I think I’m going to defer the occassional Tuesday to being my One Hit Wonder day. Why? Most music is released on Tuesdays. Did you know that? If you didn’t, you do now. So while I won’t do a One Hit Wonder every Tuesday, I will certainly post most of them on Tuesdays. I think it’s because I’m still contemplating my post from the other day where I actually talked about One Hit Wonders. It got me to thinking.
What better why to kick it off than with Dishwalla. I know they’re a hard working band, but I’m also damn sure that the only song a majority of the music listening public would even recognize is this song. What I’m even more sure about is that most people could hear the song, recognize it, and then tell you an incorrect title for it. For the longest time, I figured it might have been titled God or Thoughts on God. Why? Well, that’s the more memorable line in the song for me.
This brings up an interesting point. There’s another band that has become a two hit wonder. At least I think they did. I know of one big hit, but I think another song after a bit of a hiatus and also a band breakup has become another hit. The band in question is Buckcherry. Their first hit was called Lit, or Lit up. It should have been called I Love The Cocaine. Because that’s the line you remember. They had another go around recently with a song called Crazy Bitch. Which is actually quite catchy to me.
Oh the memories that this stirs up. Just before Buckcherry broke big with Lit Up. I was doing auditions for bands. You’ve probably read about one or two in previous posts. Well here’s one that I went out for. I was given the disc a day in advance and asked to learn two of the songs. Then I was given the location of the audition. So I spent about two hours learning the songs. First thing I noticed was that they were in alternate tunings. At the time I didn’t have a guitar that was dedicated to being easily retuned. Such is life when you’ve got certain kinds of gear.
So I adapted the songs with chords I knew, that made it sound like I was playing in the same tuning but I was still in standard tuning. Ugh, I should reserve this story for when I actually do a Buckcherry song here. Oh well. Fuck it, I’ll continue now that I’ve opened the worms…
So I get the songs down – they weren’t really all that difficult. I show up the next day at the audition. I don’t remember exact details but I do remember that I wasn’t having the greatest day. So I wasn’t in a great mood when I showed up. I got my gear out of the car, my guitar and my rack of sound stuff and a cabinet. I wheeled it into the studio and remember hearing Josh say to Keith, ah shit another guy with a rack. I whipped around and said fuck you until you hear me play. Not the greatest way to get off on a good foot when doing an audition. For a moment I saw the shock in their eyes that I hear what they said and my dopey reaction due to circumstances in my day.
I set up quickly and then I remember Keith being a little inquisitive as to whether or not I was in his open tuning. I said no, but that it shouldn’t matter. So they kicked off the first song and we blazed right through it. They actually were happy about how it sounded, which is a good thing. So we did the second song. That sounded good too. At this point they’re more relaxed and I’m more relaxed. They ask me if I know 30 Days in the Hole. Which I had heard a version of, but I had never heard the original version of the song. I mentioned that if someone could either write down the chords or just yell them out to me while we were playing, I’d just play along.
The bassist took it upon himself to stand next to me and yell in my ear for each up coming chord change. Thus I played the song on the spot having never really heard it. But they liked what I did and how I did it. They thanked me for coming out and I packed up my gear and went on my way.
Some things to note. I don’t have tattoos. I didn’t have a basic head/cabinet amp combo thing (i.e. a Marshall). I didn’t have a non-descript standard tail-piece guitar (i.e. a Gibson Les Paul). I had fairly short hair. If you’ve heard most of my music you’d know I don’t write like AC/DC, but I do like that stuff. So here I am thinking of all the reasons that I didn’t think I’d get the gig. The biggest factor, my attitude. That’s a biggie, I was a bit of an asshole and I didn’t put up with their shit from the get go.
The next day, I’m driving in my car and I get a phone call from Keith. He was asking me if I’d be interested in doing a van tour with them out on the road. Now, mind you I was thinking I wouldn’t have gotten a call back from them. There I am talking on the phone, he’s telling me they’re interested in having me go out on the road with them. In my brain I’m suddenly thinking shit, would I be right for this gig for my own sanity. In my infinite wisdom, I turned the gig down. Looking back upon it now, I think it was a stupid move on my part. I get offered a gig for a band on a major label, to be out touring, getting paid and making great contacts. Silly, silly me. They went on to have a huge year. Who goes out on the road with them? Yogi. I blogged about him a few weeks ago as I finally met him face to face a few weeks back. Note to self – don’t turn down good gigs.
There’s my Buckcherry story that is now ruined for my actual Buckcherry day if I ever do decide to blog about them. Oh well.
Getting back to Dishwalla. I know they’re still out touring. I bet they still draw good crowds. I’m also betting they’re still writing music. Is it all as good as Counting Blue Cars? I don’t know. I never got past this one song with them. I love this song though. I bet you remember it. If you don’t, I’ll bet you dig it. Thus, go buy it!