It all started when word of Phi Sigma Kappa’s open mic night at Stetson university met my (Paul Atkinson, the drummer of this musical endeavor) ears. I’d been playing drums for 6 or 7 or maybe more years and wanted to get something besides a ska band together. Luckily a good friend of mine, Ryan Napier, had spent his summer learning the working of the bass guitar. After we jammed a few times Mike Riggs informed myself and Napier that he had been playing guitar for 9 or so years and would be more than happy to accompany us on our journey to the open mic night extravaganza.
After a few half-ass practices and a debate over which songs to play, we came to convince Alex “X-treme” Bitner to sing for us. Open mic night came, we ended up playing a cover of Weezer’s “Undone (The Sweater Song)” as well as a cover of Brand New’s “Seventy Times 7″ before the cops shut us down. They didn’t stop our adventure though, we closed the event, playing inside, pushed up against the wall, surrounded by 40 to maybe a 100 people, I’d like to think it was thousands. We annihilated the audience’s ears with a gruelingly fast cover of Blink-182’s “Family Reunion” right into an even faster version of “Dammit.”
Time passed, Bitner said he didn’t want to do vocals anymore, and another buddy of all of ours, Joe ” Jo-Ma” Martino, gladly said he’d be our rhythm guitarist. We continued to jam, but things weren’t regular, finals were afoot. Now the semester’s over, we’ve got nearly a month to solidify. Myself, Ryan Napier, and Mike Riggs are all at my house, cutting a demo, writing original songs, making progress. Riggs is doing the rhythm guitar as Jo-Ma couldn’t make it down, and my little bro, Steve-o, is doing vocals. Demos will be cycling through the page, instrumentals at first, full songs to follow shortly, ENJOY!!!
