Bands - Lila and N.O.W.

The tough thing about bands is having to contend with so many different personalities. You need everyone to get along.  That statute of limitations on that seems to be about 2 years, longer if you have any kind of success.  So, just 2 years for us!

For Drift, when Jason's (Boles) best friend Jon (Soucy) joined the band, he and Jim (the drummer) had an uneasy time of it.  Both very talented, both with very, very different personalities.  Jim became increasingly unhappy and called it quits.  That was the end of Drift.

I didn't like being band-less.  Especially since at that point I had only been in one band.  The good thing about being a bass player is we're always in demand.  Jim had found a couple other bands to play for and invited me along.

LILA

(2000)

Julie Dicterow, Jim Saint-Amour, Me ... and others.

I feel band for not remembering everyone in this band, but it was a brief stint.  I considered this more of a "gun for hire" situation.   Julie had been in the band Water For Paul with, of all people, our former Drift band-mate Jon Soucy.  When WFP ended, Jon made his way over to Drift and Julie took a stab at going solo under the name Lila.

Julie Dicterow

back up singers

Me

Jim Saint-Amour

Jim wouldn't stay around for very long for this band, but I stuck around for a bit.  Just long enough to play a few gigs with his replacement (and another former Water For Paul member) Victor Varadi.  As fate would have it, Victor and I would eventually become the rhythmic anchor for many future bands.

N.O.W.

(2001)

Me, Jim Saint-Amour ... and others

Another "gun for hire" situation.  I feel bad again for not remembering everyone in this band either. It was a band I was invited to jam with to see if I wanted to join.  After the jam session it was just assumed that I was their new bass player.  One of many lessons I'd learn. 

To be honest, from the get go I was not feeling this band.  I didn't like the songs.  But I was too shy or embarrassed or too much of a pansy to tell them I didn't want to be in the band.  The lead singer/songwriter just told me when the next practice would be and I kept showing up.

My time with this band was very miserable.  The last gig I played with them, I ended up laying on the ground to finish our set.  After that gig I quit, which lead to an unpleasant argument with the lead singer.  But I wasn't happy.  I wasn't being true to myself, and it was unfair to them because I wasn't giving them my best.

About the best thing to come out of this band was we got to play at one of Hollywood's legendary venues, The Roxy.  But even that sucked because it was a Pay-For-Play situation.

By the way, the acronym N.O.W. never stood for anything.  It was an attempt to be clever.  Kind of explains a lot.

P.S. I didn't put up any music for these bands because A) I don't have any for N.O.W. and B) the CD of material I have for LILA was recorded before I joined the band.  I'm trying to post stuff where I'm actually playing the music.