-a-half, and rolled over to Hillindale Park to pick up the stage. That was fun. So on what, May 29th (?) we host a show at the Armory. Angeltears, some band from Manassas, Middlebrook, and then State. We played, had no support, and it kind of sucked. But... we did have fun setting up and stuff.
We eventually recorded later on, the day before Evan left, and made up our own low quality album. It includes 11 songs, totaling about 35 minutes, which is really great! Well, for now, this is State. I will hopefully not ever finish this but keep it up to date. So far, the end.
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