bass.
bud was born and raised in pure steel country. bud's daddy was a steel worker, and his daddy's daddy was a steel worker. all the men in bud's family worked for mr. stevens, whom they never saw nor met. their wives lived in a steel town and their kids, bud being one of them, grew up in the steel town. they never knew that mr. stevens died in 1972, which was incidentally the year bud was born. the factory was run by mr. stevens' lawyer, who cleverly manufactured the old man's last will and testament to give him all of mr. stevens' assets. old mr. stevens, who really wasn't that old (he was only fifty-two when he died in a freak accident while skiing; a telephone pole fell on him), didn't have any immediate family to speak of. in fact, he didn't have any sort of family to speak of. jeremy sawyer, the lawyer, he sold it for a tidy profit in '89. it went bankrupt three months later. he drives a pretty red porshe now.
bud's real name is joel, but no one has ever called him that. his elder brother, samuel, called him bud from the day he was brought home from the hospital after his golden retriever, who died three days before bud was born. samuel teaches eight-grade science in albuquerque, new mexico. bud and samuel are the first members of their family to not work at mr. stevens' steel factory.
bud and samuel are also the first members of their family to go to college. working in a steel mill never brings in enough money to get new shoes every year, much less continue their education past high school. as it worked out for the two brothers, their daddy won the lottery two weeks after losing his job when the steel mill went bust. it wasn't a major lottery, only two hundred fifty thousand, but samuel knew how to invest. there was plenty for both brothers to go through college and for their parents to buy dune buggies. samuel bought a motorcycle, and the eight-grade girls giggle to see their science teacher roll out of the school parking lot on a harley davidson.
bud bought an expensive drum set. he was a seventeen-year-old kid playing with his new toy. he banged away in the family garage next to the station wagon. the family never bought a new car. bud brought the drum set to college with him.
bud soon realized that very few people can teach themselves how to play any musical instrument well. he didn't know this right away because so many people claim to play well, but really, they are just mediocre. bud was amazing on drums, but he got bored, seeing as how he was playing by himself in his dorm's rec room. he was also getting evil looks from his dorm mates, some of whom were big, steroid packing football players. tiring of drums for these reasons, bud started collecting musical instruments. there's really no other way to put it. he owned fifty-three unique instruments before he graduated, and played all of them proficiently. he is in fact, a musical genius.
all four members of the steel puppies contribute musically and lyrically to their songs, but bud helps pull the musical technicalities together. he is also the one that insisted everyone get formal musical training. they actually do rhythm drills on an old upright piano that has an aquarium attached. there are always one or two dead goldfish inside the aquarium.
bud majored in political science because he planned to work with international law. he was turned on by the idea of enforcing portuguese law. he ended up putting off law school though, but he plans to go at some point.
bud hates cats and likes driving into trashcans. he has never dabbled seriously with drugs, but he did drink heavily on occasion in college. it was while intoxicated that he would drive into trashcans. he has never driven into a cat despite his feelings towards them. he never has and probably never will own a pet. he doesn't like small furry rodents running around his feet and having to pick up their small, but smelly, droppings.
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